Chapter XXX

by William Somerset Maugham

　　Philip was restless and dissatisfied. Hayward's poetic allusions troubledhis imagination, and his soul yearned for romance. At least that was howhe put it to himself.And it happened that an incident was taking place in Frau Erlin's housewhich increased Philip's preoccupation with the matter of sex. Two orthree times on his walks among the hills he had met Fraulein Caciliewandering by herself. He had passed her with a bow, and a few yardsfurther on had seen the Chinaman. He thought nothing of it; but oneevening on his way home, when night had already fallen, he passed twopeople walking very close together. Hearing his footstep, they separatedquickly, and though he could not see well in the darkness he was almostcertain they were Cacilie and Herr Sung. Their rapid movement apartsuggested that they had been walking arm in arm. Philip was puzzled andsurprised. He had never paid much attention to Fraulein Cacilie. She wasa plain girl, with a square face and blunt features. She could not havebeen more than sixteen, since she still wore her long fair hair in aplait. That evening at supper he looked at her curiously; and, though oflate she had talked little at meals, she addressed him."Where did you go for your walk today, Herr Carey?" she asked."Oh, I walked up towards the Konigstuhl.""I didn't go out," she volunteered. "I had a headache."The Chinaman, who sat next to her, turned round."I'm so sorry," he said. "I hope it's better now."Fraulein Cacilie was evidently uneasy, for she spoke again to Philip."Did you meet many people on the way?"Philip could not help reddening when he told a downright lie."No. I don't think I saw a living soul."He fancied that a look of relief passed across her eyes.Soon, however, there could be no doubt that there was something betweenthe pair, and other people in the Frau Professor's house saw them lurkingin dark places. The elderly ladies who sat at the head of the table beganto discuss what was now a scandal. The Frau Professor was angry andharassed. She had done her best to see nothing. The winter was at hand,and it was not as easy a matter then as in the summer to keep her housefull. Herr Sung was a good customer: he had two rooms on the ground floor,and he drank a bottle of Moselle at each meal. The Frau Professor chargedhim three marks a bottle and made a good profit. None of her other guestsdrank wine, and some of them did not even drink beer. Neither did she wishto lose Fraulein Cacilie, whose parents were in business in South Americaand paid well for the Frau Professor's motherly care; and she knew that ifshe wrote to the girl's uncle, who lived in Berlin, he would immediatelytake her away. The Frau Professor contented herself with giving them bothsevere looks at table and, though she dared not be rude to the Chinaman,got a certain satisfaction out of incivility to Cacilie. But the threeelderly ladies were not content. Two were widows, and one, a Dutchwoman,was a spinster of masculine appearance; they paid the smallest possiblesum for their pension, and gave a good deal of trouble, but they werepermanent and therefore had to be put up with. They went to the FrauProfessor and said that something must be done; it was disgraceful, andthe house was ceasing to be respectable. The Frau Professor triedobstinacy, anger, tears, but the three old ladies routed her, and with asudden assumption of virtuous indignation she said that she would put astop to the whole thing.After luncheon she took Cacilie into her bed-room and began to talk veryseriously to her; but to her amazement the girl adopted a brazen attitude;she proposed to go about as she liked; and if she chose to walk with theChinaman she could not see it was anybody's business but her own. The FrauProfessor threatened to write to her uncle."Then Onkel Heinrich will put me in a family in Berlin for the winter, andthat will be much nicer for me. And Herr Sung will come to Berlin too."The Frau Professor began to cry. The tears rolled down her coarse, red,fat cheeks; and Cacilie laughed at her."That will mean three rooms empty all through the winter," she said.Then the Frau Professor tried another plan. She appealed to FrauleinCacilie's better nature: she was kind, sensible, tolerant; she treated herno longer as a child, but as a grown woman. She said that it wouldn't beso dreadful, but a Chinaman, with his yellow skin and flat nose, and hislittle pig's eyes! That's what made it so horrible. It filled one withdisgust to think of it."Bitte, bitte," said