"I had served him well," answered Willems. "How well, you know yourself--through thick and thin. No matter what work and what risk, I was always there; always ready."
How well he saw the greatness of his work and the immensity of that injustice which was his reward. She was that man"s daughter!
In the light of this disclosure the facts of the last five years of his life stood clearly revealed in their full meaning. He had spoken first to Joanna at the gate of their dwelling as he went to his work in the brilliant flush of the early morning, when women and flowers are charming even to the dullest eyes. A most respectable family--two women and a young man--were his next-door neighbours. n.o.body ever came to their little house but the priest, a native from the Spanish islands, now and then. The young man Leonard he had met in town, and was flattered by the little fellow"s immense respect for the great Willems.
He let him bring chairs, call the waiters, chalk his cues when playing billiards, express his admiration in choice words. He even condescended to listen patiently to Leonard"s allusions to "our beloved father," a man of official position, a government agent in Koti, where he died of cholera, alas! a victim to duty, like a good Catholic, and a good man.
It sounded very respectable, and Willems approved of those feeling references. Moreover, he prided himself upon having no colour-prejudices and no racial antipathies. He consented to drink curacoa one afternoon on the verandah of Mrs. da Souza"s house. He remembered Joanna that day, swinging in a hammock. She was untidy even then, he remembered, and that was the only impression he carried away from that visit. He had no time for love in those glorious days, no time even for a pa.s.sing fancy, but gradually he fell into the habit of calling almost every day at that little house where he was greeted by Mrs. da Souza"s shrill voice screaming for Joanna to come and entertain the gentleman from Hudig & Co. And then the sudden and unexpected visit of the priest. He remembered the man"s flat, yellow face, his thin legs, his propitiatory smile, his beaming black eyes, his conciliating manner, his veiled hints which he did not understand at the time. How he wondered what the man wanted, and how unceremoniously he got rid of him. And then came vividly into his recollection the morning when he met again that fellow coming out of Hudig"s office, and how he was amused at the incongruous visit.
And that morning with Hudig! Would he ever forget it? Would he ever forget his surprise as the master, instead of plunging at once into business, looked at him thoughtfully before turning, with a furtive smile, to the papers on the desk? He could hear him now, his nose in the paper before him, dropping astonishing words in the intervals of wheezy breathing.
"Heard said . . . called there often . . . most respectable ladies . . .
knew the father very well . . . estimable . . . best thing for a young man . . . settle down. . . . Personally, very glad to hear . . . thing arranged. . . . Suitable recognition of valuable services. . . . Best thing--best thing to do."
And he believed! What credulity! What an a.s.s! Hudig knew the father!
Rather. And so did everybody else probably; all except himself. How proud he had been of Hudig"s benevolent interest in his fate! How proud he was when invited by Hudig to stay with him at his little house in the country--where he could meet men, men of official position--as a friend.
Vinck had been green with envy. Oh, yes! He had believed in the best thing, and took the girl like a gift of fortune. How he boasted to Hudig of being free from prejudices. The old scoundrel must have been laughing in his sleeve at his fool of a confidential clerk. He took the girl, guessing nothing. How could he? There had been a father of some kind to the common knowledge. Men knew him; spoke about him. A lank man of hopelessly mixed descent, but otherwise--apparently--un.o.bjectionable.
The shady relations came out afterward, but--with his freedom from prejudices--he did not mind them, because, with their humble dependence, they completed his triumphant life. Taken in! taken in! Hudig had found an easy way to provide for the begging crowd. He had shifted the burden of his youthful vagaries on to the shoulders of his confidential clerk; and while he worked for the master, the master had cheated him; had stolen his very self from him. He was married. He belonged to that woman, no matter what she might do! . . . Had sworn . . . for all life!
. . . Thrown himself away. . . . And that man dared this very morning call him a thief! d.a.m.nation!
"Let go, Lingard!" he shouted, trying to get away by a sudden jerk from the watchful old seaman. "Let me go and kill that . . ."
"No you don"t!" panted Lingard, hanging on manfully. "You want to kill, do you? You lunatic. Ah!--I"ve got you now! Be quiet, I say!"
They struggled violently, Lingard forcing Willems slowly towards the guard-rail. Under their feet the jetty sounded like a drum in the quiet night. On the sh.o.r.e end the native caretaker of the wharf watched the combat, squatting behind the safe shelter of some big cases. The next day he informed his friends, with calm satisfaction, that two drunken white men had fought on the jetty.
It had been a great fight. They fought without arms, like wild beasts, after the manner of white men. No! n.o.body was killed, or there would have been trouble and a report to make. How could he know why they fought? White men have no reason when they are like that.
Just as Lingard was beginning to fear that he would be unable to restrain much longer the violence of the younger man, he felt Willems"
muscles relaxing, and took advantage of this opportunity to pin him, by a last effort, to the rail. They both panted heavily, speechless, their faces very close.
"All right," muttered Willems at last. "Don"t break my back over this infernal rail. I will be quiet."
"Now you are reasonable," said Lingard, much relieved. "What made you fly into that pa.s.sion?" he asked, leading him back to the end of the jetty, and, still holding him prudently with one hand, he fumbled with the other for his whistle and blew a shrill and prolonged blast. Over the smooth water of the roadstead came in answer a faint cry from one of the ships at anchor.
