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Show Sakubci was out at work, and Hani was sitting at the foot of licr favorite tree, looking up into the branches and wondering what it felt like to have wings. Then there was the sound of a footstep, and she turned to see Ijima standing by her side in his best clothes, the sun shining down through the pine branches on his kind face and friendly eyes, lie had his straw hat in one hand and with the other was holding out a little packet of sweets, tied with red and white paper strings to show that it was a present. His heart was thumping thump-ing wildly, and he felt terribly shy, but liana had no idea of that. She jumped up quickly and made her best bow, her head going so low that Ijima could see the back of her smooth sunburnt neck where the hair left it exposed. Then he bowed also, and found his tongue sufficiently to ask after her health and to beg her to accept the quite unworthy sugar cakes as a present from his aunt This was a bold untruth, for he had robbed Kamoyo's store of the sweets and tied them up himself. "It will have to be the farm!" said Ijima aloud, feeling that his mind had been made up for him without with-out his own corporation; and liana turned and gave liim a puzzled look "What did you say about a farm?' she asked, "1 did not understand." "Oli, nothing ... I was thinking of something chc,' he answered, getting rather red, "forgive my rudencs. O Hana San ! and now I will go," he added, reaching out for his hat which he had thrown on the ground So he went on, happy thoughts keeping pace with young feet, and all his ambitions to sec the world forgotten, for-gotten, liana's pretty face had done in a moment what the good uncle's years of lecturing had never accomplished. Kamoyo worked rapidly, and a great pile of the fragr.mt squares was on the counter at her elbow. She looked up at her nephew with a smile but did not cease from her occupation, lie came and sat down close beside her, looking so important that she said, laughing : "What has happened, my boy? You look as if some one had left you a fortune !" "I wish they had!" he cried. "I have just found out that I want one. Dear aunt, I am so glad to find 'Toor Tjima, poor lad!" she Said, and carnc and stood beside hini and laid her hand on his shoulder pityingly. "1 shall have to go," he said in a moment, looking up at her with real grief in his face, but with something cbc there, too, an expression of resolve that was new to her. "Perhaps they will let me oil!" he said. "I will try and seem blind, dtaf. lame, cveything a soldier should not be. Cut, if it comes to going, liana must promise to wait for me, and I will come back and marry her when I have served my time; 1 swear I will! You must keep her for me, aunt; no other man shall go near her; promise 1' "But I have 'nothing to do with ill" remonstrated Kamoyo. "Beside, you have not spoken to her grandfather, grand-father, and now you will 'have no time! It will be all you can do to reach Miyanoshita by to-morrow morning morn-ing It is a long journey !" "Then I will reach it in the evening," he replied stubbornly, "for I will not go till I have seen O liana San again I" Nothing would remove him from that. lie came to a sudden standstill when he caught sight of the cottage at l.'.st There was something unusual un-usual about the aspect of the place. The screens, were pushed aside, and he saw two peasants in their working work-ing clothes standing in the veranda; as he came nearer they turned to look at him and he knew that something had happened, for their faces were grave and frightened. ."What is it?" he cried, advancing quickly; "where ii O liana San?" The question made them shake their heads. "In there," said one, pointing to the inner room, "with her grandfather, lie has had a fall " "Let me pass!" Ijima exclaimed; and he rushed by them into the house," "liana, dear liana." he cried, forgetting forms, forgetting for-getting everything but his great desire to comfort her; "do not weep so bitterly! Sakubci San was a good man, and his time had come, and he has had no sickness sick-ness or pain! Sec, dear, you arc not alone. I will take care of you; indeed, I will!" She did not answer but she seemed quieter, and she left her little cold hand in his; so he took heart of grace and went on. "Won't you sit up and look at me, Hana San? I have sent for Kamoyo and she will be here soon, and there arc things to do! You must not give "You are going away," she said with a note of dismay dis-may in her voice which was very sweet to him. Then she turned her face away, but not before he had seen the new trouble in it. His presence had taken the edge off her desolation, and already she had begun to cling to him. "Oh. I would never go if I could help it!" he cried impetuously, "but they have sent for me. Forgive me for speaking of my unworthy affairs in this sad moment. My heart is breaking for you for your honorable grandfather; but my day has come to serve in the army, and I must go back to Miyanoshita directly to be a soldier." "Oh, no, no," she