Argosy (UK), January 1955 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

-. Fre a =" Baer ues JT Fe. aXe. . ‘a dk TS Y ve oa 4 < ‘te dds ‘. ” con. ae a *s =— 24 _ JOHAN FABRICIUS x —she had evidently decided to go round to the front compound and see whether there was anything doing yet in the streets. : Mr. Van Houten devoted all his attention to the newspaper. Simin cast an indifferent look at the lissom shape out there in the dusk, over which the mellow glow of the lamp glided for a moment, and added, as an afterthought, to his word of thanks: —- “Yll tell them you’ve given us the evening off, sir. All... except Ketip, of course.” Noticing that his master did not = react in the slightest to these last words, Simin got the impression that he might not have heard them either. And so, to be on the safe side, he said again, rather more loudly: “ Except Ketip, of ‘ course.” 23 Mr. Van Houten gathered together with an effort his widely wandering thoughts. “ Ketip?”’ | “ You need the carriage this evening, don’t you, tuan?” ES pon! . Yes.” It sounded rather silly, thought Simin; but he had already Zz noticed that the twan wasn’t himself. For instance, he had left on his plate quite half of his green peas, which he usually ate with so much pleasure, and at present it did not seem to occur to him even to touch his blancmange. “ Sudah jadi . . . now it’s working!’ Simin reported, with a grin, to Osman and Minah, who were sitting expectantly beside the well, already dressed for going out. “‘ He says we can all go to the fair! Only Ketip’s got to stay at home, he says. But you'll see: he'll send him away, too! ” “Allah!” sighed Minah, the nurse. The excitement was almost too much for her. Mr. Van Houten, alone on the back verandah, put down the newspaper and stared in front of him into space. Why had ~ - Simin so pointedly asked for the evening off—for himself, and for the others as well? If they had simply gone out later without telling him, he would never have noticed it anyway, would he? And that was what they had done on other occasions; so why did Simin have to ask him this time? Was it to draw his attention to the fact that soon he would only need to send Ketip to the fair in order to be . . . quite alone in the house? Alone with that woman, who—he knew—was now squatting in the front compound, just as she had sat near the kitchen door, ___ and yesterday near the bathroom—only waiting till he should call | to her. He tried to imagine how . . . you did that sort of thing. What you said in such a case to such a woman, and how she would react . . . whether, perhaps, without a word, she would go ee, belek wk I imntd Che le OP be eg NN tals Bi a comicbooks.con