14

Kaoru was his constant companion, almost the favorite that Genji had once been. He was on good terms with everyone in the house, including, of course, the new lady. He would have liked to know exactly how friendly she was. One still, quiet evening when he was out strolling with her brother the chamberlain, they came to a pine tree before what he judged to be her curtains. Hanging from it was a very fine wisteria. With mossy rocks for their seats, they sat down beside the brook.

There may have been guarded resentment in the poem which Kaoru recited as he looked up at it:

“These blossoms, were they more within our reach,

Might seem to be of finer hue than the pine.”

The boy understood immediately, and wished it to be known that he had not approved of the match.

“It is the lavender of all such flowers,

And yet it is not as I wish it were.”

He was an honest, warmhearted boy, and he was genuinely sorry that Kaoru had been disappointed—not that Kaoru's disappointment could have been described as bitter.

Yu~giri's son the lieutenant, on the other hand, seemed so completely unhinged that one half expected violence. Some of the older girl's suitors were beginning to take notice of the younger. It was the turn which Tamakazura, in response to Kumoinokari's petitions, had hoped his own inclinations might take, but he had fallen silent. Though the Reizei emperor was on the best of terms with all of Yu~giri's sons, the lieutenant seldom came visiting, and when he did he looked very unhappy and did not stay long.