When Lim Yang Bing informed his son of the arrest of his accuser Pak Ardjan, and communicated to him some of the details of the capture, Lim Ho chuckled with delight. “That’s one good riddance, at all events,” quoth he, to himself. “Now, with a very little management on our part, that fellow will be found guilty and sent to the devil long before his son’s smuggling case can come on at all. The most dangerous witness will then be out of the way.”
Then, for a while, Lim Ho seemed lost in thought. He had made the njonja of the Resident a very handsome and valuable present of jewellery, in return for which he had got nothing but a mere empty promise that she would see what she could do for him in the way of inducing the girl to listen to his [98]proposals. “Indeed! njonja mahal, an expensive lady,” he muttered. “By Kong, what will be her price if I should need her active help in the case of the girl’s refusal? Mercy on me! that will cost a pretty penny.”
But Pak Ardjan’s arrest gave another direction to his thoughts.
“No, the girl is not to be won, of that I am certain, she hates me too much to consent. But that is precisely the thing which makes her so attractive to me. She is an elegant, pretty girl! That’s true enough, but there are many other good-looking maidens in the dessas—That’s tame, I know all about them. No, no, to make the rebellious hussy bend to my will; to cover her, who detests me, with my kisses; to have her, who despises me, in my arms; and then—yes, then, when I am tired of her, and she is soiled and faded body and soul—then to be able to trample upon her, and fling her from me. That, look you, is the highly flavoured dish which, in my pursuit of her, I intend to enjoy. And, by Kong, I shall have my way, too. How? that I don’t know, just yet. By force or by cunning? that matters little—if needs be, by both!”
Thus he muttered to himself as, in his father’s house, he lay stretched out on a most luxurious divan, with his long Chinese pipe in his mouth, in which he was smoking the most fragrant tobacco the Celestial empire produces.
“By cunning?” he continued, after a few puffs at his pipe, “by cunning? Now, what is the most serious obstacle? The girl’s will, no doubt;—well, I shall know how to get over that, if I get the chance, that will have, I daresay, to be a matter of violence after all. Now what else is there? The njonja!—The baboe is in her service; but I think she will help me, especially if—” Here the wretch moved his hand in the manner so peculiar to the Chinese, when they count money, putting down at each gesture a little pile of coins, which always contains the exact number required, never one piece more or less. “Now, is there any one else in my way? Yes, there is Ardjan, who wants to marry her; but he is pretty well accounted for, he is safe enough in jail, and won’t very easily get out of the mess he is in, as he is charged with having smuggled a couple of pikols of opium. Long before he has been condemned, and has served his time, the deed must be done. Yes, long before that Dalima must have been mine! What, then—why, then? I sha’n’t give either of them another thought, then the question will be, what pretty one will next take [99]my fancy,—from Ardjan, I have nothing to fear, even if he does escape punishment, the company will know how to deal with him. There is only one man left against whom I must be on my guard, that is Setrosmito, Dalima’s father. Oh, that cursed Javanese, he threatened me with his kris, did he? When I offered him five hundred rix-dollars for his daughter! Oh, I will pay him out for that. But how?—A thought strikes me—That arrest of Pak Ardjan seems to have been the easiest matter in the world. If Setrosmito could be made to fall into the same trap—if we could secure him—were it but for a few weeks!”
Springing up from his couch, Lim Ho ran to a small gong which stood by a pillar, supported on a very elegant foot of china, and with a small stick, which was carved in the shape of a crocodile’s head, the emblem of Ngoh, the water-god, he struck two sharp blows upon the clear-toned metal.
A gaudily dressed Javanese servant immediately made his appearance, walked up to the divan, and, squatting down before it, placed his hands to his forehead, and obsequiously made his “sembah.”
“Do you think, Drono,” asked Lim Ho, “that Singomengolo is still at Santjoemeh?”
“I saw him only this morning, babah,” replied Drono, as he repeated his sembah.
