8

It was late in the night when they arrived at the Nijo~ mansion. The splendor quite blinded her. The carriage was pulled up at one of the “threefold, fourfold” halls,* and an impatient Niou came out. Her apartments, she saw, and those of her attendants as well, were beautifully appointed. They had obviously benefited from Niou's personal attention. No detail had been overlooked.

It was matter for much astonishment that he who had been the cause of so many rumors and worries should now, quite suddenly, have found himself a wife. There was nothing ambiguous about what had happened this time, people said, hoping for a glimpse of the hidden princess.

Kaoru was to move into his Sanjo~ mansion, now near completion, towards the end of the month. He went every day to see how it was progressing. Since Nijo~ was not far away, he mounted a lookout to see how things would be with Nakanokimi. Presently the men he had sent to Uji came back to report that Niou seemed much taken with the lady, and had been very attentive. Kaoru was pleased, of course; and at the same time he felt a wave of something like resentment. It was senseless, he knew, for his circumstances had, after all, been of his own devising.

“Might I have it back again?” + he whispered to himself.

“The boat setting forth on the undulant Lake of Loons,

Though badly rigged, did somehow make a landfall.” #