exclaimed, "do not go, pray do not go I Perhaps you will be killed, like Matsu's brother last year in the war I am afraid for you, Ijima San!" She did not try to hide her fears. Even now, in the first hours of her grief, it seemed a terrible thing that her only friend should have to face such dangers. "I have no choice," he answered sadly; "if I do not obey I shall be put in prison. But there is no war now and when I come back when I come back Kamoyo San will tell you the rest!" Then Kamoyo came toward them. She had walked fast up the hill and was out of breath and terribly concerned, for she was fond of the little maid. Ijima went forward to meet her, and told her briefly what had happened. "You will take care of her, will you not?" he pleaded, "and by and by, please fleas tell her that I will come back and marry her, and she shall be happy again, quite happy! Do not forget, dear Kamoyo San, whatever happens, I will come bade for her some day. And all good-fortune to you, health and good-luck in your house! Good-by, good-Ly! good-Ly! Be sure to tell her f" Hana was ashamed of her unrestrained grief of the day before. In this quiet hour, when once more the i-un was dropping behind the hills, a new peace came over her, and she was very still. The cottage in its emptiness seemed already far too large, but she felt her dear old grandfather's presence in some strange way, as she had not felt it when he was lying so cold and deaf and stark, with folded hands and straight drawn garments before her eyes. "I have given you much trouble, Kamoyo San," she MiWJHERE was a little shop in the . village oEx3va vv'!trc a" manner of fanciful woodwork irnit&A was so'' to ,nc foreigners who came by, 'R'tfii or to the dealers who traveled ihrough 5iv tne cou,ltry to stock their bazaars in l-Tl f i the great towns. liana's baskets of wistaria Mem, gray-green and mystic villi the silence of their birthplace, pure and classical class-ical in form, always found ready buyers; and the kind woman at the wood shop would say, as she handed over the piles of coppers (round, coarse coppers with a quarc hole lo string them by) which represented liana's tiny gains, "Oh, Hana San, bring me more of the wistaria baskets ! That crescent-shaped one is always liked, and as for the gourd with the hanging vine why, I could sell ten of those for every one you bring 1" Then Hana would smile her thanks and return to Kamoyo exactly ten per cent, of what she had received, as a thank offering for her trouble, and would say, "Very well, Kamoyo S;in, I will see if I can make some more soon. I am grateful, and my poverty is enriched by all jour kindness!" But as she went awa, after tucking the little packet of money inside her sash, .hc would say to herself rather sadly, "Kamoyo San sells; she docs not make the things. If the sun is shining shin-ing and the birds singing, I can weave the fuji stems i and think of pretty shapes for them; but when the tlays are short and the rain comes down, the fuji is cold and gray, and I want to work with the warm fine needles or those strong brown ferns. It is strange fthat Kamoyo San docs not understand!" l or Hana was an artist in an humble, unconscious mvay and the artist is Nature's born disciple He may make or break other allegiances, but to her he is always true. I Hana had many things to do beside her woodsy 'weaving; there was the house to sweep and the food Ho sec to; clothes to wash in the tumbling brook, and 1h.t grandfather's pipe and tobacco box with its mimic Fujiyama of wistaria ash to set in order against his liome-coming. Now and then pilgrims cr travelers t would ask if they might rest a while on the polished veranda scat, and when they did, it was not long before Hana brought out her tray, carved like a lotus 1 ' leaf, and her lwst blue teacups full of fragrant topaz-1 topaz-1 colored tea for their refreshment; also the second best tobacco box with pipe and all complete. Some offered inon-y and others thanks for the hospitality, but the thanks were all she would accept. Then when they went on their way she would wish them good-luck and fftnile, and return to her tasks by the time they stopped lo look hack at her from the last bend of the climbing I road. Once a dainty lady had come, in a beautiful liaskct-work palanquin, followed by a train of servant. She was so pretty and smiling that Hana had fell impelled to make her a present of a hanging basket in the shape of a young moon, with a trail of wild ivy dropping over its edge and another twined in the delicate chain from which it was meant to swing; and the lady had said it was lovely and fastened it to the inner roof of her litter; and she gave Hana in exchange ex-change a picture book that she had been looking at as I she journeyed, and the book was now one of liana's greatest treasures. She kept it wrapped in a bit of purple crepe that Kamoyo had given her, ami when her vork was done she would spread it out on the mat and tell herself stories about all the pictures. Some of them were portraits of the Emperor and the Imperial