34

Yu~giri wished to make it appear that he had established residence at Ichijo~, and Kumoinokari, though she tried to tell herself that it could not be so, concluded that all was over between them. She had heard that when honest, serious men change they change completely. It did seem to be true, she sighed, going over her stock of nuptial lore. Wanting to avoid further insults and armed with a convenient taboo, she went home to her father's house. Her sister, one of the Reizei emperor's ladies, happened to be there too. With such interesting company she was not in her usual hurry to be back at Sanjo~.

Yu~giri heard the news. It was as he had feared. She was a flighty and somewhat choleric lady, perhaps having inherited these traits from her father, never as calm a man as one might have wished. No doubt each of them was now busy strengthening the other's view that he had behaved outrageously and would be doing them a great favor if he were to disap-pear.

He hurried back to Sanjo~. She had taken her daughters with her and left behind all her sons but the youngest. It was a touching reunion. The boys clambered all over him in their delight to see him, though some were also calling for their mother.

He sent messages and emissaries, but there was no reply. He was angry now—such blind obstinacy as he had allied himself to! Waiting for darkness, he went to see what thoughts her father might have in the matter.

Their lady was in the main hall, said the women. The children were with their nurse.

He sent over a stern message. “We are a little old, I should think, for this sort of thing. There you are by yourself, having left a trail of children behind you, here and at Sanjo~. I have found much in your nature that does not ideally suit me, but I have been fated to stay with you. And now— these swarms of children convince me that the time for desertion has passed. Your behavior seems ridiculously dramatic and overdone.”

“'And now.' Yes, “she sent back,” you have'now' quite lost patience, and so I suppose that matters are'now' beyond repair. And what then are we to do? It will give me some comfort if you find it possible to stay with these little ragamuffins.”

“Thank you—such a sweet answer. And whose is the more sorrowfully injured name? I wonder.” * He did not insist that she come to him, and spent the night alone.

Lying down among the children, he surveyed the confusion he had managed to create in both houses. The Second Princess must be utterly bewildered. What man in his right mind could think these affairs interesting or amusing? He had had enough of them.

At dawn he sent over another indignant message. “Everything people see and hear must strike them as infantile. If you wish this to be the end, well, let us have a try at it and see how it suits us. Though I am sure that the children at Sanjo~ are very touching as they ask where we may be, I am sure too that you had your reasons for bringing some with you and leaving others behind. I do not find it possible to play favorites myself. I shall go on doing everything I can for all of them.”

Always quick with her judgments, she saw in the message a threat to take the girls away and hide them from her.

“Come with me,” he said to one of them, a very pretty little thing. “It will not be easy for me to visit you here, and I must think of your brothers too. I want you all to be together. You must not listen to what your mother says about me. She doesn't understand me very well.”