However, Udaijin soon discovered who he was, and without any further
remarks quitted the room, taking the papers with him.

The troubled state of Genji and the lady may be easily imagined, and
in great anxiety he left the scene.

Now it was the character of Udaijin that he could never keep anything
to himself, even his thoughts. He therefore went to the eldest
daughter--that is, the Empress-mother, and told her that he had found
papers which clearly were in the handwriting of Genji, and that though
venturesomeness is the characteristic of men, such conduct as that
which Genji had indulged in was against all propriety. "People said,"
continued Udaijin, "that he was always carrying on a correspondence
with the present Saiin. Were this true, it would not only be against
public decorum, but his own interest; although I did not entertain any
suspicion before."

When the sagacious Empress-mother heard this, her anger was something
fearful. "See the Emperor," she said; "though he is Emperor, how
little he is respected! When he was Heir-apparent, the ex-Sadaijin,
not having presented his daughter to him, gave her to Genji, then a
mere boy, on the eve of his Gembuk; and now this Genji boldly dares to
carry on such intrigues with a lady who is intended to be the Royal
consort! How daring, also, is his correspondence with the sacred
Saiin! On the whole, his conduct, in every respect, does not appear to
be as loyal as might be expected, and this only seems to arise from
his looking forward to the ascent of the young Prince to the throne."

Udaijin somehow felt the undesirability of this anger, and he began to
change his tone, and tried to soothe her, saying: "You have some
reason for being so affected; yet don't disclose such matters to the
public, and pray don't tell it to the Emperor. It is, of course, an
impropriety on the part of the Prince, but we must admit that our
girl, also, would not escape censure. We had better first warn her
privately among ourselves; and if the matter does not even then come
all right, I will myself be responsible for that."

The Empress-mother, however, could not calm her angry feelings. It
struck her as a great disrespect to her dignity, on Genji's part, to
venture to intrude into the very mansion where she was staying. And
she began to meditate how to turn this incident into a means of
carrying out the design which she had been forming for some time.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 89: A temporary