“Then run and fetch him at once,” said his master. “You will find him, I have no doubt, somewhere about the opium-store. Tell him I want to speak to him. Make haste!”
“Sajah babah,” said the man, as he glided back a few paces, then rose, and with his face still turned to his master, made his way out of the room.
“Yes,” continued Lim Ho to himself, pursuing the thoughts which the entrance of the servant had interrupted. “Yes, if it were but for a few weeks, in that time, I have no doubt, I could find some means of enticing little Dalima. The njonja Resident might be most useful to me in this. But it will cost money! No matter, there is no lack of that!”
He rose again and struck the gong, and another Javanese servant presented himself.
“Has Drono gone yet?” asked Lim Ho.
“Not yet, babah,” was the man’s reply, “but he is just about to start.”
“Very well, then run and call him back,” ordered Lim Ho.
A moment later Lim Ho’s confidential servant again stood before him. [100]
“Before you go to look for Singo,” said the master, “you must go to the house of M?Bok Karijah, and you must tell her that I want to see her here as soon as possible.”
“Saja-babah,” said Drono, as again he made the sembah.
“Yes,” cried Lim Ho, impatiently, “but be off at once. Saja-babah.”
The next day, M?Bok Karijah entered the Residence, and asked to see the njonja besar, or great lady. She was admitted at once, for it was morning, and Laurentia had just finished attending to her household duties, and had given out all that was needful to the cook. She was at that moment engaged in changing her morning kabaai for another one, made of fine lawn trimmed with lace. Indeed, the lady’s doors were never closed to the old quack, and she would always receive her, at any hour of the day, if she could possibly do so.
“Good morning, njoonjaa,” said the old woman, in that drawling tone so peculiar to the obsequious Javanese, while she squatted down at the European lady’s feet.
“Tabeh nènèh,” replied Laurentia.
“Did the obat have the desired effect?” began the old hag.
“Oh yes,” replied Laurentia; “it worked admirably, you must let me have a good supply of it.”
“That is what I intended to do, njonja, but the ingredients, you know, are so difficult to get, they are so expensive.”
Laurentia took a small purse from her work-basket, and put a couple of rix-dollars into the old woman’s hand.
“There,” said she, “take that to buy them, and mind you let me have some soon.”
The crone took the money, and tied it up in the corner of a dirty handkerchief, from which a bunch of keys was dangling, and, with a cunning leer, she assured the lady that she would have no reason to complain.
Then she began to talk about master Leo, and to tell Laurentia what a dear, clever little chap he was, and how everyone in the street turned back to look at the little fellow as he passed. No doubt, now and then, an eye might be cast on the baboe also who had charge of him; for, there could be no question about it, the baboe was exceedingly pretty. Really, the njonja ought not to allow such a girl to go about so freely; she was too good-looking, and there are always people wicked enough to take advantage of innocence. The njonja knew that well enough, and it would be such a pity if the poor girl should get into bad hands. There was so much money to be [101]made out of her. So the old hag rattled on; and so, in a disjointed way, and by degrees, she told Laurentia that Lim Ho’s passion for Dalima was daily increasing in violence, and that every day he was prepared to make greater sacrifices to gain possession of her. Then Laurentia’s greedy eye began to glisten, and cunning old M?Bok was clever enough to see that she might safely venture.
Bending forward, but still keeping her watchful eye fixed on Laurentia’s face, she went on for some time speaking in whispers, and seemed to be arousing the lady’s keenest attention; for evidently Laurentia did not lose a word, and frequently nodded in token of assent. When the nènèh had finished speaking, Mrs. van Gulpendam did not at once reply, but, for awhile, seemed lost in meditation. At length she said:
“Boleh; tapeh—mentega sama ikan.”
At the first word, “Boleh,” which signifies “it is possible, it might be done,” the dull eye of the old hag brightened; but, at the remainder of the sentence, she looked up with genuine surprise.
Yes, the purely idiomatic Dutch expression, though rendered most correctly in Malay, was beyond her.
