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‘Thanks, I’ll remember about the tamarind,’ Flory said.
‘Specific of renowned Chinese doctor, sir. Also, sir-madam, may I advise to you, wearing only
Terai hat is not judicious in April, sir. For the natives all well, their skulls are adamant. But for us
sunstroke ever menaces. Very deadly is the sun upon Europian skull. But is it that I detain you,
madam?’
This was said in a disappointed tone. Elizabeth had, in fact, decided to snub the Eurasians. She did
not know why Flory was allowing them to hold him in conversation. As she turned away to stroll
back to the tennis court, she made a practice stroke in the air with her racquet, to remind Flory that the
game was overdue. He saw it and followed her, rather reluctantly, for he did not like snubbing the
wretched Francis, bore though he was.
‘I must be off,’ he said. ‘Good evening, Francis. Good evening, Samuel.’
‘Good evening, sir! Good evening, madam! Good evening, good evening!’ They receded with more
hat-flourishes.
‘Who are those two?’ said Elizabeth as Flory came up with her. ‘Such extraordinary creatures!
They were in church on Sunday. One of them looks almost white. Surely he isn’t an Englishman?’
‘No, they’re Eurasians–sons of white fathers and native mothers. Yellow-bellies is our friendly
nickname for them.’
‘But what are they doing here? Where do they live? Do they do any work?’
‘They exist somehow or other in the bazaar. I believe Francis acts as clerk to an Indian moneylender,
and Samuel to some of the pleaders. But they’d probably starve now and then if it weren’t for
the charity of the natives.’
‘The natives! Do you mean to say they–sort of cadge from the natives?’
‘I fancy so. It would be a very easy thing to do, if one cared to. The Burmese won’t let anyone
starve.’
Elizabeth had never heard of anything of this kind before. The notion of men who were at least
partly white living in poverty among ‘natives’ so shocked her that she stopped short on the path, and
the game of tennis was postponed for a few minutes.
‘But how awful! I mean, it’s such a bad example! It’s almost as bad as if one of us was like that.
Couldn’t something be done for those two? Get up a subscription and send them away from here, or
something?’
‘I’m afraid it wouldn’t help much. Wherever they went they’d be in the same position.’
‘But couldn’t they get some proper work to do?’
‘I doubt it. You see, Eurasians of that type–men who’ve been brought up in the bazaar and had no
education–are done for from the start. The Europeans won’t touch them with a stick, and they’re cut
off from entering the lower-grade Government services. There’s nothing they can do except cadge,
unless they chuck all pretension to being Europeans. And really you can’t expect the poor devils to do
that. Their drop of white blood is the sole asset they’ve got. Poor Francis, I never meet him but he
begins telling me about his prickly heat. Natives, you see, are supposed not to suffer from prickly
heat–bosh, of course, but people believe it. It’s the same with sunstroke. They wear those huge topis