41

They would not be going far, thought Bennokimi; but in fact they were taken to Uji. Kaoru had arranged for a change of oxen. It was day-break when they crossed the Kamo River and passed the Ho~sho~ji Tem-ple.* Jiju~ could now see his face, albeit dimly, and it so excited her that she was gaping openly. Ukifune sat with bowed head, too stunned to look about her. The rocky stretches might be difficult, he said, and took her in his arms. A thin curtain hung between the two of them and the women behind. Bennokimi wished that he had had the consideration not to drag her out in broad daylight. And how it would have pleased her, she sighed, to have seen her lady going off with him thus. One was witness to strange, sad happenings when one lived too long. Try though she might to control herself, her face was presently contorted with grief. What a silly old woman, thought Jiju~. A nun was not in any case the sort of chaperone a person wanted on such a happy excursion, and why did she have to add nasty tears to her own nasty presence? Well, old people cried a great deal, and that was that.

Kaoru had not been disappointed in the girl, but something about the sky and the day brought back all of his longing for Oigimi. As they entered the mountains he too found his eyes clouding over. He sat leaning against an armrest, deep in memories. He noticed, as a wheel of the carriage pulled out of a rut, that his sleeves were hanging far beneath the blind, and, in the river mist, the red of a singlet and the blue of the robe over it had come together.+ A poem formed in his mind:

“I think to find her equal, and my sleeves

Are deep in tears as the land in morning mist.”

The nun heard him, and would have liked to wring her own sleeves dry. All very odd, and not very pretty, thought Jiju~. Such a jolly outing —and these people seemed determined to spoil the fun. The nun's sobs were coaxing sniffles from Kaoru.

But he had to think of the girl beside him. “It is just that memories come back of all the times I have been over this road. Do look at the colors in the hills. You have not said a word to me.”

He forced her to look up. Her face shyly hidden by a fan, she was remarkably like Oigimi. But there was something too docile and passive about her. It made him uneasy. Oigimi had been similarly fragile and childlike, but she had also been of a solemn, meditative turn. His longing seemed to fill the very skies.#