23

Nor was the emperor able to forget the beauty and elegance he had seen so briefly. “Off she went, trailing long red skirts behind her.” # It was not a very refined old poem, but he found it somehow comforting when his thoughts turned to her. He got off a secret note from time to time.

These attentions gave her no pleasure. Still lamenting her sad fate, she did not reply. Genji and his kindness were much on her mind.