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SCEtfEti AT A HERO'S SHRINE. 167
voices. Until the Son of Heaven is honored, or I
try the fortune of the sword with the foreigner, I
talk love with no woman. A samurai when he sees
his duty plainly knows no man, woman, or devil.
Sayonara (farewell)."
So saying, he turned his back upon her and upon
the party approaching in the direction of the shrine,
and hurried off.
His night was spent in hard study, hers in tears
and bitter thoughts.
Honda Jiro had the reputation among his
and comrades
friends
of being an austere youth, fond alike
of severe study and of athletic exercises, but not
given to the light and easy life which so many of the
samurai led. The love of pleasure for its own sake
was hardly a feeling known to him. He was independent
in his notions, and, despite his high ideals
as a samurai, had more sympathy for the common
people than most of his fellows. He had often been
known to shield farmers' boys and " street men " from
swaggering bullies who wore two swords and called
themselves samurai. In one or two instances he had
saved the lives of eta by threatening to draw sword
and take their part against ruffians in silk clothes who
would have cut down the outcasts like dogs. For
him the social gulf which divided the gentry and the
lower classes had often been bridged by kindly intercourse
between his father and the grain-merchants.
Honda himself went further than his father, and often
made playmates of the children of a rich rice-merchant
named Asai.
Growing up together with her,