"I shall serve you, Yodogima, with all the vigor at my disposal," promised he, ready at last to lay his fortune where she had denied and her father commanded. "Then hark you, that none escape his mesh; these barons shall be taught what it is to respect a woman." And--at least two of them were apparently placing themselves in a position rapidly to learn something of the cost as well. Mori, of Hiroshima; Shimadzu, of Satsuma; Ukida, of Bizen, and some thirty-five more of the eastern and central daimyos had already joined the Ishida contingent in the vicinity of Ozaka, observably, and a formidable host, larger than she or anybody else had anticipated, seemed gathering under the banner of the one man, whom Yodogima down deep in her heart detested, the very aspirant who had proffered a deadly cup and coveted the hand of an intended victim's widow, the deceiver then standing outside the walls of her own castle crying, "Long live Hideyori," and, "Death to Ieyasu." Ieyasu: the only man who had ever moved her! Others appealed to the sense, to pride, and to consideration, even love of a kind, yet, as events multiplied and the time grew shorter, a living realization momentarily overshadowed every expectation of hers; the godlight again shone brighter than ever. Must she stop this cruelty? Yodogima asked and answered the question till burdened of its thought--she could have ended it all, at least temporarily, she believed--then gazed longingly at the child there in her presence. "What would you do, Hideyori, if set upon by angry wolves?" asked she, of the child, playfully. "Fight," responded he, with scarce another major word at his tongue's use. "I guess it's the nature of the beast," mused she, pressing the boy closer up; "and till subdued there shall be need for gods as a God, so let them at it." The chances for success, however, against such odds--growing rapidly with Ishida's popularity--seemed almost beyond the possibilities of one, though as capable as Ieyasu, and--were he to win, Christianity must be doomed; she understood full well his proclivities and surmised their inevitable result. And Hideyori! Should Ishida win, then her own flesh and blood must go the selfsame intended way that Hideyoshi had barely escaped. She must, then, choose between two evils: the present downfall of Christianity, on the one hand, or the destruction of an only living child, and that, too, a son, on the other. An ideal at stake, with her, who had chosen differently? "You have my permission, Esyo, to visit this Hideki, now that Oyea, his aunt, is dead and buried. But, mind you, it is a privilege only, that your sister grants--perhaps for a better reason than the one you have in mind."