Page:Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan.djvu/218

 The answer:

She mused alone until the day dawned. The next night the Prince came again, but she knew not of it. A lady was living in the opposite house. The Prince's attendant saw a palanquin stopping before it and said to His Highness, "Some one has already come—there is a palanquin." "Let us retire," said the Prince, and he went away. Now he could believe the rumours. He was angry with her, yet being unable to make an end of it he wrote: "Have you heard that I went to you last night? It makes me unhappy that you don't know even that.

She received the letter on a rainy day, O unlooked-for disaster! She suspected slanderous tongues.

So she answered, but the Prince being somewhat troubled by the sight of the previous night, did not write to her for a long time. 162