5

Wilson was waiting for him outside. He said, ‘I’ve been looking for you, Major Scobie, ever since the funeral.’

       ‘I’ve been doing good works,’ Scobie said.

       ‘How’s Mrs Rolt?’

       ‘They think she’ll pull through - and the boy too.’

       ‘Oh yes, the boy.’ Wilson kicked a loose stone in the path and said, ‘I want your advice, Major Scobie. I’m a bit worried.’

       ‘Yes?’

       ‘You know I’ve been down here checking up on our store. Well, I find that our manager has been buying military stuff. There’s a lot of tinned food that never came from our exporters.’

       ‘Isn’t the answer fairly simple - sack him?’

       ‘It seems a pity to sack the small thief if he could lead one to the big thief, but of course that’s your job. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.’ Wilson paused and that extraordinary tell-tale blush spread over his face. He said, ‘You see, he got the stuff from Yusef s man.’

       ‘I could have guessed that.’

       ‘You could?’

       ‘Yes, but you see, Yusef s man is not the same as Yusef. It’s easy for him to disown a country storekeeper. In fact, for all we know, Yusef may be innocent It’s unlikely, but not impossible. Your own evidence would point to it. After all you’ve only just learned yourself what your storekeeper was doing.’

       ‘If there were clear evidence,’ Wilson said, ‘would the police prosecute?’

       Scobie came to a standstill. ‘What’s that?’

       Wilson blushed and mumbled. Then, with a venom that took Scobie completely by surprise, he said, ‘There are rumours going about that Yusef is protected.’

       ‘You’ve been here long enough to know what rumours are worth.’

       ‘They are all round the town.’

       ‘Spread by Tallit - or Yusef himself.’

       ‘Don’t misunderstand me,’ Wilson said. ‘You’ve been very kind to me - and Mrs Scobie has too. I thought you ought to know what’s been said.’

       ‘I’ve been here fifteen years, Wilson.’

       ‘Oh, I know,’ Wilson said, ‘this is impertinent. But people are worried about Tallit’s parrot. They say he was framed because Yusef wants him run out of town.’

       ‘Yes, I’ve heard that.’

       ‘They say that you and Yusef are on visiting terms. It’s a lie, of course, but...’

       ‘It’s perfectly true. I’m also on visiting terms with the sanitary inspector, but it wouldn’t prevent my prosecuting him ...’ He stopped abruptly. He said, ‘I have no intention of defending myself to you, Wilson.’

       Wilson repeated, ‘I just thought you ought to know.’

       ‘You are too young for your job, Wilson.’

       ‘My job?’

       ‘Whatever it is.’

       For the second time Wilson took him by surprise, breaking out with a crack in his voice, ‘Oh, you are unbearable. You are too damned honest to live.’ His face was aflame, even his knees seemed to blush with rage, shame, self-depreciation.

       ‘You ought to wear a hat, Wilson,’ was all Scobie said.

       They stood facing each other on the stony path between the D.C.’s bungalow and the rest-house; the light lay flat across the rice-fields below them, and Scobie was conscious of how prominently they were silhouetted to the eyes of any watcher. ‘You sent Louise away,’ Wilson said, ‘because you were afraid of me.’

       Scobie laughed gently. ‘This is sun, Wilson, just sun. We’ll forget about it in the morning.’

       ‘She couldn’t stand your stupid, unintelligent ... you don’t know what a woman like Louise thinks.’

       ‘I don’t suppose I do. Nobody wants another person to know that, Wilson.’

       Wilson said, ‘I kissed her that evening...’

       ‘It’s the colonial sport, Wilson.’ He hadn’t meant to madden the young man: he was only anxious to let the occasion pass lightly, so that in the morning they could behave naturally to each other. It was just a touch of sun. he told himself; he had seen this happen times out of mind during fifteen years.

       Wilson said, ‘She’s too good for you.’

       ‘For both of us.’

       ‘How did you get the money to send her away? That’s what I’d like to know. You don’t earn all that. I know. It’s printed in the Colonial Office List.’ If the young man had been less absurd, Scobie might have been angered and they might have ended friends. It was his serenity that stoked the flames. He said now, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow. We’ve all been upset by that child’s death. Come up to the bungalow and have a drink.’ He made to pass Wilson, but Wilson barred the way: a Wilson scarlet in the face with tears in the eyes. It was as if he had gone so far that he realized the only thing to do was to go farther - there was no return the way he had come. He said, ‘Don’t think I haven’t got my eye on you.’

       The absurdity of the phrase took Scobie off his guard.

       ‘You watch your step,’ Wilson said, ‘and Mrs Rolt...’

       ‘What on earth has Mrs Rolt got to do with it?’

       ‘Don’t think I don’t know why you’ve stayed behind, haunted the hospital... While we were all at the funeral, you slunk down here ...’

       ‘You really are crazy, Wilson,’ Scobie said.

       Suddenly Wilson sat down; it was if he had been folded up by some large invisible hand He put his head in his hands and wept.

       ‘It’s the sun,’ Scobie said. ‘Just the sun. Go and lie down,’ and taking off his hat he put it on Wilson’s head. Wilson looked up at him between his fingers - at the man who had seen his tears - with hatred.