I
Those streets at Singapore where the harlots of East and West sit at their doors and in their verandahs, stretching out their whitened arms towards the passers-by, were investigated and discussed by the Gunroom. They are investigated and discussed by most Europeans who pass through Singapore, and they remain and will remain. Cunwell thought them funny; Dyce was curious, and desired information; Sentley, who had entered them inadvertently, left them in haste, fearful and embarrassed. John and Hugh, who drove through them together in rickshaws, were glad when they were clear of them.
“My God!” John said, “isn’t it amazing how beastliness spreads?”
“The women?” Hugh asked.
“No; at the moment I was thinking of Krame. But the women, too, if you like.”
“Oh, be damned to Krame! We are free of him.”
“Yes, we are, but others are not.”
“I’d forgotten them.”
“One does forget.”
Hugh looked at him. “Cheer up, John,” he said, “the sight of the women has made you miserable. It’s no good being miserable about them. There’s nothing to be done.”
“I’m not miserable about them only. I’m angry because they are helpless, and we are helpless. I’m angry for all helpless things. They would probably tell you that they would never have come to this if they had had plenty of money. Sweated labour would tell you that what it wants is higher wages. And—though my reason tells me it’s all a lie—I myself think that if only I had more money I could do the work I want to do and be happy. We all look to money for help—that’s why we are helpless.”
“Then it’s our own fault.”
“Oh, it starts higher than that. It’s older than we are. The Golden Calf is the established creed. Put it wider than just money; call it gain—any material gain: temporal power, private land, national territory, influence; and those nights we had in the King Arthur, and what other snotties are going through now, and the streets with their harlots—they are just fragments of the result.... I’m looking forward to seeing your sister again. She is the only person I have met who, in her heart of hearts, seems not to care for wealth.”
“But she has always had everything she wants,” Hugh said.