CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The night was like a veil of softest velvet dropping slowly from theheavens. The moon, in its first quarter, displayed a very narrow,horizontal sickle, like a Turkish crescent, between whose pointsthe unlit portion of the disk was faintly washed in against thesky. A long avenue of tjemara-trees stretched in front of the house,their trunks straight, their leafage like drawn plush or ravelledvelvet, showing like blots of cotton-wool against the clouds, which,drifting low, announced the approaching rainy monsoon fully a monthbeforehand. Wood-pigeons cooed at intervals and a gecko was calling,first with two rattling, preliminary notes, as though tuning up,then with his call of "Tokke! Tokke!" four or five times repeated:first loudly, then submissively and more faintly.
A night watchman, in his hut in front of the house, on the high-road,where the sleeping market-place now showed its empty stalls, struckeleven blows on his hollow block of wood; and as yet one more belatedcart drove past, he cried, in a hoarse voice:
"Who goes there?"
The night was like softest velvet dropping slowly from the heavens,like a whirling mystery, like an oppressive menace of the future. But,in that mystery, under the frayed black blots, the ravelled plushof the tjemaras, there was an inexorable incitement to love, inthe windless night, like a whisper that this hour should not bewasted.... True, the gecko was gibing like a mocking imp, with a sortof dry humour; and the watchman, with his "Who goes there?" startledthe hearer; but the wood-pigeons cooed softly and the whole night waslike a world of softest velvet, like a great alcove curtained by theplush of the tjemaras, while the distant, sultry rain-clouds, hangingall that month on the horizon, ringed the skies with an oppressivespell. Mystery and enchantment hovered through the velvety night,drifting down in the twilit alcove; and at their touch all thoughtwas dissolved; the very soul dissolved, leaving only a warm, sensuousvision....
The gecko fell silent, the watchman dropped asleep; the velvetynight reigned like an enchantress crowned with the sickle of themoon. They came walking slowly, two youthful figures, their armsabout each other's waists, lips seeking lips under the tyranny ofthe enchantment. They were as shadows under the drawn velvet of thetjemaras; and softly, in their white garments, they dawned on thebeholder like an eternal pair of lovers who are forever and everywhererepeating themselves. And here above all were lovers inevitable,in this enchanted night, were one with the night, conjured up by theall-powerful spell; here they were inevitable, unfolding like a twinflower of predestined love, in the velvet mystery of the compellingheavens.
And the tempter seemed to be the son of that night, the son of thatinexorable queen of the night, bearing with him the yielding girl. Inher ears the night seemed to sing with his voice; and her small soulmelted in tender compliance, under these magic powers. She walked onagainst his side, feeling the warmth of his body sinking into heryearning maidenhood; and she lifted her brimming gaze to him, withthe languid light of her sparkling pupils glittering like diamondsin her eyes. He, drunk with the power of the night, the enchantress,who was as his mother, thought first of leading her still farther,no longer conscious of reality, no longer feeling any awe of her orof any one whatever; thought of leading her still farther, past theslumbering watchman, across the high road, into the compound, whichlay hidden yonder between the stately plumes of the coco-palms thatwould form a canopy to their love; of leading her to a hiding-place,a house which he knew, a bamboo hut the door of which would be openedto him ... when suddenly she stopped ... and started ... and grippedhis arm and pressed herself still more tightly against him and imploredhim to go no farther. She was frightened.
"Why not?" he asked, gently, in his soft voice, which was as deep andvelvety as the night. "Why not to-night, to-night at last?... Thereis no danger."
But she shuddered and shook and entreated:
"Addie, Addie, no ... no.... I daren't go any farther.... I'mfrightened that the watchman will see us ... and then ... there's ahadji walking over there ... in a white turban...."
He looked out at the road: on the farther side the kampong lay waiting,under the canopy of the coco-palms, with the bamboo hut whose doorwould be opened to him.
"A hadji?... Where, Doddie? I don't see any one...."
