The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer Page B

desperately searching for a concubine to provide His Majesty with a son. You too have been concerned about that. It would be the worse for all of us if the regent, Lord Yoshinobu, were in a position to take power. Several times we have set the selection process under way, but His Majesty has rejected every lady-in-waiting we have assigned him. Nevertheless,’ Lady Tsuguko continued smoothly, ‘for some reason this humble girl has taken his fancy. We should thank the gods.’
    ‘You bring disgrace on the House of Tokugawa,’ spat the Retired One.
    ‘I’m sure you have not forgotten, my lady, that the Lady Tama, the mother of the fifth shogun and the beloved consort of the third shogun, Lord Iemitsu, began life as a grocer’s daughter, too lowly even to enter His Majesty’s presence.’ Lady Tsuguko’s voice was sugary. ‘She was, you will remember, an attendant delegated to assist with His Majesty’s bath when she caught his august fancy. The sixth shogun, Lord Ienobu, was the child of a commoner so lowly that she could not even be granted the status of an official concubine. His Majesty, if I may take the liberty of reminding you, had to be reared in secret by a retainer. Then there was the Lady Raku, the mother of the fourth shogun. Let me think now. Was her father not a seller of second-hand clothes?’
    ‘Enough, enough!’
    ‘In any case it is nothing to do with us, my lady. You were present when His Majesty himself chose not your candidate but ours.’
    ‘He is a boy,’ hissed the Retired One. ‘He knows nothing. You have bewitched him.’
    ‘You know very well too that it is Her Highness’s prerogative to offer His Majesty a concubine as a gift. You see, you have no reason at all to complain.’ She placed her hands on the fragrant rice-straw matting, fingers together, the tips of her forefingers touching.
    ‘Thank you so much for deigning to visit us,’ she said with an air of finality, touching her forehead to her hands.
    ‘And you have trained her, have you, in the arts of the bedchamber? I think not. The creature is a yokel. She willnot last long!’ With that the Retired One flung out of the room.
    When the door had closed and the swish of her footsteps had faded away, Lady Tsuguko turned to Sachi, her aristocratic features crumpling with concern.
    ‘Such cruel and unconsidered words!’ she said. Sachi had never heard her speak with such feeling before. ‘We are all expected to show deference to Lady Tensho-in but she takes her due too far. This one time she has lost the battle. Don’t be sad, my dear. Put her mean-spirited envy out of your mind. The first time Her Highness saw you, she knew you did not belong there, in that rustic place. She knew your destiny was different, that you belonged with us. His Majesty is young and gently bred, not interested in playing with women. Lady Tensho-in and the elders assigned him many beautiful ladies of noble blood, well coached in the arts of coquetry, but he rejected them all. Her Highness knows him well. She knew that you, with your lovely face and pure heart, would be to his taste. Don’t be afraid. Her Highness and I have full faith in you.
    ‘But beware. Until tonight, stay here in the royal chambers. Who knows what jealousy may drive a woman to do?’
    Sachi was still on her knees. She had been the target of barbs as savage as the Retired One’s many times before. The women’s palace, she had learned, was a slippery place where women would smile, then utter words that cut like a dagger twisted in your belly. No matter that she had been officially adopted by a samurai family, everyone knew where she came from. Many of the princess’s ladies and the ladies from the women’s palace too had been there when Her Highness had seen her and taken a fancy to her. To them she was a wild thing, an animal that the princess had inexplicably adopted as a pet. Even though she had learned their language, their walk and their manners, even though she moved