37

He went into the garden and sat on a rock by the brook. The scene was not an easy one to pull himself away from.

“They still flow on, these waters clear and clean.

Can they not reflect the image of those now gone?”

Brushing away a tear, he went to look in upon the nun. His sorrow was so apparent that she too was moved to tears. He sat in the doorway and raised the blind a few inches. She was seated behind a curtain.

“I heard the other day that the young lady was staying in Nijo~.” The conversation had taken a turn that accommodated the interesting subject. “But it had seemed rather awkward to think of visiting. Perhaps you would tell her of my feelings.”

“I had a letter from the governor's wife not long ago. It seems that she has the girl moving from house to house, trying to avoid unlucky directions. At the moment she is hidden in a shabby little cottage somewhere. The best thing would be to leave her here with me—but the mountain roads seem to frighten her.”

“And here I am. All these years I have been coming over the roads that frighten them so. Why should it be? What have we inherited from other lives to account for it?” As was so often the case, there were tears in his voice. “Send off a message, if you will, to wherever it is that she seems to think so safe. Or might I ask you to go yourself?”

“It would be very easy to pass on a message, but I am afraid I am no longer up to going into the city. I do not even think of visiting my lady.”

“You must be bolder. If we see that no one knows, then no one will talk. After all, even the hermits on Atago* went to the city occasionally. And you know it is a good thing to break the most solemn vow if it means making someone else happy.”

“I am not all that holy—no bridge to see the others across.” + She was genuinely perplexed. “But there is sure to be unpleasant talk.”

“This is the best chance you will ever have.” It was not like him to be so insistent. “I will send a carriage day after tomorrow. In the meantime please find out where she is staying. You know very well,” he concluded with a smile,” that I would not dream of making complications.”

She was not so sure. What would be on his mind? He was not a reckless or thoughtless man, however, and he had his own name to think of.

“Very well,” she finally answered. “I will do as you say. The house is very near your own, and possibly it would be a good idea if you were to get off a note. I wouldn't want to seem like a busybody. I am too old to be playing the wise fox.” #

“I could very easily do that. But people do talk, and it will be noised around that I have my eye on the daughter of His Eminence the governor of Hitachi. I understand he is a very rough fellow.”

She was both touched and amused.

It was dark when he left. He broke off some flowers from under the trees and some autumn branches, which he took to his wife, the Second Princess. She could not have been described as unhappy with her marriage, but Kaoru seemed remote and somehow ill at ease. Out of the concern any father would feel, the emperor had written to his sister, the nun at Sanjo~, of what he sensed to be the situation. For his part, Kaoru paid his wife the respect her place demanded; but life was complicated. To see to the needs of a lady so doted upon by his mother and the emperor himself was no easy task, and now had come a new affair.