family and the very first time she opened it she saw the giver's I own face looking at her from one of the pages. She was so unused to the world and its ways that this only struck her as a most delightful surprise; but when Jicr grandfather came home and she showed him her treasure, he looked quite awe-struck and at last told her she must have made a mistake. She shook her head triumphantly. No, indeed, there was no mistake. The lady in the picture had her hair more grandfj dressed, and her robe was not the same; but that was her face and no other! It was rather a peculiar face-, with the dark hair growing in five deep points round the brow; the eyebrows were unusually arched and the mouth smiling, and there was a quaint dimple at one corner which the court photographer had caught very well. liana's grandfather fetched his horn-rimmed glasses and began to spell out the lettering beneath : "Her Imperial Highness the Princess Chiyc Takchito, the cousin of the Emperor! A few days after the Princess has passed that way, , another visitor came to the cottage on the hill. This ! was a young man whom Hana had met two or three times in Kamoyo's house, for he was a cousin of the kind shopkeeper, and once when Hana had some heavy, bundles to carry home, Kamoyo had suggested that he should go with her and take the rice bag and the roll of matting which seemed beyond her strength. Hana had laughed at the idea of anything being beyond her strength, but she was glad of the young companionship, rind Ijima talked so pleasantly and told her such funny stories, that she hoped, quite innocently, that he would 60on come again. lie had been with her nearly a week when I Tan came down from the hills for one of her periodical visits to the village: several pretty heads had been exercised ex-ercised about the handsome lad, and all manner of errands invented to bring their owners into the shop a dozen times a day. The country maidens have more liberty than their sisters in the towns; and Mat sir, whose father was the innkeeper, told her parent? frankly that, if she had her way, there was the husband for her I But Ijima was not dazzled by her preference or her prospective fortune. He did not want to talk tc Matsu or any other girl they were all silly creatures! And then Hana, the maid of the woods, had come in, with her arms full of her pretty wares, the soft shadows and sudden sunbeams of the forest still in her eye, and some of its music in hci voice; her feet fell lightly as the leaf from the tree, and in her crown of shining hair, a baby pine cone had been stuck for a pin. Her blue and white rohc smcllcd of the mountain flowers, and Ijima thought he had never seen any one so beautiful in hi life. Hi. bipr, foolish heart (for no heart is oyer wise at twenty1) jumped wildly and then stood still. Hana had paused in the doorway; the sun behind her framed her in a golden haze, and, indeed, the girl was a picture of sweet and happy innocence. She looked shjly at the young man. and then Kamoyo had hurried forward to relieve her of her baskets, and they al-began to talk, and Ijima was soon himself again. Then had come the walk up the hill and the sight of liana's forest home. Old Sakubci had received him kindly and 1 hanked him for helping the chill. For the next few days Ijima's moods alternated between be-tween dream of ambition and dreams "f love. When the sterner fit was on him he was silent, and rather lordly with good Aunt Kamoyo. But in the soft sunset hour, when he would stroll out to smoke his pipe by the stream that emptied itself into the broad lake, then a remembrance of Hana's sweet face and laughing eves would come back to him, and the pines reaching down long green arms to the water would seem to sigh her name. It was only a pet name after all, but Ijima had heard her called by no other. Tt meant "blossoms.' and must have been made for her alone, to judge by its fitness. Seen in the light of those about Hana, his mcntil Lindcape changed. The distant horizons !ookcd less inviting, nearer sweetness more sweet. So it was a foregone conclusion that Ijima should climb the hill the next morning and knock timidly at the cottage door. No one answered him. Old robbers would trouble themselves to steal our poolings, poo-lings, and they would not have the heart, I am sure l" "It is not the things," said Kamoyo slowly. "It ii you yourself, liana Sari. You are well too young and too pretty to be left alone. Come, little one, there is no other way. Let us change your sad clothes and make a bundle of your futon, for I fear I have no spare one to lend you, and we will shut up the house and get down to the village before dark."' Kamoyo pressed Hana's hand kindly. "You shall come back the first thing in the morning if you like " fhesaid. Now the light comes early in the hills, and by four o clock it was whitening the little openings under the taves which were not covered by the wooden shutters, liana sat up and looked round her in the unfamiliar room. A great longing for her home came upon her, and she rose noiselessly, dressed