The tears that mounted to Kaoru's eyes may have seemed an exag-
gerated response to a rather ordinary poem, but they served to demonstrate
that he had been fond of the lady.
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"I looked to the bamboo river. It has run dry
And left an arid, barren world behind it."
This appearance of forlornness, they thought, only made him hand-
somer. He did not, like the lieutenant, indulge in a frenzy of grief, but he
attracted sympathy.
"I shall leave you. I have said too much."
He did not want to go, but the Reizei emperor was calling him.
"Yu~giri has told me that when your father was alive the music in the
ladies' quarters went on all through the morning, long after the carolers
had left. No one is up to that sort of thing any more. What an extraordinary
range of talent he did bring together at Rokujo~. The least little gathering
there must have been better than anything anywhere else."
As if hoping to bring the good Rokujo~ days back, the emperor sent
for instruments, a Chinese koto for his new lady, a lute for Kaoru, a
Japanese koto for himself. He immediately struck up "This House." The
new lady had been an uncertain musician, but he had been diligent with
his lessons and she had proved eminently teachable. She had a good touch
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both as soloist and as accompanist, and indeed Kaoru thought her a lady
with whom it would be difficult to find fault. He knew of course that she
was very beautiful.
There were other such occasions. He managed without seeming
querulous or familiar to let her know how she had disappointed him. I have
not heard how she replied.
In the Fourth Month she bore a princess. It was not as happy an event
as it would have been had the Reizei emperor still been on the throne, but
the gifts from Yu~giri and others were lavish. Tamakazura was forever
taking the child up in her arms, but soon there were messages from the
Reizei Palace suggesting that its father too would like to see it, and on
about the fiftieth day mother and child went back to Reizei. Although, as
we have seen, the Reizei emperor already had one daughter, he was de-
lighted with the little princess, who certainly was very pretty. Some of the
older princess's women were heard to remark that paternal affection could
sometimes seem overdone.
The royal ladies did not themselves descend to vulgar invective, but
there were unpleasant scenes among their serving women. It began to seem
that the worst fears of Tamakazura's sons were coming true. Tamakazura
was worried, for such incidents could bring cruel derision upon a lady. It
did not seem likely that the Reizei emperor's affection would waver, but
the resentment of ladies who had been with him for a very long time could
make life very unpleasant for the new lady. There had moreover been
suggestions that the present emperor was not happy. Perhaps, thought
Tamakazura, casting about for a solution, she should resign her own posi-
tion at the palace in favor of her younger daughter. It was not common
practice to accept resignations in such cases and she had for some years
sought unsuccessfully to resign. The emperor remembered Higekuro's
wishes, however, and very old precedents were called in, and the resigna-
tion and the new appointment were presently ratified. The delay,
Tamakazura was now inclined to believe, had occurred because the
younger daughter's destinies must work themselves out.
In the matter of the new appointment there yet remained the sad case
of the lieutenant. Kumoinokari had supported his suit for the hand of the
older daughter. Tamakazura had hinted in reply that she might let him
have the younger. What might his feelings be now? She had one of her
sons make tactful inquiry of Yu~giri.
"There have been representations from the emperor which have left
us feeling somewhat uncertain. We would not wish to seem unduly ambi-
tious."
"It is only natural that the arrangements you have made for your older
sister should not please the emperor. And now he proposes a court ap-
pointment for the younger, and one does not dismiss such an honor lightly.
I suggest that you accept it, and with the least possible delay."
Sighing that her husband's death had left her and her daughter so
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unprotected, Tamakazura decided that she must now see whether the
empress would approve of the appointment.
Everything was in order, and the calm, dignified efficiency with which
the younger sister, very handsome and very elegant, acquitted herself of
her duties soon made the emperor forget his dissatisfaction.
Tamakazura thought that the time had come to enter a nunnery, but
her sons disagreed. "You will not be able to concentrate on your prayers
until our sisters are somewhat more settled."
Occasionally she paid a quiet visit at court, but because the Reizei
emperor still seemed uncomfortably fond of her she did not visit his palace
when there were important matters to be discussed. She continued
to reprove herself for her behavior long ago, and she had given him a
daughter at a risk of seeming too ambitious. Any suggestion, even in jest,
that she was now being coquettish would be more than she could bear. She
did not explain the reasons for her diffidence, and so the Reizei daughter
concluded that her old view of the situation had been correct. Her father
had been fond of her but her mother had not. Even in such trivial matters
as the contest for the cherry tree her mother had sided with her sister. The
Reizei emperor let it be known that he too was resentful. Tamakazura's
conduct was not at all hard to understand, he said. A mother who has given
a young daughter to a hoary old man prefers to keep her distance. He also
let it be known that his affection for his new lady was if anything stronger.
After a few years, to everyone's astonishment, a prince was born.
What a fortunate lady, people said. So many of the Reizei ladies were still
childless after all these years. The Reizei emperor was of course overjoyed,
and only wished that he had had a son before he abdicated. There was so
much less now that he could do for the child. He had doted upon one
princess and then a second, and now he had a little prince, to delight him
beyond measure. Tamakazura's sister, the mother of the older princess,
thought he was being a little silly, and she was no longer as tolerant of her
niece as she once had been. There were little incidents and presently there
was evidence that the two ladies were on rather chilly terms. Whatever her
rank, it is always the senior lady in such instances who attracts the larger
measure of sympathy. So it was at the Reizei Palace. Everyone, high and
low, took the part of the great lady who had been with the Reizei emperor
for so long. No opportunity was lost to show the younger lady in an
unfavorable light.
