10

Going now to Sanjo~, he found his grandmother at her devotions. The young women who waited upon her were far above the ordinary, but in manner and appearance they could not compete with the women at Rokujo~. Yet a nunnery could have its own sort of somber beauty.

Lamps were lighted. To~ no Chu~jo~ came for a quiet talk with his mother.

Everything made the old lady weep. “It seems altogether too much that you should keep Kumoinokari from me.”

“I will have her come and see you very soon. She is all tangled up in problems of her own making and has lost so much weight that we worry about her. I often think that a man does better not to have daughters. Everything they do brings new worries.”

He seemed to have an old grievance in mind. His mother concluded sadly that it would be well not to pursue the matter.

“I have found another daughter,” he smiled, “a somewhat outlandish and unmanageable one.”

“How very curious. I would certainly not have expected you to pro-duce that sort of daughter.”

“I do have my troubles,” he replied (or so one is told). “I must arrange for you to meet your new granddaughter one of these days.”

{The Royal Outing}