“Good night, kind maid,” said Sado-ko, and closed her eyes.
“Princess!” cried the maid, in a choked voice, “forgive the insignificant one, but whither do we journey to-morrow?”
“To Kamakura,” said the princess, in a dragging voice; she was tired now. “We will go for a little while—just a little while, Natsu-no, to the castle Aoyama.”
The maid was speechless. When she found her tongue, its faltering sentences betrayed her agitation.
“Princess—the artist-man—”
“Has gone to-night. Take peace, restless maid. Good night.”
“But whither, Lady Princess, whither went the artist-man?”
“I bid you speak no more. Good night.”
The house party of the Prince Komatzu ended the following day. A special train carried the exalted ones back to Tokyo, whither they went at once to the palace Nijo, for there Komatzu always made his home in Tokyo, with his cousin, the Prince of Nijo.