8

They talked quietly on and it was evening. Genji listened smiling to Yu~giri's account of his visit to Ichijo~ the evening before.

“So she played the lotus song. That is the sort of thing a lady with the old graces would do. Yet one might say that she allowed an ordinary conversation to take an unnecessarily suggestive turn. You behaved quite properly when you told her that you wished to carry out the wishes of a dead friend and be of assistance to her. The important thing is that you continue to behave properly. Both of you will find the clean, friendly sort of relationship the more rewarding.”

Yes, thought Yu~giri, his father had always been ready with good advice. And how would Genji himself have behaved in the same circum-stances?

“How can you even suggest that there has been anything improper? I am being kind to her because her marriage lasted such a tragically short time, and what suspicions would it give rise to if my kindness were to be equally short-lived? Suggestive, you say. I might have been tempted to use the word if she had offered the lotus song on her own initiative. But the time was exactly right, and the gentle fragment I heard seemed exactly right too. She is not very young any more, and I think I am a rather steady sort, and so I suppose she felt comfortable with me. Everything tells me that she is a gentle, amiable sort of lady.”

The moment seemed ripe. Coming a little closer, he described his dream. Genji listened in silence and was not quick to answer. It did of course mean something to him.

“Yes, there are reasons why I should have the flute. It belonged to the Yo~zei emperor and was much prized by the late Prince Shikibu.* Remarking upon Kashiwagi's skills, the prince gave it to him one day when we had gathered to admire the _hagi_. I should imagine that the princess's mother did not quite know what she was doing when she gave it to you.”

He understood Kashiwagi's reference to his own descendants. He suspected that Yu~giri was too astute not to have understood also.

The expression on Genji's face made it difficult for Yu~giri to proceed, but having come this far, he wanted to tell everything. Hesitantly, as if he had just this moment thought of something else, he said: “I went to see him just before he died. He gave me a number of instructions, and said more than once that he had reasons for wanting very much to apologize to you. I have fretted a great deal over the remark, and even now I cannot imagine what he may have had in mind.”

He spoke very slowly and hesitantly. Genji was convinced that he did indeed know the truth. Yet there seemed no point in making a clean breast of things long past.

After seeming to turn the matter over in his mind for a time, he replied: “I must on some occasion have aroused his resentment by seeming to reveal sentiments which in fact were not mine. I cannot think when it might have been. I shall give some quiet thought to that dream of yours, and of course I shall let you know if I come upon anything that seems significant. I have heard women say that it is unlucky to talk about dreams at night.”

It had not been a very satisfying answer. One is told that Yu~giri was left feeling rather uncomfortable.

{The Bell Cricket}