21

Genji learned of the affair. The calm, sober Yu~giri, about whom there had never been a whisper of scandal, an edifying contrast with the Genji of the days when he had seemed rather too susceptible—here Yu~giri was making two women unhappy. And he was To~ no Chu~jo~'s son-in-law and nephew, certainly no stranger to the family. But Yu~giri must know what he was doing. No doubt it had all been fated, and Genji was in no position to offer advice. He felt very sorry for the women, and he thought of Murasaki and how unhappy he had made her. Each time a new rumor reached him he would tell her how he worried about her and the life that awaited her when he was gone.

It was not kind of him, she thought, flushing, to have plans for leaving her. Such a difficult, constricted life as a woman was required to live! Moving things, amusing things, she must pretend to be unaffected by them. With whom was she to share the pleasure and beguile the tedium of this fleeting world? Since it chose to look upon women as useless, unfeeling creatures, should it not pity the fathers who went to such trouble rearing them? Like the mute prince who was always appearing in sad parables,* a woman should be sensitive but silent. The balance was certainly very difficult to maintain—and the little girl in her care, Genji's granddaughter, must face the same difficulties.