’Was there someone hanging about?’
’Yes, I went into your dressing-room to see that everything was nice and tidy, and then I -went down to the bath-house. I saw someone ’slink out of the door as I went down the steps and when I looked out I saw a -woman, standing there.’
Did you speak to her?’
I asked her what she wanted and she said something, but I couldn’t understand.’
’I’m not going to have all sorts of stray people prowling about here,’ he said. ’They've got no right to come.’
He smiled, but Doris, with the quick perception of a woman in love, noticed that he smiled only with his lips, not as usual with his eyes also, and wondered -what it was that troubled him. ’What have you been doing this morning?’ he asked.
’Oh, nothing much. I went for a little walk.’ ’Through the kampong?’
’Yes. I saw a man send a chained monkey up 2, tree to pick coconuts, which rather thrilled me.’
’It’s rather a lark, isn’t it?’
’Oh, Guy, there were two little boys watching him -who were much whiter than the others. I wondered if they were half-castes. I spoke to them, but they didn’t know a word of English.’
’There are two or three half-caste children in the kampong,’ he answered.
’Who do they belong to?’
’Their mother is one of the village girls.’ ’Who is their father?’
’Oh, My dear, that’s the sort of question we think it a little dangerous to ask out here.’ He paused. ’A lot of fellows have native wives, and then when they go home or marry they pension them off and send them back to their village.’ -