"He crossed the road; he looked back at us; he saw us: I saw his eyesgleaming; and he went into the compound, behind those trees."
"Darling, I saw nothing, there's no one there."
"Yes, there is! Yes, there is! Addie, I daren't go: oh, do let usgo back!"
His handsome Moorish face became overcast; he already saw the door ofthe little hut opened by the old woman whom he knew, who worshipped himas every woman worshipped him, from his mother to his little nieces.
And he again tried to persuade her, but she refused, stood still,and clung to the ground with her little feet. Then they turned backand the clouds were sultrier, low on the horizon, and the velvetydarkness fell more thickly, like warm snow, and the ravelled tjemaraswere fuller and blacker than before. The house loomed up before them,sunk in sleep, with not a light showing. And he entreated her, heimplored her not to leave him that night, saying that he would die,that night, without her.... Already she was yielding, promising, withher arms around his neck ... when again she started and again cried:
"Addie! Addie!... There he is again!... That white figure!..."
"But you seem to see hadjis everywhere!" he said, banteringly.
"Look for yourself then ... over there!"
He looked, and now really saw a white figure approaching them in thefront-verandah. But it was a woman.
"Mamma!" cried Doddie, in dismay.
It was indeed Leonie, slowly coming towards them:
"Doddie," she said, gently, "I have been hunting for you everywhere. Iwas so frightened, I didn't know where you were. Why do you go outwalking so late? Addie," she continued gently, in kind, motherly tones,as though addressing two children, "how can you behave like this andbe out with Doddie so late? You really mustn't do it again: I meanit! I know that there's nothing in it; but suppose any one saw you! Youmust promise me never to do it again! You'll promise, won't you?"
She begged this prettily, in tones of engaging reproach, as thoughto show that she quite understood him, quite realized that they wereyearning for each other in that velvet night of enchantment, forgivingthem at once in the words which she uttered. She looked like an angel,with her round, white face in the loose, waving, fair hair, in thewhite silk kimono which hung round her in supple folds. And she drewDoddie to her and kissed the girl and wiped away her tears. And then,gently, she pushed Doddie before her, to her room in the annexe,where she slept safely amidst so many other rooms full of thedaughters and grandchildren of old Mrs. de Luce. And, while Doddie,softly crying, went to the solitude of her room, Leonie continued tospeak words of gentle reproach to Addie, warning him, prettily now,as a sister might do, while he, brown and handsome, with his Moorishlook, stood before her, bantering yet embarrassed. They were in thedusk of the dark front verandah; and the night outside exhaled itsinexorable breath of luxuriance, love and velvety mystery. And shereproached him and warned him and said that Doddie was a child andthat he mustn't take advantage of her. He shrugged his shoulders,defended himself, in his bantering manner. His words fell upon herlike gold-dust, while his eyes glittered like a tiger's. As sheargued persuasively that he must really spare Doddie in the future,she seized his hand, that hand of which she was enamoured, his fingers,his palm, which she could have kissed that morning in her confusion;and she pressed it and almost cried and implored him to have mercy onDoddie.... He suddenly realized it, he looked at her suddenly withthe lightning of his wild-animal glance and he found her beautiful,was aware of her as a woman, white as milk, and he knew her fora priestess full of secret knowledge. And he too spoke of Doddie,coming closer to Leonie, touching her, pressing her hands betweenhis two hands, giving her to understand that he understood. And,still pretending to weep and entreat and implore, she led him on andopened the door of her room. He saw a
faint light and her maid, Oorip,who disappeared through the outer door and lay down to sleep there,like a faithful dog, on a little mat. Then she gave him a laugh ofwelcome; and he, the tempter, was amazed at the glowing laugh ofthis white, fair-haired temptress, who flung off her silken kimonoand stood before him, like a nude statue, spreading out her arms....
Oorip, outside, listened for a moment. And she was about to lie downto sleep, smiling, dreaming of the lovely sarongs which the mem sahibwould give her to-morrow, when she started as she saw walking throughthe grounds and disappearing in the night a hadji in a white turban....
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