ling rather shy and uncomfortable, for this was the
neighbour's first visit, and the native, who had ushered them in,
vanished, sending weird cries around the tangled garden paths as though
to summon his master home.

At length, after long waiting, the silence and suspense, and the wonder
of who would come, from which direction, and when, grew almost
unbearable, and the absurd situation so wrought on their nerves that
both visitors gave vent to little gasps of laughter, brought on probably
by the same nervous sensations which compel children to misbehave in
church--direct promptings of the evil one, inducing a desire to do that
which we know we should not do. At length, after it had been debated in
hurried whispers whether a departure could not be effected, the lady of
the house appeared upon the scene. She was a tall, large lady, in
appearance typically Dutch. She wore the usual white linen jacket and
skimpy sarong, and her legs were bare. She gave a cordial greeting in
Dutch, at least to X. it was Dutch, for he knew nothing whatever of the
language. This his friend carefully explained, so he surmised, as the
lady gave vent to various guttural exclamations of astonishment and
turned to gaze at him as though he were indeed a strange person to
behold.

The conversation between the two then continued glibly, and X. was quite
forgotten, and he felt neglected and grew fidgety, realizing that he
extremely disliked this novel sensation of being ignored, without the
possibility of attracting any attention to himself by a remark. He was
soon to learn however, that those trifling inconveniences of which we
are cognizant are generally less unpleasant than those we do not know,
for presently there was a stir and a general rising from seats as the
husband of the good lady emerged from the house on to the verandah. This
gentleman was tall and dark, with a pointed grey beard like an American
in a caricature. He was clothed in a strange _deshabille_, which ended
in bare feet thrust loosely into carpet slippers, and when the eyes of
the visitors reached thus far they realized why his complexion was so
dark. After the first greetings the host--who X. afterwards learnt had
once held high office under Government, which he gave up for
planting--turned towards him and proceeded to harangue him without full
stops. There is no other way to describe what took place, as he
continued to pour language at his guest without the least apparent
des