"But do you really think that we shall let you thus despoil our child before our eyes?" he continued. "Do you think, because you do not choose to give up what you have taken, that we will not wrest it from you? The crimes which you plot have clouded your intellect; you have no soul or honor left; you dare to stand erect before your master,--before him whom you strove to kill!" "He not only tried to take my life," said Fide-Yori; "that man, more savage than the tiger, has this night caused the murder of my most faithful servant, my dearest friend, the Prince of Nagato!" A shudder of horror passed over the assembly, while a flash of joy illumined the eyes of Hieyas. "Rid of that formidable foe," he thought, "I shall soon master Fide-Yori." As if replying to his thought, the voice of Nagato was heard. "Do not rejoice too soon, Hieyas," it said; "I am alive, and still in condition to serve my young master." Hieyas turned quickly, and saw the Prince, who had just lifted a heavy curtain, and now entered the hall. Nagato looked like a ghost; his eyes, glittering with the light of fever, seemed larger and blacker than usual. His face was so pale that it could hardly be distinguished from the narrow white bandage spotted with blood which bound his head. A spasm of pain shook his limbs, and caused a crystal box that sparkled in his hand to quiver. General Yoke-Moura ran to him. "What madness, Prince!" he cried, "to rise and walk, after losing so much blood, and in spite of the orders of your doctors!" "Bad friend!" said Fide-Yori, "will you never cease to play with your life?" "I will become the slave of the doctors in obedience to the undeserved interest that you take in me," said the Prince, "when I have fulfilled the mission with which I am charged." Hieyas, filled with alarm, had taken refuge in utter silence; he watched and waited, casting frequent glances at the door, as if anxious to escape. "I should offer you this casket on my knees, and you should receive it on your knees," said the Prince; "for it contains a message from your lord and master and ours, from him who holds his power from Heaven, from the all-powerful Mikado." Nagato prostrated himself and offered the casket to the Shogun, who bent his knee as he took it. Hieyas felt sure that this casket contained his final doom; and he thought that now, as always, it was the Prince of Nagato who triumphed over him. Meanwhile Fide-Yori had unfolded the Mikado's message and ran his eye over it. An expression of joy irradiated his countenance. He raised his eyes, wet with tears, to Nagato, thinking in his turn that it was always through him that he triumphed. "Prince of Satsuma," said he, extending the letter to the aged lord, "read this divine writing aloud to us." The Prince of Satsuma read as follows:--