infant lord and infant retainer, were the mother and the boy himself. In
the privacy of home both had laid themselves upon the altar; the one his
life,--the other her heart, yet without sign to the outer world.
Unwitting of what had passed between them, it is the teacher from whom
comes the suggestion.

Here, then, is the scape-goat!--The rest of the narrative may be briefly
told.--On the day appointed, arrives the officer commissioned to
identify and receive the head of the youth. Will he be deceived by the
false head? The poor Genzo's hand is on the hilt of the sword, ready to
strike a blow either at the man or at himself, should the examination
defeat his scheme. The officer takes up the gruesome object before him,
goes calmly over each feature, and in a deliberate, business-like tone,
pronounces it genuine.--That evening in a lonely home awaits the mother
we saw in the school. Does she know the fate of her child? It is not for
his return that she watches with eagerness for the opening of the
wicket. Her father-in-law has been for a long time a recipient of
Michizané's bounties, but since his banishment circumstances have forced
her husband to follow the service of the enemy of his family's
benefactor. He himself could not be untrue to his own cruel master; but
his son could serve the cause of the grandsire's lord. As one acquainted
with the exile's family, it was he who had been entrusted with the task
of identifying the boy's head. Now the day's--yea, the life's--hard work
is done, he returns home and as he crosses its threshold, he accosts his
wife, saying: "Rejoice, my wife, our darling son has proved of service
to his lord!"

"What an atrocious story!" I hear my readers exclaim,--"Parents
deliberately sacrificing their own innocent child to save the life of
another man's." But this child was a conscious and willing victim: it is