De stille kracht. English

by Louis Couperus

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  That day the Regent of Ngadjiwa, Sunario's younger brother, was topay a visit at Patjaram, because Mrs. van Oudijck was leaving on thefollowing day. They sat waiting for him in the front verandah, rockingabout the marble table, when his carriage came rattling down the longavenue of tjemaras. They all stood up. And now it appeared more plainlythan ever how highly respected the old raden-aju, the dowager, was,how closely related to the Susuhunan himself, for the regent alightedand, without taking another step, squatted on the lowest stair of theverandah and salaamed respectfully, while behind his back a retainer,holding up the closed gold-and-white umbrella like a furled sun, madehimself still smaller and shrank together in self-annihilation. Andthe old woman, the Solo princess, who once more saw the palace gleamingbefore her, went to meet him and welcomed him with all the courtesy ofpalace Javanese, the language spoken among princely equals, till theregent rose and, following her, approached the family circle. And themanner in which he then, for the first time, bowed to the wife of hisresident, however polite, was almost condescending, compared with hisobsequiousness of a moment ago.... He now sat down between Mrs. de Luceand Mrs. van Oudijck; and a drawling conversation began. The Regentof Ngadjiwa was a different type from his brother Sunario; taller,coarser, without the other's look of a marionette in a puppet-show;though younger, he looked the older of the two, with his eyes searedwith passion: the passion for women, and wine, the passion for opium,the passion, above all, for gambling. And a silent thought seemed toflash up in that listless, drawling conversation, with few words andno ideas, ever and again interrupted by the courtly "Saja, saja,"behind which they all concealed their secret longing.... They spokeMalay because Mrs. van Oudijck did not dare to speak Javanese,that refined, difficult language, full of shades of etiquette, onwhich hardly a single Hollander ventures when speaking to Javanesepersons of rank. They spoke little; they rocked gently; a vague,courteous smile showed that all were taking part in the conversation,though only Mrs. de Luce and the Regent exchanged an occasionalword.... Until at last the De Luces--the old mother, her son Roger,her brown daughters-in-law--were no longer able to restrain themselves,even in Mrs. van Oudijck's presence, and laughed shyly while drinks andcakes were being handed round; until, notwithstanding their courtesy,they rapidly consulted one another, over Leonie's head, in a few wordsof Javanese; until the old mother, no longer mistress of herself,at last asked her whether she would mind if they had a little gameof cards. And they all looked at her, the wife of the resident, thewife of the high official who, they knew, hated the gambling whichwas ruining them, which was destroying the grandeur of the Javanesefamilies whom he wished to uphold in spite of themselves. But shewas too indifferent to think of preventing them with a single wordof tactful jest, for her husband's sake; she, the slave of herown passion, allowed them to be the slave of theirs, in the luxuryof their enslavement. She merely smiled and readily permitted theplayers to withdraw to the twilight of the spacious, oblong innergallery, the ladies counting their money into their handkerchiefs,alternating with the men, until they were sitting close together,and, with their eyes on the cards or spying into one another's eyes,gambled and gambled endlessly, winning, losing, paying or receiving,just opening and closing the handkerchiefs containing the money,with never a word nor a sound but the faint rustle of the cards inthe twilight of the inner room. What game were they playing? Leoniedid not know, did not care, indifferent to their passion and gladthat Addie had remained beside her and that Theo was glaring at himjealously. Did he know, did he suspect anything? Would Oorip alwayshold her tongue? She enjoyed the emotion and she wanted them both;she wanted both white and brown; and the fact that Doddie was sittingon the other side of Addie and almost swooning as she rocked to andfro afforded her an acute and wicked delight. What else was there inlife but to yield to one's luxurious cravings? She had no ambitionand was indifferent to her exalted station; she, the first womanin the residency, who delegated all her duties to Eva Eldersma,who was quite unmoved when hundreds of people, at the receptions atLabuwangi, Ngadjiwa and elsewhere, greeted her with a ceremony notfar short of royal honours, who, in her rosy, perverse day-dreams,with a novel by Catulle Mendes in her hands, silently laughed atthe exaggerated ideas that ruled up-country, where the wife of aresident is treated as a queen. She had no other ambition than tobe loved by the men whom she selected, no other emotional life thanthe worship of her body, like an Aphrodite who chose to be her ownpriestess. What did she care if they played cards in there, if theRegent of Ngadjiwa was ruining himself! On the contrary, she thoughtit interesting to read that ruin on his seamed face; and she wouldtake care to be even more carefully groomed, to let Oorip massage herface and limbs, to make Oorip prepare even more of the white moistrice-powder, the wonderful cream, the magic salve of which Oorip knewthe secret and which kept her flesh firm and unwrinkled and white asa mangosteen. She thought it exciting to see the Regent of Ngadjiwaburning away like a candle, foolishly, brutalized by women, wine, opiumand cards; perhaps most of all by cards; by that bewildered glaringat them; by high play, and the calculation of chances which defiedcalculation, superstitiously reckoning by sacred omens the day and thehour when he should play in order to win, the number of the players,the amount of his stake.... Now and then she took a furtive glance atthe faces of the players in the inner gallery, darkened by twilightand the lust of gain, and reflected on what Van Oudijck would say,how angry he would be if she told him about it.... What did it matterto him if the regent's family ruined themselves? What did his policymatter to her, what did the whole Dutch policy matter, which aimsat securing the position of the Javanese nobility, through whom itgoverns the population? What did it matter to her that Van Oudijck,thinking of the noble old pangeran, was grieved by his children'svisible decline? None of it mattered to her; what mattered was onlyherself and Addie and Theo. She must really tell her step-son, herfair-haired lover, that afternoon, not to be so jealous. It wasbecoming obvious; she was sure that Doddie noticed it.... Didn'tshe save the poor child yesterday? But how long would that yearninglast? Hadn't she better warn Van Oudijck, like a kind, solicitousmother?... Her thoughts wandered languidly; it was a sultry morning,in those last, scorching days of the eastern monsoon, which cover thelimbs with trickling moisture. A shiver ran through her body; and,leaving Doddie with Addie, she carried Theo off and reproached himfor looking so savage with impotent jealousy. She pretended to be alittle angry and asked him what he wanted.