Cacilie, with a rapid intake of the breath. "I won'tlisten to anything against him.""But it's not serious?" gasped Frau Erlin."I love him. I love him. I love him.""Gott im Himmel!"The Frau Professor stared at her with horrified surprise; she had thoughtit was no more than naughtiness on the child's part, and innocent, folly.but the passion in her voice revealed everything. Cacilie looked at herfor a moment with flaming eyes, and then with a shrug of her shoulderswent out of the room.Frau Erlin kept the details of the interview to herself, and a day or twolater altered the arrangement of the table. She asked Herr Sung if hewould not come and sit at her end, and he with his unfailing politenessaccepted with alacrity. Cacilie took the change indifferently. But as ifthe discovery that the relations between them were known to the wholehousehold made them more shameless, they made no secret now of their walkstogether, and every afternoon quite openly set out to wander about thehills. It was plain that they did not care what was said of them. At lasteven the placidity of Professor Erlin was moved, and he insisted that hiswife should speak to the Chinaman. She took him aside in his turn andexpostulated; he was ruining the girl's reputation, he was doing harm tothe house, he must see how wrong and wicked his conduct was; but she wasmet with smiling denials; Herr Sung did not know what she was talkingabout, he was not paying any attention to Fraulein Cacilie, he neverwalked with her; it was all untrue, every word of it."Ach, Herr Sung, how can you say such things? You've been seen again andagain.""No, you're mistaken. It's untrue."He looked at her with an unceasing smile, which showed his even, littlewhite teeth. He was quite calm. He denied everything. He denied with blandeffrontery. At last the Frau Professor lost her temper and said the girlhad confessed she loved him. He was not moved. He continued to smile."Nonsense! Nonsense! It's all untrue."She could get nothing out of him. The weather grew very bad; there wassnow and frost, and then a thaw with a long succession of cheerless days,on which walking was a poor amusement. One evening when Philip had justfinished his German lesson with the Herr Professor and was standing for amoment in the drawing-room, talking to Frau Erlin, Anna came quickly in."Mamma, where is Cacilie?" she said."I suppose she's in her room.""There's no light in it."The Frau Professor gave an exclamation, and she looked at her daughter indismay. The thought which was in Anna's head had flashed across hers."Ring for Emil," she said hoarsely.This was the stupid lout who waited at table and did most of thehousework. He came in."Emil, go down to Herr Sung's room and enter without knocking. If anyoneis there say you came in to see about the stove."No sign of astonishment appeared on Emil's phlegmatic face.He went slowly downstairs. The Frau Professor and Anna left the door openand listened. Presently they heard Emil come up again, and they calledhim."Was anyone there?" asked the Frau Professor."Yes, Herr Sung was there.""Was he alone?"The beginning of a cunning smile narrowed his mouth."No, Fraulein Cacilie was there.""Oh, it's disgraceful," cried the Frau Professor.Now he smiled broadly."Fraulein Cacilie is there every evening. She spends hours at a timethere."Frau Professor began to wring her hands."Oh, how abominable! But why didn't you tell me?""It was no business of mine," he answered, slowly shrugging his shoulders."I suppose they paid you well. Go away. Go."He lurched clumsily to the door."They must go away, mamma," said Anna."And who is going to pay the rent? And the taxes are falling due. It's allvery well for you to say they must go away. If they go away I can't paythe bills." She turned to Philip, with tears streaming down her face."Ach, Herr Carey, you will not say what you have heard. If FrauleinForster--" this was the Dutch spinster--"if Fraulein Forster knew shewould leave at once. And if they all go we must close the house. I cannotafford to keep it.""Of course I won't say anything.""If she stays, I will not speak to her," said Anna.That evening at supper Fraulein Cacilie, redder than usual, with a look ofobstinacy on her face, took her place punctually; but Herr Sung did notappear, and for a while Philip thought he was going to shirk the ordeal.At last he came, very smiling, his little eyes dancing with the apologieshe made for his late arrival. He insisted as usual on pouring out the FrauProfessor a glass of his Moselle, and he offered a glass to