"We told you so," said her brothers, making life yet more difficult for
Tamakazura.
"So many girls," sighed that dowager, "live happy, inconspicuous
lives, and no one criticizes them. Only a girl who seems to have been born
lucky should think of going into the royal service.
The old suitors were meanwhile rising in the world. Several of them
would make quite acceptable bridegrooms. Then an obscure cham-
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berlain, Kaoru now had a guards commission and a seat on the council.
One rather wearied, indeed, of hearing about "his perfumed highness" and
"the fragrant captain." He continued to be a very serious and proper young
man and stories were common of the princesses and ministers' daughters
whom he had been offered and had chosen not to notice.
"He did not amount to a great deal then," sighed Tamakazura, "and
look at him now."
Yu~giri's young son had been promoted from lieutenant to captain. He
too was much admired.
"He is so good-looking," whispered one of the cattier women. "He
would have been a much better catch than an old emperor surrounded by
nasty women."
There was, alas, some truth in it.
The lieutenant, now captain, had lost none of his old ardor. He went
on feeling sorry for himself, and though he was now married to a daughter
of the Minister of the Left, he was not a very attentive husband. He was
often heard declaiming or setting down in writing certain thoughts about
a "sash of Hitachi." Not everyone caught the reference.
Tamakazura's older daughter, exhausted by the complications of life
at the Reizei Palace, was now spending most of her time at home, a great
disappointment to Tamakazura. The younger daughter was meanwhile
doing beautifully. She was a cheerful, intelligent girl, and she presided over
a distinguished salon.
The Minister of the Left died. Yu~giri was promoted to Minister of the
Left and Ko~bai to Minister of the Right. Many others were on the promo-
tion lists, including Kaoru, who became a councillor of the middle order.
A young man did well to be born into that family, people said, if he wished
to get ahead without delay.
In the course of the round of calls that followed the appointment,
Kaoru called on Tamakazura. He made his formal greetings in the garden
below her rooms.
"I see that you have not forgotten these weedy precincts. I am re-
minded of your late father's extraordinary kindness."
She had a pleasant voice, soft and gently modulated. And how very
youthful she was, thought Kaoru. If she had aged like other women the
Reizei emperor would by now have forgotten her. As it was, there were
certain to be incidents.
"I do not much care about promotions, but I thought it would be a
good excuse to show you that I am still about. When you say I have not
forgotten, I suspect you are really saying that I have been very neglectful."
"I know that this is not the time for senile complaining, but I know
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too that it is not easy for you to visit me. There are very complicated
matters that I really must discuss with you in person. My Reizei daughter
is having a very unhappy time of it, so unhappy, indeed, that we cannot
think what to do next. I was careful to discuss the matter with the Reizei
empress and with my sister, and I was sure that I had their agreement. Now
it seems that they both think me an impertinent upstart, and this, as you
may imagine, does not please me. My grandchildren have stayed behind,
but I asked that my daughter be allowed to come home for a rest. She really
was having a most difficult time of it. She is here, and I gather that I am
being criticized for that too, and indeed that the Reizei emperor is un-
happy. Do you think you might possibly speak to him, not as if you were
making a great point of it, in the course of a conversation? I had such high
hopes for her, and I did so want her to be on good terms with all of them.
I must ask myself whether I should not have paid more attention to my
very modest place in the world." She was trying not to weep.
"You take it too seriously. We all know that life in the royal service
is not easy. The Reizei emperor is living in quiet retirement, we may tell
ourselves, away from all the noise and bother, and his ladies should be
sensible and forbearing. But it is too much to ask that they divest them-
selves of pride and the competitive instinct. What seems like nothing at
all to us on the outside may seem intolerable effrontery to them. Royal
ladies, empresses and all the others, are unbelievably sensitive, a fact
which you were surely aware of when you made your plans." She could
not have accused him of equivocation. "The best thing would be to forget
the whole problem. It would not do, I think, for me to intercede between
the Reizei emperor and one of his ladies."
She smiled. "I have entertained you with a list of complaints and you
have treated it as it deserves."
It was hard to believe that anyone so quietly and calmly youthful
should be upset about the problems of a married daughter. Probably the
daughter was very much like her. Certainly his Uji princess was. Just such
qualities had drawn him to her.
The younger sister had come home from the palace and the house
wore that happy air of being lived in. Easy, companionable warmth seemed
to come to him through the blinds. The dowager could see that although
he was very much in control of himself he was also very much on his
mettle, and again she thought what a genuinely satisfactory son-in-law he
would make.
Ko~bai's mansion was immediately to the east. Young courtiers had
gathered in large numbers to help with the grand ministerial banquet. Niou
had declined Ko~bai's invitation to be present, although he had attended the
banquet given by the Minister of the Left after the archery meet and the
banquet after the wrestling matches, and it had been hoped that he would
lend his radiance to this occasion as well. Ko~bai was thinking about the
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arrangements he must make for his much-loved daughters, and Niou did
not for some reason seem interested. Ko~bai and his wife also had their eye
on Kaoru, a young gentleman in whom it would be difficult to find a flaw.
The festivities next door, the rumbling of carriages and the shouting
of outrunners, brought memories of Higekuro's day of glory. Tamakazu-
ra's house was quiet by comparison, and sunk in memories.
"Remember how people talked when Ko~bai started visiting her and
Prince Hotaru was hardly in his grave. Well, it lasted, as you see, and the
talk has come to seem rather beside the point. You never can tell. Which
sort of lady do you think we should offer as a model?"
Yu~giri's son, newly promoted to captain, came calling that evening, on
his way home from the banquet. He knew that the Reizei daughter was
