the young women of the house were near swooning. Having seen him on
his way, Nakanokimi had as a secret memento the perfume he had left
behind (and perhaps it brought new stirrings of the heart).
The women were taking advantage of this first opportunity to see him
in broad daylight. "The other young gentleman is such a kind soul," they
said, "but there is something a little withdrawn about him, a little not-
quite-there. Of course we _know_ that this young gentleman is more impor-
tant, and we may just possibly be a little partial."
Remembering Nakanokimi's distress, Niou was seized with an almost
uncontrollable urge to turn back. Indeed, his want of composure was
almost ludicrously evident to his men. But he had to think of appearances.
Once he was back in the city it was not easy for him to get away again.
<P 848>
Every day he sent letters to Uji. Oigimi thought his sincerity beyond
doubting; and yet, as the days went by and he failed to appear in person,
she had to sigh that her sister, whom she had wanted above all to shield
from unhappiness, should now be unhappier than herself. She managed
an outward calm, for to show her disquiet would be to send her sister into
deeper gloom. On one score her resolve was now firm: she would not allow
any man to bring this sort of uncertainty into _her_ life.
Kaoru kept a close watch over his friend and offered repeated prompt-
ings. He knew how things would be at Uji, and much of the responsibility
was, after all, his own. But evidence of Niou's concern gradually put his
mind at rest.
The Ninth Month was half over. Those autumn mountains were much
on Niou's mind. One evening, as dark clouds brought threats of rain, his
restlessness had him on the point (impossible though he knew the thought
to be) of setting forth unassisted. Having guessed that this would be the
case, Kaoru stopped by to urge him on. "And how," he said, "will things
be in rainy Furu?"
<P 849>
Niou was delighted. Would his friend go with him? They set out as
before in a single carriage. How much unhappier Nakanokimi must be than
he himself, said Niou as they fought their way through the mountain
tangles. He could talk of nothing but his remorse and his pity for her. Wan
twilight enveloped the sere landscape of late autumn, and a chilly rain
dampened their clothes; and the fragrance the two of them sent out made
the rustics along the way start up in surprise. It was as if from another
world. At Uji the old women who had been complaining of Niou's heart-
lessness were all smiles as they readied a sitting room. Several nieces and
daughters who had been in court service had been called in to help. Long
contemptuous of the Uji princesses and their countrified way of life, these
self-satisfied women were reduced to silence by the wondrous visit.
Oigimi too was pleased: they could not have chosen a better moment. At
the same time she was embarrassed and somewhat annoyed that Niou's
rather pompous friend should have come with him. Then, presently, as she
watched the two of them, she had to change her mind in this matter too.
Kaoru was a most unusual young man: he had a quiet seriousness that put
him in the sharpest contrast with Niou.
Niou was received with elaborate hospitality which made tasteful use
of the special resources of the district. Kaoru for his part was happy to be
treated as one of the family, though less happy, as the hours passed, at
being left in the reception room. Surely, he thought, something cozier
might be arranged. Oigimi at length took pity on him and let him speak
to her through curtains.
"How long does this have to go on? 'I gave it a try, to which I proved
unequal.'"
Oigimi had to grant his point; but her sister's predicament had left her
thinking that relations between husband and wife must be the bleakest the
world has to offer. How could she even consider giving herself to a man?
The first overtures, capable of arousing such tenderness, must lead to
unhappiness later. No, it would be better for them to go on as they were,
neither of them demeaning the other and neither going flagrantly against
the other's wishes. Her resolve was firmer than ever. He asked how Niou
had been comporting himself. Circumspectly, she told him what had taken
place. He assured her that his friend's intentions were serious, and that he
would keep an alert watch.
"When all of this torment is over, and we have regained our compo-
sure," she said, more affably than was her custom, "we must have a good
talk."
She did not, it was true, flee from him in the cruelest and most
conclusive manner, and yet her door was closed. She would not forgive
him easily, he knew, if he tried to break it down. No doubt she had her
own counsels to keep, and there was no question whatever of her scatter-
ing her favors elsewhere. And so, with his usual self-control, he braved the
<P 850>
chill that emanated from her and sought to sooth the turmoil within
himself.
"But it is not at all satisfying, you know, to have to talk to a door.
Might I just possibly be favored as I was the other night?"
"I am afraid that my mirror offers me'an uglier visage' each morning.
I would not, after all, like to see disgust written large on your own visage.
And do you know, I cannot think why that should be." There was a trace
of laughter in her voice which he found wonderfully appealing.
"And so I am to be forever at the mercy of these whims of yours?"
Once again they spent the night as do the pheasants.
"I am jealous of him," said Niou to Nakanokimi, not dreaming that
his friend was being treated like the merest lodger, "throwing himself
about as if he owned the place."
A very curious thing to say, thought Nakanokimi.
It was unfair, Niou was thinking, that he must rush off after having
braved such difficulties. Unaware of these regrets, the sisters were left to
lament the uncertainty of their situation. They would be grateful if they
could but escape the ridicule of the world. It was, all in all, a singularly
trying and painful relationship, sighed Niou. In the whole capital there was
not one spot where he might hide her. Yu~giri occupied the Rokujo~ mansion
and had given evidence of displeasure that the proposed match between
his daughter Rokunokimi and Niou, on which he had placed such hopes,
seemed to interest Niou not in the slightest. There were signs, too, that
Yu~giri was spreading rumors about the boy's waywardness, and had taken
his accusations to the emperor and empress themselves; and if Niou were
now to present them with a daughter-in-law to whom they had not been
introduced, the embarrassment was certain to be extreme. Had she been
the object of a passing infatuation, he would happily have installed her as
a lady-in-waiting; but this was a far more serious affair. The emperor
seemed to be turning the problem of the succession over in his mind, and
if all went well Niou would soon be in a position to accord her the highest
honors; but he had to live with the knowledge that, whatever bright hopes
he might have, he was for the moment powerless.
