Shibusawa sat and watched the long procession slacken and start with each recurring interruption, until a temporary pause brought to a standstill directly opposite to him a high float which was arranged like a pyramid and covered with flowers, shrubs, and vines. Amid the lotus blossoms in the centre there sat a young maiden not more than fifteen, who wore a crown of maple leaves and did her hair in a manner to indicate that she was yet unmarried. Her hair was black and abundant, and set beautifully a rosy face in which a pair of large dark eyes betokened tenderness, if a little serious. Her kimono was of soft but plain material and folded gracefully about her, and she quietly sat there the queen of the shogun's garden, though only the daughter of its keeper. She did not turn this way or that as others did to attract attention, but modestly looked at the beautiful things around her, thinking only of the honours due to her kind and beneficent shogun, for whom she was then being privileged to do homage. It was while her attention was thus directed that Shibusawa first saw Kinsan. She sat so high up among the flowers as to be almost on a level with his place of sitting, and she was so close that he could have spoken to her had he dared or deigned to do so. She did not observe his keen recognition nor was she conscious of his presence until the carriers began slowly to straighten up and make ready to go forward. Then as if by intuition she turned and looked toward him and as she did so his eyes fairly met hers. Shibusawa did not look away, but became more intent as her soft dark eyelashes drooped and a faint flush crept into her cheek. A something which he had never before experienced came upon him, and for the moment he felt bewildered and unable to move or speak, and when the float had gone and Kinsan was lost in the distance he made an effort as if to follow; then recovering himself he lapsed into serious thought. He had little further interest in the parade and gave no heed to it until the high-raised chair and brilliant trappings of the shogun himself went past. He was conscious only that a new life had dawned: that something had taken hold of him which was new to his being; something which seemed to wield a more powerful influence over him than even the presence of the shogun--the one person other than his own kith and kin whom he had been taught to revere as supreme. The stately train marched along, though Shibusawa had dismissed all but the one event; the circumstance that raised the most serious problem which as yet had confronted him.