However, the shock of recent events had so checked their growth as to give Ikamon a chance to centralise his force and place Tetsutaisho at the head of a consolidated army. In all these doings the young general took no active part other than to hold himself in readiness to strike when called upon, but in the meantime gave himself up wholly to the delights of a love that was inevitable, if without the pale. Shibusawa continued to remain absent, and to all but his father had become as if forgotten, while Takara was now the favourite of the lord daimyo, and the castle offered her every privilege as she liked. Tetsutaisho was her slave, and she toyed with him as with a child, coming regularly and remaining at her will. "Let us go down by the summer garden," said she, on a sultry afternoon in July, as they finished their tea on the veranda. "There by the pond where the snow-white cranes stalk silently about or lazily tuck their sacred heads; under the rose-covered retreat that juts out over the iris-flagged waters. How I do love to sit there and be your idle-thought!" "I am glad you proposed it. I will call the carriers and we will take the norimonos (chairs) down. It is too hot to walk this day," answered he, glad of the chance. Having in a little while arrived at the chosen retreat they lounged on the matted floor amidst the fragrance of the lotus and in view of the iris-studded waters in front. A cool breeze gently floated in, and now and then a golden crane crossed in the wake of his abode. "I wish I were a bird," said Takara, dreamily. "Then I should be your mate," answered Tetsutaisho, quickly. "And this our nest," whispered she. "Our paradise," said he. "And if it were," continued Takara, "we would live here for ever, and there would be no parting and no improprieties. I do hate a world where one must suffer to be happy! Kamie has given us all these beautiful things and has made us to love, and naughty man has tried to upset it all and make us creatures of his convenience. I, for one, propose to consult more my own pleasure." "Quite right you are, Takara; conventionality is a thing I do not like so very well myself. Yet we ought not to complain, for there is really nothing to prevent us from making this our heaven. Who could ask for a more lovely spot! And I assure you there is neither man nor law to stand between us." "Do you think so?" "It is true. I know it." "Then I am content, for I have but a single thought." "Just as the beautiful lotus which you see standing here and there and all about. It is emblematic of purity, which springs from single-mindedness; and of virtue, because of its usefulness. You are just like they, and I love them and I am going to love you." "And you always will?" "So long as Jurokin be a god."