her real father now knew of her circumstances seemed to have released her
foster father from his inhibitions and so made matters worse.
She had no mother to whom she might have revealed at least a part
of her troubles. Genji and To~ no Chu~jo~ were so grand and remote that they
had little time for her. She was very beautiful indeed as she sat out near
the veranda looking up into a sad evening sky, lost in thought about her
<P 483>
remarkably complex problems.<N 2> She was in light-gray mourning, her
beauty the more striking for the want of color. Her women smiled with
Pleasure.
Yu~giri came calling, very handsome in informal court robes of a some-
what deeper gray. The ribbons of his cap were tied up in sign of mourning.
She had been friendly enough in the days when he had thought her his
sister, and it did not seem right to be suddenly cool and distant. She
received him at her curtains as before and dispensed with the services of
an intermediary. He had been sent by Genji with a message from the
emperor.
She was friendly but cautious, ladylike though mindful of her own
interests. He had not forgotten the glimpse he had had of her the morning
after the typhoon. At the time he had not thought it proper to be interested
in her, but now the situation seemed to demand action. He could not
understand why Genji wanted her to go to court. Perhaps her beauty was
causing difficulties here at Rokujo~.
He managed to hide his excitement. "I was informed that the matter
must be considered highly confidential," he said, looking pointedly at the
women, who looked away as they withdrew behind curtains.
In great detail and very plausibly, he gave instructions from Genji
which in fact he had made up. The emperor, he said, had intentions against
which she must be on her guard. He thought her sighs charming, indeed
irresistible, as she sought in vain for an answer.
"We were to come out of mourning this month, but it seems that
examination of the almanacs did not yield an auspicious day. Father has
said that he means to go to the river on the thirteenth and end his own
mourning. I am to go along."
"I think it would perhaps attract attention if I were to go with you.
Perhaps I should arrange my own services, as quietly as possible." She was
being very careful indeed, not yet wanting to make public avowal of her
reasons for having gone into mourning.
"You are too cautious. But I hate the thought myself of changing these
dark clothes. They are reminders of a lady who was very dear to me. I must
confess that I do not know why-you are still living here. If you were not
in mourning I might not know even now whose daughter you are."
"I am not very quick at these things and I am sure that I am more
puzzled than you are. Dark clothes do bring on sad thoughts." She seemed
more subdued than usual. She delighted him.
Perhaps thinking that there would not be another occasion to let her
know of his interest, he had come provided with a fine bouquet of "purple
trousers."
<P 484>
"We may find in these flowers a symbol of the bond between us." He
pushed them under her curtains and caught at her sleeve as she reached
for them.
"Dew-drenched purple trousers: I grieve as you do.
And long for the smallest hint that you understand."
Was this his own hint that he hoped for a union at "journey's
end?" Not wanting to show her displeasure openly, she pretended that
she did not understand and withdrew a little deeper into the room.
"It grew, if you ask, in the dews of a distant moor.
That purple is false which tells of anything nearer.
<P 485>
"I think perhaps this conversation will mark our nearest approach."
He smiled, "You are a lady of discrimination. The fact is that I have
held myself back because I feared full knowledge of the truth would make
you more difficult. The truth is that not even the august summons to court
has been enough to quell my ardor. Perhaps I should follow the suggestion
of the channel buoys.
"Did you know that Kashiwagi was interested in you? And can you
have thought that his interest did not interest me? Now that our positions
are reversed I feel quite powerless, and rather envious of him, free to see
you for a friendly talk whenever he wishes. Do at least pity me."
He said a great deal more, but of such a questionable nature that I shall
not try to describe it.
She withdrew yet further into the room.
"This is very unfriendly of you. You must know that I am not a man
to do anything rash." Though he had not finished, she said that she was
not feeling well and withdrew. With many a deep sigh he left.
<N 3>
He was beginning to fear that he had overreached himself. What a
pleasure, he thought wistfully as he went to Genji's rooms, if even through
curtains he might hear the voice of the lady more beautiful even than
Tamakazura.
"I rather think," said Genji, "that Prince Hotaru was making progress.
He is a very experienced man and he seems to have pleaded his case very
eloquently. In any event, she had not been enthusiastic about going to
court. And so he is to be disappointed? A pity; but that glimpse of His
Majesty seems to have changed her mind completely. A glimpse is enough
be so when I made these arrangements for her."
"Which of the two solutions would best fit her temperament? I won-
der. Her Majesty has no real competition for His Majesty's affections, and
the other lady is in a very strong position because of her father. I really
doubt very much that Tamakazura can make enough of an impression on
His Majesty to join in the competition. Prince Hotaru does seem to be very
much drawn to her, and people are saying what a pity it would be if
anything were to come between two brothers as close as you and he. They
expect him to be very disappointed indeed even if she does not become
one of the ladies of the bedchamber." These were very mature remarks
from so young a gentleman.
"It is very difficult. Higekuro seems to be annoyed with me too, quite
as if her arrangements were mine to make. Her life is very complicated and
I thought I should do what I could for her. And the result is that I am
unjustly reproached by both of them. I should have been more careful. I
<P 486>
could not forget her mother's last request, and one day I heard that she was
off in the far provinces. When she said that her father refused to listen to
her troubles, I had to feel sorry for her and offer to help her. I think her
father is finally beginning to treat her like a human being because of the
interest I have taken in her." It was a consistent enough account of what
had happened.
