Hanae broke into his daydreams. ‘Sir? Sir, we have no foods to offer visitors, and the cushions in the reception room look very worn and dirty to me. Also, perhaps there should be more wine – and candles, in case some of your friends stay past dusk. Do you want me to go into the city?’

Akitada set aside his bamboo rake. ‘No, you’re needed here to help look after our patients and the two little babies. I’ll see to it that provisions are delivered.’

Hanae did not argue. Poor girl, he thought, watching her run back into the house: we ask far too much of her and give her little credit.

He, too, went inside, changed into a decent robe, and helped himself to more gold from the money chest. Seimei was absent, most probably looking after Tora.

It was a glorious morning as he strode down the street outside his residence. A neighbor saw him and came running from his house to congratulate him. The good news had spread. Akitada was happy. He felt as though he were walking on clouds. The willows lining the canals on Suzako Avenue swayed gently in a light breeze. Children splashed in the water, and a pair of guards officers in their bright tunics trotted by on their fine horses.

When he reached Rokujo Avenue, he decided to simplify his chores by seeking out a few of the best food merchants, placing his orders, and having them delivered immediately. A silk merchant displayed handsome cushions in festive colors of rose and yellow. He purchased these on the spot. The merchant was very pleased to send his clerk with them to the Sugawara residence. All of this naturally involved a generous infusion of gold, but in Akitada’s present mood that did not matter. What mattered was speeding up the process so that he could return quickly and look in on mother and child. In the market, he found young men offering their services to carry purchases or messages. Choosing the cleanest and most polite of these, he hired him for the rest of the day to answer the gate and perform other services. Loading the young man down with a number of other purchases, Akitada returned home, pleased that he had discharged his duties so quickly and efficiently.

He found Tamako in good spirits and his daughter asleep. Hanae, drawn and worried, reported that the doctor had looked in on Tora and sent his assistant for a man skilled in surgery. Between them, they had cut open Tora’s swollen arm and removed a good deal of blood and poison. Tora had not been cooperative, but was sleeping now.

Tamako said, ‘Make her go and tend to her husband, Akitada. It isn’t right that she should spend all her time here when I feel perfectly well.’

Hanae protested that Tora was sleeping, and so was Yuki, who was with him. She needed to see to the preparations for the afternoon’s callers.

‘All is in good hands,’ Akitada assured her. ‘The food will be delivered already prepared. And so will the cushions and gifts for well-wishers.’

Hanae looked doubtful, but left.

Akitada felt a pang of concern for Tora. But being relieved of visiting him immediately, he spent a pleasant hour admiring his sleeping daughter and chatting with his wife about his purchases in the city.

‘It must have cost a good deal,’ she said at one point when he had regaled her with a description of the delicacies he had selected and the excellent wine he had tasted and ordered to be delivered in ten large jars.

He waved her concern aside with a light heart and, seeing that the baby was awake, he leaned over her to make faces and funny sounds.

Yasuko looked back at him with wide eyes and no change of expression whatsoever.

‘She doesn’t smile,’ he complained. ‘Possibly she’s astonished or sadly disappointed, but I cannot help my face. Do you think I frighten her?’

Tamako laughed. ‘She’s much too young to smile.’

‘Oh.’

He tickled the baby’s neck and was thrilled when she seized his finger with her tiny hand and attempted to suck on it. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘she’s really very strong for such a little thing. Is she hungry?’

‘She’ll cry when she is hungry.’

‘Oh.’ He looked at his wife and saw the amusement on her face. ‘I must have forgotten how it is with babies,’ he said, abashed.

Seimei interrupted this blissful moment with the report that deliveries were arriving, and that the merchants expected to be paid. Akitada parted reluctantly from his family.

In his study, he sat behind his desk, opened the account book, and rubbed some ink. Seimei showed the first claimant in.

She was a Mrs Kameyama, a middle-aged woman of portly stature in formal black silk. Her business catered for the parties given by court nobles and specialized in such choice delicacies as honey-glazed chestnuts, fried fish cakes, shrimp-filled steamed buns, pickled watermelon, and a variety of rice dishes. She recited a long list of items delivered by her men and ended with an exorbitant figure that made Seimei draw in his breath sharply. He hid the sound by clearing his throat with a little cough, but Akitada knew guiltily that he had been carried away with his order.

Seimei went to the money chest and counted out an amazing stack of gold pieces, bringing them to Akitada, who entered the expenditure in his book and paid the woman. She smiled and bowed her way out backwards as if he were an imperial prince.

As well she might, thought Akitada, when she carried away such a princely sum of money.

And so it went, as bill after bill was presented, and when the last merchant had left, Seimei reported the amount of gold and silver that remained. It was shockingly small. Not only had Akitada spent lavishly on this day, but the expenses of the previous one had also been costly.

Akitada and Seimei looked at each other. Akitada said, ‘I had no idea that having a daughter would be so expensive.’

Seimei smiled. ‘I am told it gets worse when they take husbands.’

‘This gold I spent… I have not earned it yet. I have neither found Lord Kiyowara’s murderer nor the abbot’s disciple. I feel as if I had stolen the money.’

‘Nonsense, sir. You will solve those cases quickly enough.’

Akitada was not convinced. He was forbidden to meddle in the Kiyowara affair, and the abbot’s case had been in Tora’s hands, but Tora was lying in his bed with an infected wound and a worrisome fever. He said, trying for a light tone, ‘There is an appropriate proverb for this situation. I am surprised you haven’t remembered it.’

Seimei raised his brows. ‘Proverb, sir?’

‘Yes. “Unjustly gained wealth disperses like floating clouds.” I have been strangely out of touch with reality.’

Seimei shook his head. ‘The gold cannot be said to be unjustly gained when you are working to earn it.’

Akitada sighed. Like the rest of his household, Seimei expected more from him than he felt able to produce.

What was worse, he could not make a start when there would be visitors who must be received and entertained, and Tora was far too ill to take up his duties.

The day passed slowly with social duties and frequent visits to Tamako and Tora. Tamako looked and felt well, but Tora was very feverish. When he saw Akitada, he asked what day it was, and when told, he tried to get out of bed to take up his duties. Akitada calmed him down with difficulty.

The stream of neighbors and friends bringing their best wishes continued throughout the afternoon and evening. Both humble and great, they came in their best clothes carrying gifts, some modest and others generous, and sat to chat a little about riots in the city and about Michinaga’s resignation of all his posts to his sons. Most thought it very unfair that Michinaga should be blamed for the fires when the gods might be upset about any number of other matters. They looked forward to the many new appointments that would surely follow in due course. New people would rise to power suddenly. But they all avoided asking about Akitada’s future.