Read it through once

‘I do not like being massaged by the new young maids,’ Genji said to Ukon when she arrived. ‘They let me see so plainly how much it bores them to do it. I much prefer some one I have known for a long time ... you, for example.’ No such preference had ever been noticed by those about him, and smiles were secretly exchanged. They realized that Genji had only said this in order to please and flatter the old lady. But it was far from true that any of them had ever been otherwise than delighted at the reception of such a command, and they thought the joke rather a tiresome one. ‘Would you be angry with me, if I took to consorting with elderly ladies?’ he whispered to Murasaki. ‘Yes,’ she nodded, ‘I think I should. With you one never knows where one is. I should be very much perturbed....’ All the while she was at work Genji amused the old lady with his talk. Never had Ukon seen him so lively and amiable. He had now placed the whole direction of public affairs in Tō no Chūjō’s hands; the experiment was working well, and such was Genji’s relief at escaping from the burden which had so long oppressed him that he found it impossible to be serious for a minute. To joke with Ukon, a very matter-of-fact old lady, was found by most people to be out of the question. But Genji had a peculiar gift of sympathy, which enabled him to penetrate the most obstinate gloom, the most imperturbable gravity.