"Takara, you do me a great injustice. I am not only true, as you see, but I have anticipated the necessity of keeping at hand one upon whose shoulders may be placed the responsibilities for the care of our child."
"But why not intrust that service to one whom we know to be best fitted?" asked Takara, anxiously. "There is Nannoto, whose mother carried in her arms your mother's mother."
"No, Takara; it is not the service I would trouble myself about. My lady should not so degrade herself."
"Would you take from a mother her child?"
"Then the law is unjust, and there is a better way."
"Fashion is inexorable, and the law must be upheld."
"Whether the fashion or the law, it is wrong. A mother's breast is a woman's joy."
Takara understood fully the force as well as the law of her chosen lord's argument, though she was none the less aware of her own recourse. While she felt the chagrin of defeat she realised the danger of appeal; therefore she concluded to bide her time and make the best use of her opportunities. Her love for him was not dead, but there was awakening within her a new light, a better purpose.
Nehachibana, though better informed, had been the more easily deceived. Not that she in the least misunderstood her husband's motive in foisting upon her another and a still more unwelcome rival, but that she entirely mistook Kinsan's position. Nehachibana loved Tetsutaisho--just why she had never stopped to inquire. If it was because she was his wife, her love was none the less intense; and because she was in love with him, she thought every other woman must be--at least all those who evinced the slightest interest, whether courted or courting. And if she was to share another portion, she found much consolation if not happiness in the thought that Takara, too, must lose in like proportion. It was a reiteration of the old adage that there can be no great loss without some small gain; a jealous reward and a revengeful satisfaction. She now pitied Takara and hated Kinsan (in virtue of a community of feeling)--the one because of her position, the other in consequence of hers.
The mother's indifference proved to be as great a blessing to Kinsan as it was a curse to Nehachibana. What the one gained by being let alone the other lost in virtue of being served likewise, thus results struck a happy balance. But it was from another source that fear and anxiety came to both alike, to Nehachibana because of neglect and to Kinsan because of danger.