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have been to see me,' she answered. 'Well, I haven't been getting on so badly. Till this year I had nothing to complain of, except the usual inconveniences of old age. But now they have not much hope of me. I have been wondering lately whether I should ever see you again. As a matter of fact, I am better than usual to-day, and do not feel at all as though my time were up. I have never thought there was much to be said in favour of dragging on long after all one's friends were dead, and for my part I was ready and anxious to be gone. If I have hung on till now, it has really been chiefly because of Yūgiri's extraordinary kindness and devotion. I can see that the idea of losing me upsets him terribly. . . .' She cried a good deal while she spoke, and her voice was so tremulous that he found it hard to catch her words; but the emotion which lay behind her quavering and often incoherent phrases was always such as he could most easily comprehend and share. In the course of this conversation Genji said: 'I suppose Tō no Chūjō comes to see you several times a day? I should be glad to have a word with him, if he looks in while I am here. There is something I have been wanting to tell him about for a long time. I should be sorry to miss this opportunity; for nowadays we seem very seldom to meet.' 'I don't know how it is,' the old Princess replied; 'it may be that he is very busy, or it may be that he simply does not want to come. I can only tell you that he has not been here once since my illness began. I wonder what sort of thing it is you want to discuss with him? I wish he were not so set against poor Yūgiri. I have said to him ever so many times: "It's no good arguing about how it all began. The harm is done now; they've got themselves talked about, and if you go on keeping them apart, you will only turn every one against you." But once he gets an idea into his head there is no doing anything with him.