herself, and rolled her blue bedding into a tidy bundle in one corner. It would be graceless return for hospitality to waken her kind hosts, or to leave the house open for Kamoyo's store to be rilled but she thought she could slip out by the earthqi.akc-door and close it again without disturbing anyone. The air was hot and close in the crowded house, and she was longing for her heritage of the morning's freshness. Very gently carrying her little clogs in her hand, she reached the door, which opened on a yard at the back of the house. She found the fastening in the dark, and in a moment she was out in the white, freshness of the dawn. Ah how glad she was to leave the house behind and to take the climbing path! On its lower windings the thought came back to her that Ijima had walked there by her side, carrying her heavy tarings so kindly but a tew days ago- Heaven protect him, wherever he went, cried her heart, not knowing what language it spoke. Then she looked before her and saw that a few turns more would bring her in sight of the empty cottage, and of that new, silent dwelling olacc under the pines, where .no ministrations of hers would ever be needed. And she turned very pale and sat down on a stone to recover her strength and to cease trembling tremb-ling before she encountered the sight She went and stood there for a moment and, kneeling kneel-ing down, touched her forehead on the ground in silent greeting. Then she rose quickly and returned to the house, for her heart was aching, and her fortitude for-titude scarcely full-grown as yet. "Grandfather, dear Grandfather" she cried, "I am all alone, there is no one to tell me what to do. Show me the safe road I" Was this the answer? A sound of many feet com- ' ing down the pass, litters and porters defiling out on the broadening path that led to her own door? Hana rose in perturbation, for they were pausing now; then some order from one of the litters sent them directly toward her. Travelers, to-day of all days! Then a pretty face was smiling at her, and Princess Chiye descended from her palanquin and beckoned to Hana t to approach. Two ladies accompanied her. and one of them came quickly forward and said, "The Miya-samn Miya-samn wishes to speak to you Musume, cornel" liana obeyed, trembling a little. It was all so sudden, sud-den, and her thoughts had been of far other things than princesses and ladies-in-waiting. She came and bowed her head to the ground and waited for the great visitor to speak. "Is it well with you, Musume?" asked the Princess, "and have you any pretty baskets to sell me to-day?" liana looked up and answered, as politeness commanded. com-manded. , "It is well, Condescension. My stupidity rejoices at lour Nobility's coming." i The Princess asked JIana to accompany her to her palace. Hana gljdly accepted. j When all was done, she slipped away and knelt a 1 moment by her grandfather's grave. "You sent the , Princess, Oj ii San," she murmured, "and I obey you j in going with her. Take care of me always!" Then she ,' looked up into the great tree whose branches waved i f:r t;p in the sunshine, and in her misty pantheism 1 recommended the dear grave to its care. I As she came toward the house, calm and hopeful, riiv.njo's brown face met her coming round a corner j r.-.-ckr the spreading caves. Her eyes were wide with j tl.'il-t and wonder as Hani told her story. I ".nd will you close the house, Kamoyo San, and take my futons for the baby? O Set San says I bhali not need them in the palace. And Oh, please come up sor.ctur.es and sec to my grandfather's grave. He wishes me to go, I think." ! 'Of course, of course! What golden fortune yoa j Iir.e. Hana San. That beautiful rich Miyasama will ; certainly be kind to you. I will take care of every- I thing till you conic back." O Sei San was receiving New Year's visitors in her own pretty rooms, and liana had to wait until they were gone. She had just managed to explain her wish, when the returning carriages were heard in the courtyard, and O Sei San had to hurry away to receive the Princess and assist her to unrobe. She nodded her head to Hana as she ran ofT, and told her i that she should certainly have the permission she de- J 'sired; but it was a surprise to Hana to be called sud- denly into the Princess' presence a few minutes later, i Surely there would not yet have been time for her message to be delivered! i No. the Princess had taken matters into her own hands. She was radiant with pleasure. The Emperor had graciously signified his wish that her husband, the Prince (whom Hana had seen but few times and then in fear and trembling), should make a journey to Europe to attend a royal jubilee, and his wife was to So w ith him I They would have to start in a few days and oh, yes, O Sei S3n was to come in attendance. O Sei San became speechless with delight at this news and quite forgot her humble rival. But the Princess never forgot anybody. ""I will find you another place, Musume," she said kindly to Hana, "or perhaps you would like to go home for a while. You look pale, and the