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                      THE HONORABLE MISS MOONLIGHT




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                      [Illustration: Frontispiece]


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                                  THE
                               HONORABLE
                             MISS MOONLIGHT

                                   BY

                             ONOTO WATANNA

                               AUTHOR OF
                        “A JAPANESE NIGHTINGALE”
                              “TAMA” ETC.

                    [Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]

                      HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

                          NEW YORK AND LONDON
                              M C M X I I




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                                BOOKS BY

                             ONOTO WATANNA


                   THE HONORABLE MISS MOONLIGHT. Post
                        8vo      net      $1.00

                  A JAPANESE NIGHTINGALE. Illustrated.
                      Crown 8vo      net      2.00

               A JAPANESE BLOSSOM. Illustrated in color.
                         8vo      net      2.00

               THE WOOING OF WISTARIA. Illustrated. Post
                           8vo      net 1.50

              THE HEART OF HYACINTH. Illustrated in color.
                      Crown 8vo      net      2.00

               TAMA. Illustrated. Japan tint paper. Crown
                         8vo      net      1.60


                      HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK

                 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY HARPER & BROTHERS

                                -------

                PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                       PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER, 1912

                                  H-M


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                                   TO
                       J. W., L. W., AND E. McK.
                             IN REMEMBRANCE
                             OF KIND WORDS




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                      THE HONORABLE MISS MOONLIGHT




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                      THE HONORABLE MISS MOONLIGHT




                               CHAPTER I


THE day had been long and sultry. It was the season of little heat, when
an all-encompassing humidity seemed suspended over the land. Sky and
earth were of one monotonous color, a dim blue, which faded to shadowy
grayness at the fall of the twilight.

With the approach of evening, a soothing breeze crept up from the river.
Its faint movement brought a measure of relief, and nature took on a
more animated aspect.

Up through the narrow, twisting roads, in and out of the never-ending
paths, the lights of countless jinrikishas twinkled, bound for the
Houses of Pleasure. Revelers called to each other out of the balmy
darkness. Under the quivering light of a lifted lantern, suspended for
an instant, faces gleamed out, then disappeared back into the darkness.

To the young Lord Saito Gonji the night seemed to speak with myriad
tongues. Like some finely tuned instrument whose slenderest string must
vibrate if touched by a breath, so the heart of the youth was stirred by
every appeal of the night. He heard nothing of the chatter and laughter
of those about him. For the time at least, he had put behind him that
sickening, deadening thought that had borne him company now for so long.
He was giving himself up entirely to the brief hour of joy, which had
been agreeably extended to him in extenuation of the long life of
thralldom yet to come.

It was in his sole honor that the many relatives and connections of his
family had assembled, joyously to celebrate the fleeting hours of youth.
For within a week the Lord Saito Gonji was to marry. Upon this pale and
dreamy youth the hopes of the illustrious house of Saito depended. To
him the august ancestors looked for the propagating of their honorable
seed. He was the last of a great family, and had been cherished and
nurtured for one purpose only.

With almost as rigid care as would have been bestowed upon a novitiate
priest, Gonji had been educated.

“Send the child you love upon a journey,” admonished the stern-hearted
Lady Saito Ichigo to her husband; and so at the early age of five the
little Gonji was sent to Kummumotta, there to be trained under the
strictest discipline known to the samourai. Here he developed in
strength and grace of body; but, seemingly caught in some intangible
web, the mind of the youth awoke not from its dreams. His arm had the
strength of the samourai, said his teachers, but his spirit and his
heart were those of the poet.

There came a period when he was placed in the Imperial University, and a
new life opened to the wondering youth. New laws, new modes of