“Good-night, sir.”
CHAPTER XIII
LOOKING BEYOND
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.”