FrauleinForster. The room was very hot, for the stove had been alight all day andthe windows were seldom opened. Emil blundered about, but succeededsomehow in serving everyone quickly and with order. The three old ladiessat in silence, visibly disapproving: the Frau Professor had scarcelyrecovered from her tears; her husband was silent and oppressed.Conversation languished. It seemed to Philip that there was somethingdreadful in that gathering which he had sat with so often; they lookeddifferent under the light of the two hanging lamps from what they had everlooked before; he was vaguely uneasy. Once he caught Cacilie's eye, and hethought she looked at him with hatred and contempt. The room was stifling.It was as though the beastly passion of that pair troubled them all; therewas a feeling of Oriental depravity; a faint savour of joss-sticks, amystery of hidden vices, seemed to make their breath heavy. Philip couldfeel the beating of the arteries in his forehead. He could not understandwhat strange emotion distracted him; he seemed to feel somethinginfinitely attractive, and yet he was repelled and horrified.For several days things went on. The air was sickly with the unnaturalpassion which all felt about them, and the nerves of the little householdseemed to grow exasperated. Only Herr Sung remained unaffected; he was noless smiling, affable, and polite than he had been before: one could nottell whether his manner was a triumph of civilisation or an expression ofcontempt on the part of the Oriental for the vanquished West. Cacilie wasflaunting and cynical. At last even the Frau Professor could bear theposition no longer. Suddenly panic seized her; for Professor Erlin withbrutal frankness had suggested the possible consequences of an intriguewhich was now manifest to everyone, and she saw her good name inHeidelberg and the repute of her house ruined by a scandal which could notpossibly be hidden. For some reason, blinded perhaps by her interests,this possibility had never occurred to her; and now, her wits muddled bya terrible fear, she could hardly be prevented from turning the girl outof the house at once. It was due to Anna's good sense that a cautiousletter was written to the uncle in Berlin suggesting that Cacilie shouldbe taken away.But having made up her mind to lose the two lodgers, the Frau Professorcould not resist the satisfaction of giving rein to the ill-temper she hadcurbed so long. She was free now to say anything she liked to Cacilie."I have written to your uncle, Cacilie, to take you away. I cannot haveyou in my house any longer."Her little round eyes sparkled when she noticed the sudden whiteness ofthe girl's face."You're shameless. Shameless," she went on.She called her foul names."What did you say to my uncle Heinrich, Frau Professor?" the girl asked,suddenly falling from her attitude of flaunting independence."Oh, he'll tell you himself. I expect to get a letter from him tomorrow."Next day, in order to make the humiliation more public, at supper shecalled down the table to Cacilie."I have had a letter from your uncle, Cacilie. You are to pack your thingstonight, and we will put you in the train tomorrow morning. He will meetyou himself in Berlin at the Central Bahnhof.""Very good, Frau Professor."Herr Sung smiled in the Frau Professor's eyes, and notwithstanding herprotests insisted on pouring out a glass of wine for her. The FrauProfessor ate her supper with a good appetite. But she had triumphedunwisely. Just before going to bed she called the servant."Emil, if Fraulein Cacilie's box is ready you had better take itdownstairs tonight. The porter will fetch it before breakfast."The servant went away and in a moment came back."Fraulein Cacilie is not in her room, and her bag has gone."With a cry the Frau Professor hurried along: the box was on the floor,strapped and locked; but there was no bag, and neither hat nor cloak. Thedressing-table was empty. Breathing heavily, the Frau Professor randownstairs to the Chinaman's rooms, she had not moved so quickly fortwenty years, and Emil called out after her to beware she did not fall;she did not trouble to knock, but burst in. The rooms were empty. Theluggage had gone, and the door into the garden, still open, showed how ithad been got away. In an envelope on the table were notes for the moneydue on the month's board and an approximate sum for extras. Groaning,suddenly overcome by her haste, the Frau Professor sank obesely on to asofa. There could be no doubt. The pair had gone off together. Emilremained stolid and unmoved.