Page:The Tale of Genji.pdf/94

88 creature in the world! What was the use of running after her? But all the same she continued to obsess him.

But the girl in front of him was young and gay and charming. They were soon getting on very well together.

‘Is not this kind of thing much more amusing than what happens with people whom one knows?’ asked Genji a little later. ‘Do not think unkindly of me. Our meeting must for the present remain a secret. I am in a position which does not always allow me to act as I please. Your people too would no doubt interfere if they should hear of it, which would be very tiresome. Wait patiently, and do not forget me.’ These rather tepid injunctions did not strike her as at all unsatisfactory, and she answered very seriously ‘I am afraid it will not be very easy for me even to write to you. People would think it very odd.’ ‘Of course we must not let ordinary people into our secret’ he answered, ‘but there is no reason why this little page should not sometimes carry a message. Meanwhile not a word to anyone!’ And with that he left her, taking as he did so Utsusemi’s thin scarf which had slipped from her shoulders when she fled from the room.

He went to wake his page who was lying not far away. The boy sprang instantly to his feet, for he was sleeping very lightly, not knowing when his help might be required. He opened the door as quietly as he could. ‘Who is that?’ someone called out in great alarm. It was the voice of an old woman who worked in the house. ‘It is I’ answered the boy uneasily. ‘What are you walking about here for at this time of night?’ and scolding as she came, she began to advance towards the door. ‘Bother her’ thought the boy, but he answered hastily ‘It’s all right, I am only going outside for a minute;’ but just as Genji passed through the door, the moon of dawn suddenly emerged in all her brightness. Seeing a grown man’s figure appear in the doorway