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the letter to Murasaki, and explained the situation. 'I have been suggesting that she should apply for a post at the Palace,' he said. 'But I am not sure that I could get her accepted. You see, it was from my house that Lady Akikonomu entered the Imperial service, and it might be thought that I was asking too much in trying to establish a second ward of mine in a high position at the Palace. Nothing would be gained if I restored her to her father; for he too has already supplied His Majesty with a consort.^[1] It is all very difficult and confusing.... The Emperor is extremely attractive. Now that she has seen him, were she only a few years younger and somewhat less diffident about her own powers to please, she would not, I am sure, rest content till she secured a footing in his household. . . .' 'How horrible you think everyone is,' Murasaki answered, laughing. Even if she admired the Emperor (and there is no reason to suppose that she did), a girl such as she would never dream of putting herself forward. . . . We women are really far less immodest than you suppose.' 'Possibly,' replied Genji. 'But on the other hand the Emperor is far handsomer than you suppose, as you will admit when you have seen him.'

Another difficulty was now beginning to present itself. So long as she continued to live quietly in the New Palace the question of Tamakatsura's clan-rights was not likely to be raised. She would pass as a member of the Minamoto, Genji's own clan, and be admitted without further scrutiny to the worship of his family gods. But supposing he succeeded in getting her into the Palace or in finding her a husband, it would then be necessary to come into the open about which clan she belonged to. He would, of course, if he intended to pass her off as his own child, have to pretend that she was a Minamoto. If this only meant