"Strange things happen here, in India.... If they bury something belonging to you, a pocket-handkerchief or a lock of hair, they are able--simply by witchcraft--to make you fall ill and pine away and die ... and not a doctor can tell what the illness is...." "That's rubbish!" "It's really true!" "I didn't know you were so superstitious!" "I used never to think of it. I've begun to think of it just lately.... Theo, can there be anything!" "There's nothing ... but kissing." "No, Theo, don't, be quiet, I'm frightened!... It's quite late. It gets dark so quickly. Papa has finished his sleep, Theo. Go away now, Theo ... through the boudoir. I want to take my bath quickly. I'm frightened nowadays when it gets dark. There's no twilight, with the rains. The evenings come all of a sudden.... The other day, I had not told them to bring a light into the bathroom ... and already it was so dark ... at only half-past five ... and two bats were flying all over the place: I was so afraid that they would catch in my hair.... Hush! Is that papa?" "No, it's Doddie: she's playing with her cockatoo." "Go now, Theo." He went through the boudoir, and wandered into the garden. She got up, flung a kimono over the sarong which she had knotted loosely under her arms and called to Oorip: "Bring the bath-things." "Yes, mem-sahib." "Where are you, Oorip?" "Here, mem-sahib." "Where were you?" "Here, outside the garden-door, mem-sahib.... I was waiting," said the girl, meaningly, implying that she was waiting until Theo had gone. "Is the excellency sahib up?" "Yes ... had his bath, mem-sahib." "Then fetch the things for my bath.... Light the little lamp in the bathroom.... Yesterday evening the glass was broken and the lamp not filled...." "The mem-sahib never used to have the lamp lit in the bathroom." "Oorip ... has anything happened ... this afternoon?" "No, everything has been quiet.... But oh, when the night comes!... All the servants are frightened, mem-sahib.... Cook says she won't stay...." "Oh, what a fuss!... Oorip, promise her five guilders ... as a present ... if she stays...." "The butler is frightened too, mem-sahib." "Oh, what a fuss!... I've never known such a fuss, Oorip...." "No, mem-sahib." "I have always been able to arrange matters so well.... But these are things...!" "What can one do, mem-sahib?... Things are stronger than men...." "Mightn't it really be wild cats ... and a man throwing stones?" "Come, come, mem-sahib!" "Well, bring my bath-things.... Don't forget to light the little lamp...." The maid left the room. The dusk began to fall softly through the air, soft as velvet after the rain. The great residency stood still as death amid the darkness of its giant banyans. And the lamps were not yet lit. In the front-verandah, Van Oudijck, by himself, lay in his pyjamas on a wicker chair, drinking tea. In the garden, the dense shadows were gathering like strips of immaterial velvet falling heavily from the trees.