A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

l8 Japanese Miscellany
By many such representations he was at last
persuaded to marry again. The bride was only
seventeen years old ; and he found that he could
love her dearly, notwithstanding the dumb
reproach of the tomb in the garden.
II
Nothing took place to disturb the happiness of
the young wife until the seventh day after the
wedding, — when her husband was ordered to
undertake certain duties requiring his presence at
the castle by night. On the first evening that he
was obliged to leave her alone, she felt uneasy in
a way that she could not explain, — vaguely
afraid without knowing why. When she went
to bed she could not sleep. There was a strange
oppression in tht air, ^ an indefinable heaviness
like that which sometimes precedes the corning
of a storm.
About the Hour of the Ox she heard, outside
in the night, the clanging of a bell,— a Buddhist
pilgrim's bell ; —
and she wondered what pilgrim
could be passing through the samurai quarter at
such a time. Presently, after a pause, the bell