Louis Couperus - The Hidden Force

DESPITE THEIR FEAR, Theo and Léonie sought each other out even more often, feeling drawn by what was now an unbreakable bond. In the afternoons he would slip into her room and they would embrace wildly and then remain close together.

“It must be nonsense, Léonie…” he whispered.

“All right, so what is it then?” she whispered back. “I heard the groaning, didn’t I? And the stone whizzing through the air…”

“And so…”

“What?”

“If it is something… suppose it’s something we can’t explain.”

“But I don’t believe that sort of thing!”

“Nor do I… But just…”

“What?”

“If it is something… if it’s something we can’t explain, then…”

“Then what?”

“Then it’s not because of us!” he whispered almost inaudibly. “Didn’t Urip say so herself. It’s because of Papa!”

“Oh, but it’s too silly…”

“I don’t believe in that nonsense either.”

“The groaning… must be animals.”

“And that stone must have been thrown by some wretch, one of the servants, someone with big ideas… or who has been bribed…”

“Bribed? By whom?”

“By… the… Prince…”

“Oh, Theo!”

“Urip said that the groaning came from the palace…”

“What do you mean?”

“And that they wanted to taunt Papa from there…”

“Taunt?”

“Over the Prince of Ngajiwa’s dismissal.”

“Did Urip say that?…”

“No, no, she didn’t say that. I’m saying that. Urip said that Prince Sunario has magic powers. That’s nonsense of course. The fellow is no good… He’s bribed people… to torment Papa.”

“But Papa isn’t aware of anything…”

“No… And we mustn’t say anything. That’s the best thing to do… We must ignore it.”

“And the white pilgrim, Theo, that Doddy has seen twice… And when they make the table turn at Van Helderen’s place, Ida sees him too…”

“Oh, of course he’s another of the Prince’s men.”

“Yes, I expect he is… But it’s still horrible, Theo… My Theo, I’m frightened!”

“Of that nonsense! Come now!”

“If it is something, Theo… it’s not because of us ?”

He laughed.

“Of course not. Because of us! It’s foolery by the Prince…”

“We shouldn’t see each other any more…”

“Oh yes we should. I love you, I’m mad about you.”

He kissed her violently and they were both afraid, but he put a brave face on it.

“Come on, Léonie, don’t be so superstitious…”

“When I was a child, my nursemaid told me…”

She whispered a story in his ear. He turned pale.

“Oh, what nonsense, Léonie!”

“There are strange things, here in the Indies… If they bury something of yours, a handkerchief or a lock of hair… then… using just charms… they can make you fall ill and waste away, and die… without a doctor having any idea what the disease is…”

“That’s rubbish!”

“It’s absolutely true!”

“I didn’t know you were that superstitious!”

“I never used to think about it. I’ve only been thinking about it recently… Theo, do you think there is something?”

“There’s nothing… except kissing.”

“No, Theo… be quiet, don’t. I’m frightened… It’s getting late. It’s getting dark so soon. Papa’s already up, Theo. Go now, Theo… through the boudoir. I want to take a bath. I’m frightened when it gets dark these days… With those rains there is no dusk… It takes you by surprise, the evening… The other day I had no light taken into the bathroom… and it was already so dark in there… and there were two bats flying around; I was frightened they would get tangled up in my hair… Quiet… is that Papa?”

“No, it’s Doddy… playing with her cockatoo.”

“Go now, Theo.”

He left through the boudoir and walked into the garden. She got up, threw a kimono over her sarong that she had knotted loosely under her arms, and called Urip.

“Bring the bath things!”

“Ma’am!..”

“Where are you, Urip?”

“Here, ma’am…”

“Where were you?…”

“Here in front of your garden door, ma’am… I was waiting!” said the maid, meaningfully, implying that she was waiting until Theo had gone.

“Is the kanjeng tuan up yet?”

“Already up… has already had bath, ma’am.”

“Bring me my bath things then… Light the lamp in the bathroom… The other day the lamp-glass was broken, and the lamp wasn’t filled…”

“Ma’am never used to bathe with a light on…”

“Urip, did anything… happen… this afternoon?”

“No… everything was calm… But, oh dear, when night falls… All the servants are afraid, ma’am. The cook doesn’t want to stay.”

“Oh, what a fuss… Urip, promise her five guilders… as a present if she stays…”

“The butler is frightened too, ma’am…”

“Oh, what a fuss… I’ve never known so much fuss, Urip…”

“No, ma’am.”

“I’ve always been able to organize my life so well… But these are things!..”

“What can we do, ma’am?… Things more powerful than mankind…”

“Do you really think they aren’t wildcats… and a man throwing stones?”

“They’re no such thing, ma’am.”

