“We came by chance,” he answered gravely.
“Yes, chance dictated by your beguiling guide, good cousin. Is it not so?”
“The Duchess Aoi spoke with indignation of the tales of others, Sado-ko.”
Again the princess laughed in that weird way.
“It is a habit of my sex, Komatzu, to slander one in just that wise, veiling beneath choice, soft, indignant words against others their own subtle design of defamation.”
“Cousin, who would dare defame your name to me?”
“Oh, any fair and clever lady of the court, Komatzu. Come, cousin, were you not informed that I would keep a tryst to-night?”
“With whom could Princess Sado-ko keep tryst?” he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders recklessly.
“With whom, Komatzu? The stars, the moon, the night,—perchance, a lover.”