city does not always suit you mountain children!" I Hana bowed her head to the ground. "With your Augustncss's permission," she murmured, "I will go home for a w hile to meditate on your benefits and pray for your safe return." At last the train set her down at a wayside station, where she engaged a Jinrikisha coolie to carry her and her possessions over the ten miles that separated her from the village by the lake. He was a good-natured, sturdy fellow, and raced along the country road so fast that it still wanted an hour of sunset when the" gray temple 'roof came in sight She called a ly.lt and jumped nimbly out of the little vehicle. "Here is your money, Kurumaya San," she said, byld-inp byld-inp out the fare; "now will you please take hose thmgs to the house of Kamoyo Sai, who kveps the shop opposite the bath? And tell her that I, H3na. her unworthy friend, will come on foot a little later. 'j It would never have struck her to doubt his honesty. "But this is love!" cried Hana with great happy tears in her eyes, "who could have loved us so?!' Then Ijima was standing before her, holding out ' his hands, in a perfect rapture of greeting. j "Hana, my Hana," he cried, "is it you, and have you come at last?" When he caught her in his arms and her head rested safely on his shoulder she knew that she had como indeed. you alone Listen-there is no one her., is there?" s fSK 1 bhc shook her head, and went on impetuously, I SS1 ' WW I ' must have O Hana San for my wife! Will you manage EltS5 i Wfffl I t for me, dear, clever, kind Kamoyo San?" And he looked at her very winningly. H j W M II . But she has no money, and you have no money I" v cried Kamoyo in consternation. "My dear child, tlr.l StS-i will never do! Oh, why would you not go and sc- SSS Matsu 5 people when I asked you to? There is the s? right Wife for you!" n The tears were in her eves, for she was nmrh jou alone. Listen ihcrc is no one her., is there?" Snc shook her head, and went on impetuously, 'I must have O Hana San for my wife! Will you manage U lor me, dear, clever, kind Kamoyo San?" And he looked at her very winningly. "But she has no money, and you have no money'." cried Kamoyo in consternation. "My dear child tlrl will never do! Oh, why would you not go and sc-Matsu's sc-Matsu's people when I asked you to? There is the right Wife for you!" The tears were in her eyes, for she was much troubled. "One cannot always be thinking of money!" returned Ijima impatiently. "I am sure my uncle will help mf. and "There is a letter from your uncle waiting for you' said Kamoyo suddenly; and she rose to give it to him, inwardly hoping that it would recall him to Miyanoshita.-She Miyanoshita.-She knew that the relatives would hold her responsible if he made a rash marriage, and what could be more rash than to fix upon poor little Hana, the portionlcs maid of the woods? A nice child. Kamoyo told herself, and in other circumstances well, one might have thought of it ! Then she was roused by an exclamation from her nephew. Ijima had been reading lm letter slowly and laboriously, but now it had fallen from hi hands, and his face was pale. '.'.hat h:is haPPcncd?" queried Kamoyo in alarm. They have come to call out the levy of my year!" he gasped. "I had forgotten the conscription!" Then he hid his face in his hands for a moment and was quite silent. s way like this, volt who art always So brave!" "Forgive mc,'' she said, "I ought not to make you sad for my grief. I will be good he said I was, always." And tiic tears started afresh, but they were quieter ones now. Then he looked into her face and saw that she was calm enough to listen to him, but he was silent for a moment yet. It was so hard not to tell her all that was in his heart, not to speak of the great love that he felt for her. But that must not be now; the instinctive delicacy of his race made him put his own feelings afcide in his deep respect for his little sweetheart's grief. She would want no lover to-day, only the kindest of fricnJs. "O Hana Scin" he began, "I wish I could stay with you to to take care of you, but when Kamoyo San comes I must go quickly to Miyanoshita, so I cannot Lilk with you after this." CCTPVKIGUT, 1903 s i said suddenly, "and I thank you for all your patience. I will cry no more and I will do that work. You must rest and then go back to your house and your beautiful shop. I fear I have kept you too Jong, and the children will have missed you so much! Tt is nothing that I have done for you, O Hqna San, a mere pine needle, offered with all good will, and my sister has been taking care of the children. But I cannot leave you here alone to-night; you must come down and slay with me'-" "Oh, no, indeed." said the girl quickly, "you are too kind and good, but I would rather slay here. I am not afraid at all, and and oh, I cannot go far away from him yet," she added, and the tears came into her eyes in spite of herself. "It is quite impossible, noor child," Kamoyo replied "you are a young girl, with no one to protect you' "But there is nothing to take," protested Hana. "No |