“Well… just bring my bath things then… And don’t forget to light the lamp…”

The maid went out. Darkness was already filtering from the rain-shrouded air. The commissioner’s mansion lay deathly quiet in the pitch darkness of its giant banyans; the lamps had not yet been lit. On the front veranda, alone, Van Oudijck was drinking tea, reclining on a wicker chair in pyjama bottoms and jacket… In the garden, deep shadows were accumulating, like swathes of black, airy velvet falling from the trees.

“Lamp boy!” called Léonie.

“Ma’am!”

“Light the lamps! Why are you so late? First light the lamp in my bedroom…”

She went to the bathroom… She passed the long line of storerooms and servant’s rooms that closed off the garden at the back. She looked up at the banyan where she had recently heard the groaning of the souls in the top branches. The branches were not moving. There was not a breath of wind, the air was oppressively close with a threatening rainstorm, a storm too heavy to break. In the bathroom Urip lit the lamp.

“Did you bring everything, Urip?”

“Yes, ma’am…”

“Didn’t you forget the big bottle of white perfume?”

“And what’s this then, ma’am?”

“Right then… In future you must give me a finer towel for my face. I always tell you to give me a fine towel. I don’t like those rough ones…”

“I’ll go and get one.”

“No, no! Stay here, sit outside the door…”

“Very good, ma’am…”

“Listen, you must get a locksmith to check the keys here… We can’t lock the bathroom… That’s ridiculous, if we have guests…”

“I’ll see to it tomorrow.”

“Don’t forget…”

She closed the door. The maid squatted in front of the closed door, patient, passive in the face of the small and big things of life, guided only by loyalty to her mistress, who gave her nice sarongs and as large an advance as she wanted.

In the bathroom, the small nickel lamp on the wall cast a dim light over the greenish marble of the wet floor and on the water in the square brick tub.

“I think I’ll bathe earlier in the afternoon!” thought Léonie.

She took off her kimono and sarong and, naked, glanced in the mirror at the silhouette of her milky plumpness, the curves well-versed in the ways of love. Her blond hair took on a golden glow, and a pearly dew dripped from her shoulders over her neck and down the shadowy cleft between her small, round breasts. She lifted up her hair, admiring, studying herself to see whether there was the line of a wrinkle, feeling whether her flesh was firm. One hip arched, as she stood on one leg and created a long, sculpted line of white undulating highlights, caressing her thigh and knee and ebbing away at her instep… But she woke with a start from this admiring contemplation. She quickly tied up her hair in a bun, lathered herself, and with the bucket poured the water over herself. It fell heavily in long, flat spouts — her shoulders, breasts and hips shining like polished marble in the light of the small lamp. She was keen to make haste, looking up at the window to see if the bats would fly in again… Yes, she would definitely bathe earlier in future. It was almost dark outside. She dried herself hurriedly on a rough towel and gave herself a quick rub with the white ointment that Urip always prepared, her elixir of youth, suppleness and firm whiteness. At that moment she saw a small red spot on her thigh. She paid no attention to it, thinking it must be something in the water, a dead insect. She rubbed it off. But as she rubbed herself she saw two or three larger, vermilion-coloured spots. She suddenly went cold, not knowing or understanding. Again she rubbed herself; and she took hold of the towel, on which the spots had already left an unpleasant deposit like congealed blood. A shudder went through her from head to foot. And suddenly she saw. From the corners of the bathroom — she could not tell how or from where — the spots came, at first small, then larger as if spewed out by a slavering mouth full of betel juice. Chilled to the core, she screamed. The splashes, having been spewed out as purple gobs, became thicker and swelled as they hit her. Her body was smeared with a grimy, dribbling red. One splash struck her back… On the greenish white of the floor, the filthy gobs slithered, floating on the water that had not yet run away. In the tub they fouled the water and disintegrated disgustingly. She was red all over, filthily besmirched, as if defiled by a shameful mass of filthy vermilion, which invisible betel-chewing throats scraped together from the corners of the room and spat at her, aiming at her hair, her eyes, her breasts, her belly. She screamed and screamed, driven completely out of her mind by the strange events. She threw herself at the door, tried to open it, but there was something wrong with the handle, because the door was not locked, or bolted. She could feel repeated spitting on her back; her buttocks were dripping with red. She screamed for Urip and heard the maid on the other side of the door, pulling and pushing. Finally the door gave way. Helpless, crazy, naked and besmirched, she threw herself into her maid’s arms. The servants flocked around. She could see them coming from the back veranda, along with Van Oudijck, Theo and Doddy. In her wild hysteria, her eyes wide open, she was ashamed, not of her nakedness but of her defilement… The maid had grabbed the kimono, also besmirched, from the door handle and threw it round her mistress.