Page:A Wreath of Cloud.djvu/304

300 ‘This,’ thought Yūgiri, ‘is indeed a tribute to the devotion of her guards during all these years! Only a tempest capable of hurling rocks through the air and uprooting whole forests can so far disarm their vigilance that for a few seconds she is exposed to the curiosity of the passer-by.’ He was bound to confess that towards him at any rate the dreaded hurricane had done its best to act a benevolent part.

Several retainers now arrived, reporting that the typhoon was assuming a very serious aspect. ‘It is from the north-east,’ they said, ‘so that here you are comparatively protected and have no notion of its real violence. Both the racing-lodge and the fishing-pavilion are in great danger….’ While those people were busy making fast various doors and shutters, and repairing the damage of the previous night, Genji turned to Yūgiri and said: ‘Where did you arrive from just now?’ ‘I spent the night at my grandmother’s,’ he replied. ‘But every one says that we are in for a very bad storm, and I felt I ought to come back here and see if I could be of any use…. But as a matter of fact it is far worse in the Third Ward than here in the Sixth. The mere noise of the wind, quite apart from everything else, is terrifying at my grandmother’s, and if you do not mind I think it would be a good thing if I went back there at once. She is as frightened as though she were a child of two, and it seems unkind to leave her….’ ‘Yes, by all means go back at once,’ answered Genji hastily. ‘One sometimes thinks that the notion of old people slipping back into a second childhood is a mere fable; but I have learnt lately from instances in my own family that it does really happen. Tell her, please, that I have heard how bad things are in the Third Ward and should certainly come myself, were I not satisfied that you will be able to do quite as much for her as I could.’