Chapter LI

by William Somerset Maugham

　　Tiare, when I told her this story, praised my prudence, andfor a few minutes we worked in silence, for we were shellingpeas. Then her eyes, always alert for the affairs of herkitchen, fell on some action of the Chinese cook which arousedher violent disapproval. She turned on him with a torrent of abuse.The Chink was not backward to defend himself, and avery lively quarrel ensued. They spoke in the native language,of which I had learnt but half a dozen words, and it soundedas though the world would shortly come to an end;but presently peace was restored and Tiare gave the cook acigarette. They both smoked comfortably."Do you know, it was I who found him his wife?" said Tiaresuddenly, with a smile that spread all over her immense face."The cook?""No, Strickland.""But he had one already.""That is what he said, but I told him she was in England,and England is at the other end of the world.""True," I replied."He would come to Papeete every two or three months, when hewanted paints or tobacco or money, and then he would wanderabout like a lost dog. I was sorry for him. I had a girlhere then called Ata to do the rooms; she was some sort of arelation of mine, and her father and mother were dead, so Ihad her to live with me. Strickland used to come here now andthen to have a square meal or to play chess with one of the boys.I noticed that she looked at him when he came, and Iasked her if she liked him. She said she liked him well enough.You know what these girls are; they're always pleasedto go with a white man.""Was she a native?" I asked."Yes; she hadn't a drop of white blood in her. Well, afterI'd talked to her I sent for Strickland, and I said to him:`Strickland, it's time for you to settle down. A man of yourage shouldn't go playing about with the girls down at the front.They're bad lots, and you'll come to no good with them.You've got no money, and you can never keep a job formore than a month or two. No one will employ you now.You say you can always live in the bush with one or other ofthe natives, and they're glad to have you because you're awhite man, but it's not decent for a white man. Now, listento me, Strickland.'"Tiare mingled French with English in her conversation, for sheused both languages with equal facility. She spoke them witha singing accent which was not unpleasing. You felt that abird would speak in these tones if it could speak English."'Now, what do you say to marrying Ata? She's a good girl andshe's only seventeen. She's never been promiscuous like someof these girls -- a captain or a first mate, yes, but she'snever been touched by a native. Elle se respecte, vois-tu.The purser of the Oahu told me last journey that he hadn'tmet a nicer girl in the islands. It's time she settleddown too, and besides, the captains and the first mates like achange now and then. I don't keep my girls too long. She hasa bit of property down by Taravao, just before you come to thepeninsula, and with copra at the price it is now you couldlive quite comfortably. There's a house, and you'd have allthe time you wanted for your painting. What do you say to it?"Tiare paused to take breath."It was then he told me of his wife in England. 'My poorStrickland,' I said to him, 'they've all got a wife somewhere;that is generally why they come to the islands. Ata is asensible girl, and she doesn't expect any ceremony before theMayor. She's a Protestant, and you know they don't look uponthese things like the Catholics.'"Then he said: `But what does Ata say to it?' `It appearsthat she has a beguin for you,' I said. `She's willing ifyou are. Shall I call her?' He chuckled in a funny, dry wayhe had, and I called her. She knew what I was talking about,the hussy, and I saw her out of the corner of my eyeslistening with all her ears, while she pretended to iron ablouse that she had been washing for me. She came. She waslaughing, but I could see that she was a little shy,and Strickland looked at her without speaking.""Was she pretty?" I asked."Not bad. But you must have seen pictures of her. He paintedher over and over again, sometimes with a pareo on andsometimes with nothing at all. Yes, she was pretty enough.And she knew how to cook. I taught her myself. I sawStrickland was thinking of it, so I said to him: 'I've givenher good wages and she's saved them, and the captains and thefirst mates she's known have given her a little something nowand then. She's saved several hundred francs.'"He pulled his great red beard and smiled."`Well, Ata,' he said, 'do you fancy me for a husband.'"She did not say anything, but just giggled."`But I tell you, my poor Strickland, the girl has abeguin for you,' I said."I shall beat you,' he said, looking at her."`How else should I know you loved me,' she answered."Tiare broke off her narrative and addressed herself to mereflectively."My first husband, Captain Johnson, used to thrash meregularly. He was a man. He was handsome, six foot three,and when he was drunk there was no holding him. I would beblack and blue all over for days at a time. Oh, I cried whenhe died. I thought I should never get over it. But it wasn'ttill I married George Rainey that I knew what I'd lost.You can never tell what a man is like till you live with him.I've never been so deceived in a man as I was in GeorgeRainey. He was a fine, upstanding fellow too. He was nearlyas tall as Captain Johnson, and he looked strong enough. Butit was all on the surface. He never drank. He never raisedhis hand to me. He might have been a missionary. I made lovewith the officers of every ship that touched the island, andGeorge Rainey never saw anything. At last I was disgustedwith him, and I got a divorce. What was the good of a husbandlike that? It's a terrible thing the way some men treat women."I condoled with Tiare, and remarked feelingly that men weredeceivers ever, then asked her to go on with her story of Strickland."`Well,' I said to him, `there's no hurry about it. Take yourtime and think it over. Ata has a very nice room in theannexe. Live with her for a month, and see how you like her.You can have your meals here. And at the end of a month, ifyou decide you want to marry her, you can just go and settledown on her property.'"Well, he agreed to that. Ata continued to do the housework,and I gave him his meals as I said I would. I taught Ata tomake one or two dishes I knew he was fond of. He did notpaint much. He wandered about the hills and bathed in the stream.And he sat about the front looking at the lagoon, andat sunset he would go down and look at Murea. He used to gofishing on the reef. He loved to moon about the harbourtalking to the natives. He was a nice, quiet fellow.And every evening after dinner he would go down to the annexewith Ata. I saw he was longing to get away to the bush,and at the end of the month I asked him what he intended to do.He said if Ata was willing to go, he was willing to go with her.So I gave them a wedding dinner. I cooked it with my own hands.I gave them a pea soup and lobster a la portugaise, and acurry, and a cocoa-nut salad -- you've never had one of mycocoa-nut salads, have you? I must make you one before you go-- and then I made them an ice. We had all the champagne wecould drink and liqueurs to follow. Oh, I'd made up my mindto do things well. And afterwards we danced in the drawing-room.I was not so fat, then, and I always loved dancing."The drawing-room at the Hotel de la Fleur was a small room,with a cottage piano, and a suite of mahogany furniture,covered in stamped velvet, neatly arranged around the walls.On round tables were photograph albums, and on the wallsenlarged photographs of Tiare and her first husband, CaptainJohnson. Still, though Tiare was old and fat, on occasion werolled back the Brussels carpet, brought in the maids and oneor two friends of Tiare's, and danced, though now to thewheezy music of a gramaphone. On the verandah the air wasscented with the heavy perfume of the tiare, and overhead theSouthern Cross shone in a cloudless sky.Tiare smiled indulgently as she remembered the gaiety of atime long passed."We kept it up till three, and when we went to bed I don'tthink anyone was very sober. I had told them they could havemy trap to take them as far as the road went, because afterthat they had a long walk. Ata's property was right away in afold of the mountain. They started at dawn, and the boy Isent with them didn't come back till next day."Yes, that's how Strickland was married."