4

He had been neglecting the Sanjo~ mansion of his father-in-law for rather a long time, but Murasaki was more on his mind. He must go comfort her. She pleased him more, she seemed prettier and cleverer and more amiable, each time he saw her. He was congratulating himself that his hopes of shaping her into his ideal might not prove entirely unrealistic. Yet he had misgivings—very unsettling ones, it must be said—lest by training her himself he put her too much at ease with men. He told her the latest court gossip and they had a music lesson. So he was going out again —she was sorry, as always, to see him go, but she no longer clung to him as she once had.