Kaoru was making plants to bring Oigimi into the city once the Sanjo~
mansion was rebuilt. Here was poor Niou, so enamored of Nakanokimi,
so fearful of spying eyes, chafing so (and she too) at the infrequency of
his visits to Uji--the life of the commoner did have its advantages. Kaoru
even considered letting the secret out, telling the empress and the rest
about Niou's furtive expeditions. There would be a great stir for a time,
unfortunate, to be sure, but Nakanokimi would suffer no permanent in-
jury. It was too cruel that Niou could not spend a whole night at Uji--and
Nakanokimi deserved, and indeed had every right to demand, a position
<P 851>
of dignity. No, he concluded, he did not think it his duty to keep the secret.
Winter was coming on. Winter garments and other provisions against
the cold would be needed at Uji, and who if not he could be counted upon
to supply them? Without fanfare, he sent off curtains and hangings which
he had been collecting for Oigimi's move to Sanjo~. A certain need had
arisen elsewhere, he told his mother. He also instructed his old nurse and
others to prepare garments for the serving women at Uji.
From early in the Tenth Month he began letting fall remarks about
the fish weirs at Uji and how they would be at their most interesting, and
how Niou owed himself a look at the autumn leaves. Niou hoped to take
only his favorite attendants and certain lesser courtiers with whom he was
very friendly. His was a station that attracted notice, however, and the
retinue grew and grew, until presently it was headed by Yu~giri's son the
captain. So he had two eminent courtiers with him, this young man and
Kaoru, and of lesser courtiers the number was legion.
Kaoru sent off a long letter to Uji "He will of course want to spend
a night, and you should be prepared. The men who were with him last year
will take advantage of this occasion and of the winter storms to have a look
at you.
They changed the blinds and dusted the rooms, and cleared away a
few of the leaves that had collected among the rocks, and grasses from the
brook. Kaoru sent the best viands to be had and dispatched servants to
help with the preparations. Oigimi would once have found such attentions
less than pleasing, but now she sighed and resigned herself to what fate
seemed to offer, and went on working.
Music and other exciting sounds came from the boat as it was poled
up and down the river. The young women went to the bank for a closer
look. They could not make out the figure of the prince himself, but the
boat, roofed with scarlet leaves, was like a gorgeous brocade, and the
music, as members of the party joined their flutes in this impromptu
offering and the next one, came in upon the wind so clearly that it was
almost startling. The princesses looked out and made note of the fact that
even on what had been announced as a quiet, unobtrusive expedition Niou
was the cynosure of numerous eyes; and they told themselves that he was
a man a lady would happily await if he deigned to come once a
year. Knowing that there would be Chinese poems, Niou had brought
learned scholars with him. As evening came on, the boat pulled up at the
far bank, and the music and the poetry gathered momentum. Maple
branches in their caps, some only tinged with autumn red and some quite
saturated, several of Niou's men played" The Wise Man of the Sea." Only
<P 852>
one member of the party was less than satisfied: Niou himself. His heart
like "the sea of Omi," he was in a frenzy of longing as he thought of his
princess on the far bank and the disquiet that must be hers. He was quite
overwhelmed by Chinese poems appropriate to the season. Kaoru was
confident that when the revelry had subsided they could make their visit;
but just as he was telling Niou of these hopes, a guards commander who
was an elder brother of the captain already in attendance arrived from the
city with a large and splendid retinue. He had come at the behest of the
empress. Such expeditions might be undertaken surreptitiously, she had
said, but they were certain to attract notice and so to become precedents
He had run off without a by-your-leave, very inadequately escorted. She
was most displeased. And so Niou had another captain and any number
of ranking courtiers on his hands. Kaoru's plans were in ruin, and for the
two friends the pleasure of the evening had evaporated. Unaware of this
unhappiness, the party drank and sang the night away.
Niou was thinking that he would like to spend the day at Uji. But
another horde of courtiers arrived, headed by his mother's chamberlain.
They made him no more eager to return to the city.
<P 853>
He sent a note across the river. Eschewing any attempt to be witty or
clever, he sought to convey in some detail his honest thoughts.
Nakanokimi, knowing that he would be surrounded by prying eyes, did
not answer. She knew more than ever how useless it was to think of joining
so grand a company. She had been resentful, and with cause, at his pro-
longed failure to visit her, but she had been able to tell herself that he
would one day come; and here he was madly reveling before her very eyes,
and he had not a glance for her. She was hurt and she was angry.
Niou's own gloom was almost beyond enduring--and even the fish in
the weirs seemed to favor him with their attentions. The catch was large.
His men brought it to him, laid out on autumn leaves of various tints. They
were delighted, it had been an expedition with something in it to please
every one of them. But Niou stood apart, gazing into space, pain clutching
at his heart. The trees in the old garden across the river were extraor-
dinarily powerful, strands of ivy, visible even from this distance, adding
a venerable melancholy to the evergreens.
Kaoru was thinking that he had not done very well. The ladies would
be the more resentful for his having prepared them so carefully. Several
among the attendants remembered the cherry blossoms of the year before
<P 854>
and remarked to one another on the sad lot of the princesses, now without
a father. A few of them seemed to have caught a hint that their master had
intended to make a quiet crossing, and even the more obtuse had some-
thing to say about the beautiful princesses. Secluded and cloistered though
a life may be, word does somehow get around. Truly superior beauties, the
talk had it, and superior musicians as well, their princely father having had
them at constant practice.
The captain remembered Kaoru's affection for the Eighth Prince:
"We saw yon trees in the spring, a blaze of flowers.
Beneath them too sad autumn now has stolen."