"My boat will be here directly," said Lingard. "Think of what you are going to do. I sail to-night."
"What is there for me to do, except one thing?" said Willems, gloomily.
"Look here," said Lingard; "I picked you up as a boy, and consider myself responsible for you in a way. You took your life into your own hands many years ago--but still . . ."
He paused, listening, till he heard the regular grind of the oars in the rowlocks of the approaching boat then went on again.
"I have made it all right with Hudig. You owe him nothing now. Go back to your wife. She is a good woman. Go back to her."
"Why, Captain Lingard," exclaimed Willems, "she . . ."
"It was most affecting," went on Lingard, without heeding him. "I went to your house to look for you and there I saw her despair. It was heart-breaking. She called for you; she entreated me to find you. She spoke wildly, poor woman, as if all this was her fault."
Willems listened amazed. The blind old idiot! How queerly he misunderstood! But if it was true, if it was even true, the very idea of seeing her filled his soul with intense loathing. He did not break his oath, but he would not go back to her. Let hers be the sin of that separation; of the sacred bond broken. He revelled in the extreme purity of his heart, and he would not go back to her. Let her come back to him.
He had the comfortable conviction that he would never see her again, and that through her own fault only. In this conviction he told himself solemnly that if she would come to him he would receive her with generous forgiveness, because such was the praiseworthy solidity of his principles. But he hesitated whether he would or would not disclose to Lingard the revolting completeness of his humiliation. Turned out of his house--and by his wife; that woman who hardly dared to breathe in his presence, yesterday. He remained perplexed and silent. No. He lacked the courage to tell the ign.o.ble story.
As the boat of the brig appeared suddenly on the black water close to the jetty, Lingard broke the painful silence.
"I always thought," he said, sadly, "I always thought you were somewhat heartless, Willems, and apt to cast adrift those that thought most of you. I appeal to what is best in you; do not abandon that woman."
"I have not abandoned her," answered Willems, quickly, with conscious truthfulness. "Why should I? As you so justly observed, she has been a good wife to me. A very good, quiet, obedient, loving wife, and I love her as much as she loves me. Every bit. But as to going back now, to that place where I . . . To walk again amongst those men who yesterday were ready to crawl before me, and then feel on my back the sting of their pitying or satisfied smiles--no! I can"t. I would rather hide from them at the bottom of the sea," he went on, with resolute energy. "I don"t think, Captain Lingard," he added, more quietly, "I don"t think that you realize what my position was there."
In a wide sweep of his hand he took in the sleeping sh.o.r.e from north to south, as if wishing it a proud and threatening good-bye. For a short moment he forgot his downfall in the recollection of his brilliant triumphs. Amongst the men of his cla.s.s and occupation who slept in those dark houses he had been indeed the first.
"It is hard," muttered Lingard, pensively. "But whose the fault? Whose the fault?"
"Captain Lingard!" cried Willems, under the sudden impulse of a felicitous inspiration, "if you leave me here on this jetty--it"s murder. I shall never return to that place alive, wife or no wife. You may just as well cut my throat at once."
The old seaman started.
"Don"t try to frighten me, Willems," he said, with great severity, and paused.
Above the accents of Willems" brazen despair he heard, with considerable uneasiness, the whisper of his own absurd conscience. He meditated for awhile with an irresolute air.
"I could tell you to go and drown yourself, and be d.a.m.ned to you," he said, with an unsuccessful a.s.sumption of brutality in his manner, "but I won"t. We are responsible for one another--worse luck. I am almost ashamed of myself, but I can understand your dirty pride. I can!
By . . ."
He broke off with a loud sigh and walked briskly to the steps, at the bottom of which lay his boat, rising and falling gently on the slight and invisible swell.
"Below there! Got a lamp in the boat? Well, light it and bring it up, one of you. Hurry now!"
He tore out a page of his pocketbook, moistened his pencil with great energy and waited, stamping his feet impatiently.
"I will see this thing through," he muttered to himself. "And I will have it all square and ship-shape; see if I don"t! Are you going to bring that lamp, you son of a crippled mud-turtle? I am waiting."
The gleam of the light on the paper placated his professional anger, and he wrote rapidly, the final dash of his signature curling the paper up in a triangular tear.
"Take that to this white Tuan"s house. I will send the boat back for you in half an hour."
The c.o.xswain raised his lamp deliberately to Willem"s face.
"This Tuan? Tau! I know."
"Quick then!" said Lingard, taking the lamp from him--and the man went off at a run.
"Ka.s.si mem! To the lady herself," called Lingard after him.
Then, when the man disappeared, he turned to Willems.
"I have written to your wife," he said. "If you do not return for good, you do not go back to that house only for another parting. You must come as you stand. I won"t have that poor woman tormented. I will see to it that you are not separated for long. Trust me!"
Willems shivered, then smiled in the darkness.
"No fear of that," he muttered, enigmatically. "I trust you implicitly, Captain Lingard," he added, in a louder tone.
Lingard led the way down the steps, swinging the lamp and speaking over his shoulder.