“Mentega sama ikan?” she asked, in a strangely puzzled tone of voice.
“To be sure,” repeated Laurentia, in Malay. “Sauce with the fish. Don’t you understand me, nènèh? Cash down, I mean, M?Bok, cash down! I am not going to be taken in by empty promises.”
“Alas!” sighed the old woman, who now saw clearly enough what was meant by “Sauce with the fish.” She drew a little box out of the folds of the sash which confined the sarong around her scraggy hips, and offered it to the njonja. It contained a pair of valuable golden ear-rings of Chinese workmanship, richly set with diamonds.
“Is that all?” asked Mrs. van Gulpendam, with a contemptuous smile.
“They are very valuable,” muttered the old hag.
But the Resident’s wife slowly shook her head.
“Lim Ho asked me,” continued M?Bok, “to tell you that he intends to come and personally express his gratitude to you as soon as the affair has succeeded.”
Laurentia laughed, “When the affair has succeeded,” she repeated, scornfully. “A pretty story, indeed! No, I don’t intend to see the babah at all.” [102]
“But, njonja—”
“That will do,” said Laurentia; “not another word about it. Come,” continued she, “you may take those things away with you again.”
“But what then am I to tell Lim Ho?” asked the nènèh.
“You may tell him just whatever you like, nèh.”
“But, njonja—”
“Now, M?Bok,” said Laurentia, resolutely, “not another word on that subject. Don’t forget to bring me a good supply of the obat.”
“Has the njonja no other orders for me?”
“None at present,” was the answer.
“I only wished to tell you that I have another little lot of jewellery at home,” insisted the old hag; “ear-rings, rings—!”
“No, no, nèh,” said Laurentia, interrupting her; “but if you should happen to know of some bracelets.”
“Bracelets, njonja? of what kind?”
“Golden ones, of course,” replied Mrs. van Gulpendam. “A little while ago I saw some that I should very much like to have; the Chinese major’s daughter was wearing them. They were beauties, serpents of old gold which went three or four times round the wrist and they had eyes of brilliants and in their mouth was a rose-coloured diamond as thick as that, look!” And the njonja at these words held up her little finger.
Old M?Bok Karijah devoured, so to speak, the words which she heard.
“If,” continued the njonja, “you could find me such a pair of bracelets, I should think them well worth having and—there might be a little profit for you too.”
These words were uttered in the most careless manner possible, though Laurentia’s eyes seemed to pierce the old woman as she spoke them.
“Saja, njonja,” replied M?Bok, scrambling to her feet; “Good morning, njonja.”
“Good morning, nèh,” said the lady.
Half an hour after this interview Lim Ho uttered a frightful curse as again and again he repeated the words, “An expensive lady!”
But he was too much intent upon his purpose to hesitate and so next day he handed M?Bok the bracelets for which she had asked him. [103]
Before proceeding further with our story, we shall have to give the reader some information concerning Mr. van Nerekool, the young lawyer to whom Anna van Gulpendam had appealed for help in her anxiety to save Ardjan, the future husband of her favourite servant Dalima. Hitherto the narrative has carried us away, now it is time to cast a look backward.
Charles van Nerekool was, as we have seen, a fine tall young man of about five or six-and-twenty years of age, with handsome clearly cut features, a light beard and moustache and thick curly hair of a somewhat darker shade. He had studied at Leyden, the Athens of Holland. But though he had passed all his examinations most creditably, yet, he could not help confessing to himself that he had not altogether done justice to his great abilities. Both at the Grammar School and at the University he had passed for a somewhat absent and careless fellow in his studies. He had, from his early youth, been too much inclined to waste his time on objectless hobbies; but they were hobbies which showed that his mind was one of no ordinary stamp. Mighty fond was he, when a boy, of all kinds of things which lay outside the regular routine of his school duties. First and foremost, he loved music, then drawing, painting, in fact, the general contemplation of nature. Consequently, he had frequently been kept in for neglecting his lessons; but the boy............