was that young fellow from the bank who used
to ride to the Vinck bungalow early and late. That old woman thought it
was for that Emma of hers. When she found out what he wanted exactly,
there was a row, I can tell you. She would not have Nina--not an hour
longer--in the house. Fact is, I heard of this affair and took the girl
to my wife. My wife is a pretty good woman--as women go--and upon my
word we would have kept the girl for you, only she would not stay. Now,
then! Don't flare up, Kaspar. Sit still. What can you do? It is
better so. Let her stay with you. She was never happy over there. Those
two Vinck girls are no better than dressed-up monkeys. They slighted
her. You can't make her white. It's no use you swearing at me. You
can't. She is a good girl for all that, but she would not tell my wife
anything. If you want to know, ask her yourself; but if I was you I
would leave her alone. You are welcome to her passage money, old fellow,
if you are short now." And the skipper, throwing away his cigar, walked
off to "wake them up on board," as he expressed it.

Almayer vainly expected to hear of the cause of his daughter's return
from his daughter's lips. Not that day, not on any other day did she
ever allude to her Singapore life. He did not care to ask, awed by the
calm impassiveness of her face, by those solemn eyes looking past him on
the great, still forests sleeping in majestic repose to the murmur of the
broad river. He accepted the situation, happy in the gentle and
protecting affection the girl showed him, fitfully enough, for she had,
as she called it, her bad days when she used to visit her mother and
remain long hours in the riverside hut, coming out as inscrutable as
ever, but with a contemptuous look and a short word ready to answer any
of his speeches. He got used even to that, and on those days kept quiet,
although greatly alarmed by his wife's influence upon the girl. Otherwise
Nina adapted herself wonderfully to the circumstances of a half-savage
and miserable life. She accepted without question or apparent disgust
the neglect, the decay, the poverty of the household, the absence of
furniture, and the preponderance of rice diet on the family table. She
lived with Almayer in the little house (now sadly decaying) built
originally by Lingard for the young couple. The Malays eagerly discussed
her arrival. There were at the beginning crowded levees of Malay women
with their ch