he
little one.

It was no great distance to Nijio, and they arrived there before dawn.
The carriage was driven up to the western wing of the mansion. To
Shionagon the whole affair seemed like a dream. "What am I to do?" she
said to Genji, who teasingly answered, "What you choose. You may go if
you like; so long as this darling is here I am content." Genji lifted
the girl out and carried her into the house. That part of the mansion
in which they now were, had not been inhabited, and the furniture was
scanty and inappropriate; so, calling Koremitz, the Prince ordered him
to see that proper furniture was brought. The beds were therefore
taken from the eastern wing, where he himself lived.

Day broke, and Shionagon surveyed with admiration all the magnificence
with which she was surrounded. Both the exterior of the building and
its internal arrangements left nothing to be desired. Going to the
casement, she saw the gravelled walks flashing brightly in the sun.
"Ah," thought she, "where am I amidst all this splendor? This is too
grand for me!"

Bath water for their ablutions, and rice soup were now brought into
the apartment, and Genji afterward made his appearance.

"What! no attendants? No one to play with the girl? I will send some,"
and he then ordered some young persons from the eastern wing of the
mansion. Four accordingly came.

Violet was still fast asleep in her night-dress, and now Genji gently
shook and woke her. "Do not be frightened any more," he said quietly
to her; "a good girl would not be so, but would know that it is best
to be obedient." She became more and more pleasing to him, and he
tried to please her by presenting to her a variety of pretty pictures
and playthings, and by consulting her wishes in whatever she desired.
She was still wearing the dress of mourning, of sombre color and of
soft material, and it was only now at last that she began to smile a
little, and this filled Genji with delight. He now had to return to
the eastern wing, and Violet, for the first time, went to the casement
and looked out on the scenery around. The trees covered with foliage,
a small lake, and the plantations round about expanded before her as
in a picture. Here and there young people were going in and out. "Ah!
what a pretty place," she exclaimed, charmed as she gazed around.
Then, turning again into the apartment, she saw beautiful pictures
painted on the screens and walls, which could not but please her.

Gen