5

“Why did you have to run off in such a hurry last night? How long have you been here this evening?”

“I was sorry I had to go. I came earl y this evening because they said you might still be here.” He spoke as one man to another.

“You must come and see me at Nijo~ sometime. It is a more comfortable sort of place, and it seems to attract young people, I don't really know why.”

The stir had subsided. Sensing an intimate $$ tete-a-tete, the throngs were withdrawing.

“So my brother, the crown prince, is letting you have a little time of your own for a change? It used to be that he had to have you with him every moment of the day. Does it make you a little jealous, that your sister is occupying so much of his attention?”

“You are not to think I wanted it that way. If it had been you, now— Confidently he took a seat beside the prince.

“They insist on treating me like a child. If that is their view of me, there is not much that I can do about it. Yet I cannot help being annoyed. Perhaps you might remind another sister, the one whose rooms face east, I am told, that we come from the same worn-out old family,* and so perhaps we might be friends.”

It was the boy's opportunity to present the plum branch.

Niou smiled. “I am glad it is not a peace offering.” He was delighted with it. The scent and color and the distribution of the blossoms surpassed anything he had seen in the palace gardens.

“I've heard it said that the rose plum puts everything into its color and lets the white plum have all the perfume, but here we have color and perfume all in the same blossoms.”

The plum blossom had always been among his favorites. The boy was delighted to have brought such pleasure.

“You are on duty this evening, I believe? Why don't you stay here with me?”

And so the boy was not after all able to call on the crown prince. The scent of the plum blossoms was rather overwhelmed by the scent from Niou's robes. Lying beside him, the boy thought he had never met a more charming gentleman.

“And my cousin, the mistress of your plums?+ Was she not invited to come into the crown prince's service?”

“I don't think I've ever heard anyone mention it—but I did hear my father say that the one who knows best knows best.”

Niou's informants had apprised him of the fact that Ko~bai was more concerned about his own daughter than Prince Hotaru's. Since she did not happen to be Niou's favorite, he did not immediately answer Ko~bai's poem.

Early the next morning he did have a poem ready for the boy to take with him. It was not perhaps a very warm one.

“If I were one who followed inviting scents

Perhaps I might be summoned by the wind.”

“Do not let yourself become involved in talks with the aged,” he said more than once to the boy. “Have a quiet talk with someone nearer your own age.”

These remarks had the effect of making the boy feel responsible for his royal sister. His father's daughters were more open with him and seemed more like sisters, and his childish view of the princess was almost worshipful. Yes, he must find her a good husband. He wished well for all his sisters, and the tasteful gaiety of the crown prince's household made him think that the royal one among them had had very bad luck. How good it would be to see her at Niou's side! The branch of plum blossoms had produced most encouraging hints.