It is my belief thatthese women lie awake at nights
thinking of new ways to tormenttheir servants. You dont understand how utterly
wrapped up we all are inour painting. And yet all the while he had no inkling of the
real reasonwhy she was angry with him.
Why, Imean that Ma Lackersteens marked you down for
her beloved nephew-in-law, of course. Almost the next moment, as it seemed, he was
walking with Elizabethdown the bazaar road. Westfield, of course, had hurried to
Thongwaat the first threat, or rather hope, of trouble. Andthere had been a whole
crop of rumours about a projected nativerising in the district.
Would you believe it, Ive neverfired my gun at a
fellow yet, not even a dacoit.
I dont know where youre getting this idea from. Was
it possible that there was no escape?
Now, let me think, I know I saw it somewhere.
Hounds meeting on the lawn ofCharlton Hall, the lovely Warwickshire seat of Lord
Burrowdean.
I have had many masters in my life, old Sammy
said.
Sometimes a white pagoda rose from the plain like
thebreast of a supine giantess.
Also,the notice that Ellis had put up on the
previous evening had beentaken down. Elizabeth watched the dance with a mixture of
amazement, boredomand something approaching horror.
He laughed, and his betel-reddened teeth gleamed in
the lamplightlike red tinfoil.
He had lived solong in Burma, he had forgotten
English ways. Yesterday I ate mylunch off Nashs Magazine to save wasting time
washing plates. Elizabeth had had herfirst attack of prickly heat.
He gave a half-whistle, exclaimed, Well, Ill be
damned! With that dead-white ovalface and those wooden gestures she was monstrous,
like a demon.
The expeditionhad been a failure, decidedly.
Somehow it did not seem right oreven safe to go in among that smelly native crowd.
Also,the notice that Ellis had put up on the previous evening had beentaken down.
When Elizabeth had been nearly two years in Paris her mother diedabruptly of
ptomaine poisoning. The Flame of the Forest was in full bloom. He squinted down at
thegirl with his white eyeballs large in his black face. She came back to the ship
in the evening, and they reached Rangoona week later.
There was much smutty talk about Elizabeth. He had
lived solong in Burma, he had forgotten English ways. But really in some ways
thesesmall stations have their advantages for a young girl.