"Don't behave as if you hated me."
"Oh, dear! I'm sure I don't hate you, sir. That would be very rude;
and, indeed, it's not the case. I loved you when I first saw you at
the Adzuma Bridge, and longed for you with all my heart; but I knew
what a despised race I belonged to, and that I was no fitting match
for you, and so I tried to be resigned. But I am very young and
inexperienced, and so I could not help thinking of you, and you alone;
and then Chokichi came, and when I heard what you had said about me, I
thought, in the joy of my heart, that it must be a dream of
happiness."
And as she spoke these words, blushing timidly, Genzaburô was dazzled
with her beauty, and said---
"Well, you're a clever child. I'm sure, now, you must have some
handsome young lover of your own, and that is why you don't care to
come and drink wine and sit by me. Am I not right, eh?"
"Ah, sir, a nobleman like you is sure to have a beautiful wife at
home; and then you are so handsome that, of course, all the pretty
young ladies are in love with you."
"Nonsense! Why, how clever you are at flattering and paying
compliments! A pretty little creature like you was just made to turn
all the men's heads--a little witch."
"Ah! those are hard things to say of a poor girl! Who could think of
falling in love with such a wretch as I am? Now, pray tell me all
about your own sweetheart: I do so long to hear about her."
"Silly child! I'm not the sort of man to put thoughts into the heads
of fair ladies. However, it is quite true that there is some one whom
I want to marry."
At this O Koyo began to feel jealous.
"Ah!" said she, "how happy that some one must be! Do, pray, tell me
the whole story." And a feeling of jealous spite came over her, and
made her quite unhappy.