Although the daughter had no right to be and never was a party to any of these negotiations she had heard enough to convince her that however repulsive this fellow, Tetsutaisho, might be, there was a good prospect of her being compelled sometime to sacrifice her life to gratify his desires. She could see but one hope, and that was in her father's love. Her mother, poisoned as she was, had even gone so far as to entertain the base proposal in the presence of Kinsan herself, whose innate sense of propriety had each time prompted her to run away, with a blush of indignation. She knew that he had been instrumental in procuring for her the honour of that day, and yet she could not thank him, for she well realised that it was probably by his own arrangement that he and his detachment was placed in line next after her; not that she might thus be honoured, but that he might gaze upon her there in her helpless situation; for now that she had grown older and knew his intentions she had come to regard him with something of horror, and tried as much as she could to avoid his presence. Whether Tetsutaisho had observed the glance of recognition which passed between Shibusawa and Kinsan matters not, for his rank in the shogun's army permitted him to strike down any one of the common people who dared so much as to brush against his garment. He was a broad, sunken-chested man, nearly six feet tall, and though less than thirty years of age wore the uniform of a taisho (minor general) and was in fact a favourite of the shogun's. There were a few stiff, blue-black hairs on his face as an excuse for a beard, and a pair of small bullet eyes glanced furtively or hung sullenly from his coarse, brutal countenance. When Tetsutaisho struck Shibusawa he did so intending to cut him down as an example of authority--and as a warning to others of his supposed class--and thinking he had killed him outright with only a stroke and a thrust he squared about and swaggered on with his chest distended and his head thrown back. It was a fortunate circumstance that Okyo was near at hand when Shibusawa fell, for though the thrust was not a vital one, it was dangerously near the heart and occasioned considerable loss of blood and much weakness. The blow had so stunned him that he lay unconscious and not only in the way of those marching, but subject to the cuffs and kicks of his fellows, who were profuse in their cries of, "Shame be upon the etas![8] He insulted his honourable superior!" However, Okyo's faithfulness and the father's coming saved him, while proper treatment and a vigorous constitution soon effected his complete recovery.