25

Her nurse, sensing the presence of the invader, pushed aside the screen. “What is going on in here? Something very odd is going on in here.”

But he was not to be put off by so minor a reproof. Though the encounter had been quite unplanned, he was at no loss for words. He talked of this and that, and soon it was evening.

“What is your name? I won't let you go till you tell me.”

He stretched out familiarly beside her. The nurse was horrified, for she had at length guessed who he was.

Lamps were being lighted at the eaves. The maids announced that Nakanokimi's toilet was finished and that she had returned to the main room. From other parts of the hall came the sound of shutters being closed. Ukifune's quarters, in a remote corner, were furnished with but a pair of highboys. Crated screens lay about in much disorder. A door had been left open for routine comings and goings. Ukon, a daughter of Tayu~ also in Nakanokimi's service, was closing the shutters, gradually nearer.

“My, but it's dark in here. No one has brought you a light? Well just look at this, will you. I've been in such a rush getting these things shut that I don't even know where I am.” She opened a shutter she had just closed. Niou was mildly disconcerted.

“Come here and listen to what _I_ have to tell you.” The nurse was an emphatic woman. “The most dreadful thing has been going on in here. I've worn myself out keeping watch. I haven't been able to budge from this spot.”

Ukon groped her way through the darkness, and came upon a fra-grantly reclining figure in a man's singlet. So he was at it again! She knew immediately that he did not have Ukifune's permission.

“It most certainly _is_ dreadful. What shall I do? Go this minute and tell our lady?”

She started off. No, said the other, that would hardly be the proper thing to do. Niou was not in the least worried. But he was puzzled. Here was this wonderfully attractive girl, and he could tell from Ukon's manner that she was more than a new maidservant. At great length, he tried to coax her from her silence. There was nothing ill-natured or disagreeable about it, but he could see that she was near distraction. He was genuinely sorry and put much feeling into his efforts to comfort her. Ukon hurried off to tell Nakanokimi. “Very sad, very sad,” she said. “I can imagine how the poor girl feels.”

“That awful habit of his. Her mother will think it very careless of us. I don't know how many times she told me to take care of the child.”

But what was she to do? He had a remarkable way of spying out everyone in the household who was even moderately young and attractive. How had he learned that the girl was here? She fell into an outraged silence.

Ukon had gone on to take a woman named Sho~sho~ into her confi-dence.