"I think she might make my brother a good wife," he continued. "She
is a lively, modern sort of girl, much too clever to make any serious
mistakes. They would get on very well together, I am sure. And on the
other hand she seems beautifully qualified for service at court. She is pretty
and efficient and even-tempered and well informed in matters of ceremony
and precedent--exactly what His Majesty is looking for."
Yu~giri wished to probe further. "People seem a little curious about
your reasons for being so good to her. Even her father hinted to a messen-
ger from General Higekuro at what he thought might be your deeper
reasons."
Genji smiled. "People imagine too much. I shall defer entirely to her
father's wishes. I shall be quite happy if he sends her to court, and if he
finds a husband for her that will be splendiettoo. A woman must obey
three men in her life, and it would not do for her to get the order
wrong."
"Someone I know was saying the other day that To~ no Chu~jo~ is filled
with secret admiration at the way you have arranged things. You have
several ladies whose place in your life cannot be challenged, he seems to
be thinking, and it would not do to add to their number at this late date;
and so you mean to get her an appointment at court and still keep her for
yourself." He could not have been accused of indirection.
he So matters would doubtless seem to To~ no Chu~jo~. Genji was sorry that
it should be so.
"He has a suspicious sort of mind, probably because it is at the same
time such a thorough mind. But he will see the truth soon enough if we
let things take their course. Yes, a very thoroughgoing sort of man."
Though his father's manner was cheerfully open, Yu~giri still had
doubts. Genji himself could not dismiss the problem quite as easily as he
pretended. It would serve neither Tamakazura's interests nor his own to
play the role which rumor had evidently assigned him. He must find an
opportunity to assure To~ no Chu~jo~ of his real intentions. And he was
uncomfortable that To~ no Chu~jo~ had guessed certain of his reasons for
leaving Tamakazura's position at court somewhat equivocal and badly
defined.
<N 4>
She had emerged from mourning. Since the Ninth Month would not
be propitious for her court debut, a date in the Tenth Month was fixed
<P 487>
upon. The emperor was very impatient and her suitors were beside them-
selves. Tearfully, they besought their intermediaries to forestall the event.
They might as well have requested the damming of Yoshinorea11s. Word
came back that the prospect was next to hopeless.
Regretting his earlier loquacity, Yu~giri had made Tamakazura's busi-
ness his own. He hoped that impersonal services, a wide variety of which
he now undertook, would correct the unfavorable impression he must
surely have made. He was in firm control of himself. No indiscretion would
be permitted.
Her brothers were of course no longer among her suitors. They waited
impatiently for her appearance at court, when they might be of service to
her. The change in Kashiwagi, until but yesterday the picture of desolate
yearning, amused her women. He came calling one moonlit night and took
shelter under a laurel tree, no public announcement having yet been made
of her identity, as he sent in word that he had brought a message from his
father. Received at the south door, he smiled wryly as he thought how she
had refused even to accept his letters.<N 5> She was still shy about addressing
him, however, and sent back her answers through Saisho~.
"I rather think that Father expected the message to go directly to my
sister and not to travel these impossible distances. Why otherwise would
he have chosen me for his messenger? You must forgive me if I seem
insistent. I may not be a very important man, but it is a well-known fact
that the bond between us is one which we could not cut even if we wished
to. But enough. I sound like a complaining old man. Let me only add that
your lady has been important to me."
Again the answer came back through Saisho~. "Yes, it would have been
good to have a long talk about things that have happened over the years.
Unfortunately I have not been feeling well these last few days and would
not be good company if I were to drag myself out and receive you. You
_are_ being rather insistent, and you make me feel shy and uncomfortable."
"If you are ill, may I not come to your bedside? But you are right: I
must watch my manners." He lowered his voice as he transmitted his
father's message. Saisho~ did not think that he compared at all badly with
her suitors. "Though Father is not as well informed as he might be in the
matter of your court appointment, there are perhaps confidential matters
which you will wish to discuss with him. He feels that he is being watched,
he says, and that it would be even more difficult than it might once have
been to see you." And he added a few words of his own: "l shall not forget
myself again, even though your refusal to be friendly bothers me a great
deal. Look at us now, for instance. I should have hoped for the privilege
of your north porch at least, where I might have made the acquaintance
<P 488>
of some of your less well-known ladies, however odd Saisho~ might have
thought me. Where do you find a precedent for this unfriendliness? We
are, after all, fairly close to each other."
Saisho~ found his complaints rather endearing She liked his bemused
way of cocking his head to one side as he contemplated his unhappiness.
She passed the message on to her lady.
"It is as you have suggested." The answer was to the point "Too long
an interview would without doubt attract attention, and so I must for the
moment forgo the pleasure of a long conversation about my years of
obscurity."
Somewhat intimidated, he offered only a verse in reply:
"I did not know it was Sibling Mountain we climbed,
And came to a halt on hostile Odae Bridge."
It was a futile complaint about unhappiness of his own making.
This was her answer:
"Not knowing that you did not know, I found
Your tracks uP Sibling Mountain strange indeed."
"Your remarks seem to have puzzled my lady," said Saisho~. "She is
very much concerned about appearances. Though I do not doubt that
matters will presently change, she finds it impossible to speak with you
furthe?"
She was right, of course. "Yes, I suppose it is still too early for a good
conversation," he said, getting up to leave. "I shall come again when a
complaint about the debt for my accumulated services seems called for."
There was a bright moon high in the sky, which was a lovely one. He
was very handsome in lively, informal court dress. Though not perhaps as
handsome as Yu~giri, said the women, he was certainly handsomer than
most of them. Such remarkable good looks as did run in that family!
<N 6>
