He also feared an outbreak of temper
on the part of that pest of a woman he had hitherto managed to keep
tolerably quiet, thereby saving the remnants of his dilapidated
furniture. And he stood there before the closed door of the hut in the
blazing sunshine listening to the murmur of voices, wondering what went
on inside, wherefrom all the servant-maids had been expelled at the
beginning of the interview, and now stood clustered by the palings with
half-covered faces in a chatter of curious speculation. He forgot
himself there trying to catch a stray word through the bamboo walls, till
the captain of the steamer, who had walked up with the girl, fearing a
sunstroke, took him under the arm and led him into the shade of his own
verandah: where Nina's trunk stood already, having been landed by the
steamer's men. As soon as Captain Ford had his glass before him and his
cheroot lighted, Almayer asked for the explanation of his daughter's
unexpected arrival. Ford said little beyond generalising in vague but
violent terms upon the foolishness of women in general, and of Mrs. Vinck
in particular.
"You know, Kaspar," said he, in conclusion, to the excited Almayer, "it
is deucedly awkward to have a half-caste girl in the house.
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