14

His men were coughing nervously. It was late, the snow was deep, and the sky seemed to be clouding over again.

“I can see that you have not had an easy time of it,” he said as he got up to leave. “It would please me enormously if I could prevail on you to leave Uji behind you. I can think of places that are far more convenient and just as quiet.”

Some of the women overheard, and were delighted. How very pleasant if they could move to the city!

But Nakanokimi thought otherwise. It was not to be, she said.

Fruit and sweets, most tastefully arranged, were brought out for Kaoru, and, in equally good taste, there were wine and side dishes for his men. Kaoru thought of the watchman, the man he had made such a celebrity of with that perfume. Of unlovely mien, he was known as Wig-beard. To Kaoru he seemed an uncertain support for sorely tried ladies.

“I imagine that things have been lonely since His Highness died.”

A scowl spread over the man's face, and soon he was weeping. “I had the honor of his protection for more than thirty years and now I have nowhere to go. I could wander off into the mountains, I suppose, but'the tree denies the fugitive its shelter.'“+ Tears did not improve the rough face.

Kaoru asked Wigbeard to open the prince's chapel. The dust lay thick, but the images,# decorated as proudly as ever, gave evidence that the princesses had not been remiss with their devotions. The prayer dais had been taken away and the floor carefully dusted, cleaned of the marks it had left. Long ago, the prince had promised that they would be companions in prayer if Kaoru were to renounce the world.

“Beneath the oak I meant to search for shade.

Now it has gone, and all is vanity.”

Numerous eyes were upon him as he stood leaning meditatively against a pillar. The young maidservants thought they had never seen anyone so handsome.

As it grew dark, his men sent to certain of his manors for fodder. Not having been warned, he was much discommoded by the noisy droves of country people the summonses brought, and tried to make it seem that he had come to see the old woman. They must be of similar service to the princesses in the future, he said as he left.