.
The Kling--the old, stupid, trusted Kling--stupid to trust a child
like that with a servant like that----

So the Kling was hanged next morning, and Mercier sailed away that
afternoon, when the little steamer came in. The little colony on the
island of prisoners went on with its life as usual. Ah, bah! There was
no harm done! She was so very immature! Mercier need not have exacted
the life of the Kling servant, after all. He was supersensitive and
over-scrupulous. Life in a prison colony in the Far East certainly
affects one's judgment.

CANTERBURY CHIMES

VII

CANTERBURY CHIMES

I

The Colonial Bishop lay spread out on his long, rattan chair, idly
contemplating the view of the harbour, as seen from his deep, cool
verandah. As he lay there, pleasant thoughts crossed his mind, swam
across his consciousness in a continuous stream, although, properly
speaking, he was not thinking at all. The thoughts condensed in
patches, were mere agglomerations of feelings and impressions, and
they strung themselves across his mind as beads are strung along a
string. His mental fingers, however, slipped the beads along, and he
derived an impression of each bead as it passed before his half closed
eyes. The first that appeared was a sense of physical well-being. He
liked the climate. This climate of the Far Eastern Tropics, which so
few people could stand, much less enjoy. But he liked it; he liked its
enclosing sense of warmth and dampness and heavy scented atmosphere.
Never before had he brought such an appetite to his meals, or so
enjoyed his exercise, or revelled in perspiration after a hard bicycle
ride, and so enjoyed the cool wash and splash in the Java jar
afterwards. The climate suited him admirably. It made one very fit,
physically, and was altogether delightful. From this you will see that
the Bishop was a young man, not over forty-five.

Then the servants. Good boys he had, well trained, obedient,
anticipative, amusing, picturesque in their Oriental dress. Rather
trying because of their laziness, but not too exasperating to be a
real irritant. So many people found native servants a downright source
of annoyance--even worse than the climate--but for himself, he had
never found them so. They gave him no trouble at all, and he had been
out ten years, so ought to know.

The native life was charming too, so rich in colour, in all its gay
costumes. Surely the first Futurists must have been the Orientals.