The girl
came of her own will. I have done no more but to show her my love like a
man; she heard the cry of my heart, and she came, and the dowry I have
given to the woman you call your wife."
Almayer groaned in his extremity of rage and shame. Nina laid her hand
lightly on his shoulder, and the contact, light as the touch of a falling
leaf, seemed to calm him. He spoke quickly, and in English this time.
"Tell me," he said--"tell me, what have they done to you, your mother and
that man? What made you give yourself up to that savage? For he is a
savage. Between him and you there is a barrier that nothing can remove.
I can see in your eyes the look of those who commit suicide when they are
mad. You are mad. Don't smile. It breaks my heart. If I were to see
you drowning before my eyes, and I without the power to help you, I could
not suffer a greater torment. Have you forgotten the teaching of so many
years?"
"No," she interrupted, "I remember it well. I remember how it ended
also. Scorn for scorn, contempt for contempt, hate for hate. I am not
of your race. Between your people and me there is also a barrier that
nothing can remove. You ask why I want to go, and I ask you why I should
stay.
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