The oracle had spoken and the bigoted, suspicious Iyesada had believed it the voice of Ema-O, and knowing of no safer commitment chose the Isle of Banishment. Nor did this alone satisfy his overwrought conscience, but immediately the thing was done he called Ikamon and upon his advice adopted forthwith the child successor, and proclaimed a universal rejoicing. The new heir was hailed with acclamation, Ikamon praised for his cleverness, and Tetsutaisho applauded by his admiring friends; though new troubles dawned on every side. Takara's eyes opened to her true situation, and her faithful adherents rallied to plan her deliverance. Tetsutaisho observed her growing indifference, but crediting it with no deeper meaning than personal apathy sought in his old way to revive the spark which so soon seemed all but dead. It was of no use, for Takara saw farther than he knew. CHAPTER XX THE FORTY-SEVEN RONIN Takara deeply mourned the fate of Michizane, whom she not only loved but had revered as the only living representative left to her of a fast fading memory. She pondered, but wisely held her counsel. Tetsutaisho did not fathom her, but satisfied himself and reviled her upon shallower grounds. When left to his own recourse, shorn of impulse, his understanding seldom rose above the lesser order. He was big in war, but small in consequence. Nor was his sympathy any the greater, and when she remonstrated about her child, he laughed and told her that she, a daughter of royalty, should be the last to question the wisdom of the law. He only urged her to forget the circumstance and respect his will. She acquiesced for the time being, but there was rising within her a bitter spirit. There was coming a day when the mind, too, should assert its rank; when the soul should attain its fulness. "But why are you less ardent?" questioned he, one evening after having returned from Kinsan's apartments, where, as Takara knew, he was now in the habit of regularly spending much time. "Would you ask me why darkness follows light, the earth rotates on its axis, and flesh turns to stone? I thought you a man of consequence, not an object of pity," answered she, calmly though earnestly. Tetsutaisho stood aghast at her daring, yet thought not to search for its meaning. Had he but looked outside, the veil might have fallen from his blinded eyes, for the same spirit which moved Takara had roused a host of valiant defenders. The boldness of Ikamon's stroke had so stunned the enemy as to irrevocably establish the new order, but not without inevitably disastrous consequences.