Part 5 (2/2)
”Saja, yes....”
He uttered the two syllables with a hard, sibilant accent of politeness, laying equal stress upon each. He accompanied his little word of civility with a brief, automatic nod of the head. The raden-aju too, seated beside Leonie, answered in the same way:
”Saja....”
But she always followed it up with a little embarra.s.sed laugh. She was very young still, possibly just eighteen. She was a Solo princess; and Van Oudijck could not tolerate her, because she introduced Solo manners and Solo expressions into Labuw.a.n.gi, in her conceited arrogance, as though nothing could be so distinguished and so purely aristocratic as what was done and said at the court of Solo. She employed court phrases which the Labuw.a.n.gi population did not understand; she had forced the regent to engage a Solo coachman, with the Solo state livery, including the wig and the false beard and moustache, at which the people stared wide-eyed. Her yellow complexion was made to appear yet paler by a light layer of rice-powder applied moist; her eyebrows were slightly arched in a fine black streak; jewelled hairpins were stuck in her glossy chignon and a kenanga-flower in her girdle. Over an embroidered garment which, according to the custom of the Solo court, was long and trailing in front, she wore a kabaai of red brocade, relieved with gold braid and fastened with three large gems. Two stones of fabulous value, moreover, in heavy silver settings, dragged her ears down. She wore light-coloured open-work stockings and gold embroidered slippers. Her little thin fingers were stiff with rings, as though set in brilliants; and she held a white marabou fan in her hand.
”Saja ... saja,” she answered, civilly, with her embarra.s.sed little laugh.
Leonie was silent for a moment, tired of carrying on the conversation by herself. When she had spoken to the regent and the raden-aju about their sons she could not find much more to say. Van Oudijck, after Eva had shown him round the galleries--for there was always something new to admire--joined his wife; the regent rose to his feet.
”Well, regent,” asked the resident, in Dutch, ”how is the raden-aju pangeran?”
He was enquiring after Sunario's mother, the old regent's widow.
”Very well ... thank you,” murmured the regent, in Malay. ”But mamma didn't come with us ... so old ... easily tired.”
”I want to speak to you, regent.”
The regent followed Van Oudijck into the front verandah, which was empty.
”I am sorry to have to tell you that I have just had another bad report of your brother, the Regent of Ngadjiwa.... I am informed that he has lately been gambling again and has lost large sums of money. Do you know anything about it?”
The regent shut himself up, as it were, in his puppet-like stiffness and kept silence. Only his eyes stared, as though gazing through Van Oudijck at distant objects.
”Do you know anything about it, regent?”
”Tida, no....”
”I request you, as head of the family, to look into it and to keep a watch upon your brother. He gambles, he drinks; he does your name no credit, regent. If the old pangeran could have guessed that his second son would go to the dogs like this, it would have pained him greatly. He held his name high. He was one of the wisest and n.o.blest regents that the government ever had in Java; and you know how greatly the government valued the pangeran. Even in the Company's days, Holland owed much to your house, which was always loyal to her. But the times seem to be altering.... It is very regrettable, regent, that an old Javanese family with such lofty traditions as yours should be unable to remain faithful to those traditions....”
Raden Adipati Surio Sunario turned pale with a greenish pallor. His hypnotic eyes pierced the resident through; but he saw that the latter too was boiling with anger. And he veiled the strange glitter of his gaze with a drowsy weariness.
”I thought, resident, that you had always felt an affection for my house,” he murmured, almost plaintively.
”And you thought right, regent. I loved the pangeran. I have always admired your house and have always tried to uphold it. I want to uphold it still, together with yourself, regent, hoping that you see not only, as your reputation suggests, the things of the next world, but also the realities about you. But it is your brother, regent, whom I do not love and cannot possibly esteem. I have been told--and I can trust the words of those who told me--that the Regent of Ngadjiwa has not only been gambling ... but also that he has failed this month to pay the heads at Ngadjiwa their salaries....”
They looked at each other fixedly; and Van Oudijck's firm and steady glance met the regent's gaze, the gaze of a man in a trance.
”The persons who act as your informants may be mistaken....”
”I am a.s.suming that they would not bring me such reports without the most incontestable certainty.... Regent, this is a very delicate matter. I repeat, you are the head of your family. Enquire of your younger brother to what extent he has misapplied the money of the government and make it all good as soon as possible. I am purposely leaving the matter to you. I will not speak to your brother about it, in order to spare a member of your family as long as I can. It is for you to admonish your brother, to call his attention to what in my eyes is a crime, but one which you, by your prestige as the head of the family, are still able to undo. Forbid him to gamble and order him to master his pa.s.sion. Otherwise I foresee very grievous things and I shall have to propose your brother's dismissal. You yourself know how I should dislike to do that. For the Regent of Ngadjiwa is the second son of the old pangeran, whom I held in high esteem, even as I should always wish to spare your mother, the raden-aju pangeran, any sorrow.”
”I thank you,” murmured Sunario.
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