23

The carriage left at dawn. Niou and his retinue, on their way from court, were just then coming in the gate. Having slipped away for a quiet visit with his son, he had few attendants and his carriage was plainer than his rank called for. The governor's wife had her carriage pulled aside while his was brought up to a gallery. He glared at the other party suspiciously. And who would they be, sneaking away in the night? So it was, he said to himself, that an adventurer made his escape. He had a not very lovable way of judging others by himself.

One of her attendants identified her as “a noble person from Hitachi.”

“A noble person from Hitachi!” His young men roared with laughter. “Suppose we give them a bit of the real thing for their troubles.”

Yes, sighed the governor's wife, it had been a poor choice of words; in such company she was scarcely to be called noble. And she so longed to make a decent match for her daughter, who certainly deserved a better than ordinary husband.

Niou made his way inside. “And so you have had a noble person from Hitachi with you? A carriage and guard disappearing in the night—I think most people would find it suspicious.”

He was impossible. She turned away in a show of annoyance which he thought charming.

“It was an old friend of Tayu~'s—no one interesting enough for _you_ to concern yourself with. Why must you always put the wrong meaning on things? You seem absolutely intent on turning people against me.”