  They had gone to the side of the house, to the long side-verandah;there were monkeys here in a cage, with skins strewn all around fromthe bananas which the animals had eaten, fed to them by the children.

  The luncheon-gong had already sounded twice; the babus were squattingin the back-verandah, pounding everybody's spices. But the peoplearound the card-table seemed to hear nothing. Only the whisperingvoices became louder and shriller, so that Leonie and Theo, as wellas Addie and Doddie, pricked up their ears. A dispute seemed suddenlyto break out between Roger and the regent, notwithstanding Mrs. deLuce's attempts to hush it. They spoke Javanese, but they let allcourtesy go to the winds. Like two coolies, they abused each otherfor cheats, constantly interrupted by the soothing efforts of oldMrs. de Luce, supported by her daughters and daughters-in-law. Butthe chairs were roughly thrust back; a glass was broken. Roger seemedto dash his cards down in anger. All the women in the inner roomtook part in the soothing process, their voices raised, or muffled,or whispering, with little outcries, little shrieks of apology andindignation. The servants, innumerable, were listening in everycorner of the house. Then the dispute abated, but long, explanatoryarguments still continued between the regent and Roger; the womentried to hush them down--"Ssh!... Ssh!"--embarrassed because of theresident's wife, looking out to see where she might be. And at lastall was quiet and they sat down in silence, hoping that not too muchof the dispute had reached her ears. Until at length, very late--itwas almost three o'clock--old Mrs. de Luce, with the gambling-passionstill blazing in her dim eyes, s
ummoning all her distinction and herprincely prestige, went to the verandah and, as though nothing hadhappened, asked Mrs. van Oudijck if she would not come in to lunch.