hair with
jewelled pins and chumpaka flowers, or in the draping of her sarong
and kabaya. Only her lacerated gums ached until one tear after another
forced its way from between her blackened lids down her rouged cheeks.

There had been feasting all day outside under the palms, and the
youths, her many cousins, had kicked the ragga ball, while the elders
sat about and watched and talked and chewed betel-nut. There were
great rice curries on brass plates, with forty sambuls> within easy
reach of all, luscious mangosteens, creamy durians and mangoes, and
betel-nuts with lemon leaves and lime and spices. Fires burned about
among the graceful palms at night, and lit up the silken sarongs and
polished kris handles of the men, and gold-run kabayas of the women.

The Prince came as he promised, just as the old Kadi had pronounced
the couple man and wife, and laid at Anak's feet a wide gold bracelet
set with sapphires, and engraven with the arms of Johore. He dropped
his eyes to conceal the look of pity and abhorrence that her swollen
gums and disfigured features inspired, and as he passed across the
mats on the bamboo floor he inwardly cursed the customs of his people
that destroyed the beauty of its women. He had lived among the English
of Singapore, and dined at the English Governor's table.

A groan escaped the girl's lips as she dropped back among the cushions
of her tinsel throne. Noa saw the little tragedy, and for the first
time understood its full import. He ground his teeth together, and
his hand worked uneasily along the scabbard of his kris.

In another moment the room was empty, and the bride and groom were left
side by side on the gaudily bedecked platform, to mix and partake of
their first betel-nut together. Mechanically Noa picked the broken
fragments of the nut from its brass cup, from another a syrah leaf
smeared with lime, added a clove, a cardamom, and a scraping of mace,
and handed it to his bride. She took it without raising her eyes, and
placed it against her bleeding gums. In a moment a bright red juice
oozed from between her lips and ran down the corner of her distorted
mouth. Noa extended his hand, and she gave him the half-masticated
mass. He raised it to his own mouth, and then for the first time
looked the girl full in the face.

There was no love-light in the drooping brown eyes before him. The
syrah-stained lips were slightly parted, exposing the feverish gums,
and short, black teeth. Her han