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264 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
under the same heaven with the
or lord, jealous women will not be slow to
murderer of father
apply the
same doctrine to recreant lovers. Will you not,
friend Rai, do your part to extirpate from your
province this witchcraft and superstition
forms " ?
in all its
"I will, I promise. Even now I feel like running
after this woman and scaring her by roaring like a
bull. Part of the superstition is that if the bewitched
see an ox the potency of her charm is destroyed.
I have known mischievous boys to make
a huge white figure of a bull's head and horns and
nearly terrify women into insanity. Besides, it ruins
the potency of the charm. What say you, doctor?"
" No, no ;
wait. Have pity on the poor girl.
She
is half-crazed now, and I fear for her reason. With
time and patience I can assure her of the true facts
with regard to Honda Jiro ;
and truth in this case
will be the best medicine."
" Do, my good friend ;
show her that Honda Jiro
has not, so far as we know, been unfaithful to her,
nor is there another woman drawing away his affections.
Her idea is one of pure imagination."
"If too we could only get Honda released from
prison," said the doctor; "this done, with your
help I do not even despair of seeing them married
and happy, and Honda's energies turned into the
right channel. From mulberry
leaves to silk is a
great change, but not greater than can be wrought
by kindness and tact in this case."
"From what I have heard of the young man,"