Count still did not say anything and the Queen Dowager thought for the first time since she had known her cousin that he seemed for the moment unsure of himself.
Looking at his handsome face, her eyes softened and there was definitely a kindlier note in her voice as she said,
“I am so sorry that this has occurred, Viktor, but you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“No one,” the Count agreed.
*
It was a sentence that he was to repeat to himself over and over again on the voyage.
The ship he travelled in was a comfortable one and in deference to his rank and prestige he was treated in almost a Royal manner from the moment he had stepped aboard.
It was only when, during the long days and even longer nights at sea, he had time for introspection that he acknowledged that his sins had caught up with him and the punishment was indeed well deserved.
The Count was, as it happened, a highly intelligent man and, while he was prepared to take the blame for Luise’s death, he also was aware that the same thing might have happened to any man who aroused her emotions.
Most women were unpredictable, but there were those who, taken out of the rut that they had lived in all their lives, could easily become completely out of control or to put it in one word – unhinged.
This, however, did not console him for having to leave his estates and his houses, which he had arranged to his own satisfaction and the admiration of everyone else, as well as his many personal activities.
What he resented more than anything else was the boredom of the sea voyage.
He had been more concerned about what books to bring with him than his other personal effects which he had left to his valet.
Even so it was hard to know how to pass the time and he found the limited intelligence of the other passengers and the Captain unendurable long before they reached the Red Sea.
He had plenty of time, however, to learn something about Bali, which he knew very little about and he discovered with some surprise that only the North part of the Island had been acquired by the Dutch.
He had imagined that, as in Java, the Dutch reigned supreme, but instead most of Bali was still under the jurisdiction of the Radjas.
To the Count it was natural that the Dutch should make every effort to consolidate their Empire in the East, but from what he read he realised that the days of open aggression were frowned on and to justify a conquest the conquerors had to embrace a cause.
Motives, however, to satisfy both conscience and natural aggrandisement were not hard to find.
The invasion of North Bali, he understood reading between the lines, had required only a flimsy pretext obviously magnified for the occasion. When the invasion was successful it was followed by the conquest of the neighbouring Island of Lombok.
The Count might well be ruthless in many ways, but he was human enough to dislike an unequal contest whether it was between man and man or nation and nation.
He could very readily understand for his peace of mind that the Radjas and their retainers were brave men, but they had been no match for repeating rifles and modern cannon.
He also had a suspicion that the Dutchmen, as conquerors, had been unnecessarily cruel and insensitive and he decided that, if he saw anything that he disapproved of, he would not hesitate to make certain that measures were taken when he returned to Holland.
In the meantime, however, that seemed to him a long way off.
He had been so totally bored on the outward journey that he could not for the moment contemplate embarking on what he was certain would be an identically boring return.
Whatever Bali was like, he now told himself, he would have to put up with it for a time, which was what the Queen Dowager wanted him to do.
He knew that, his mission in Bali accomplished, there were a great many other places that he would find of interest and not only in the immediate vicinity.
It would be amusing to visit India and compare the role the British played as conquerors with that of his own countrymen. There was also Siam, which would be well worth a visit and perhaps, nearer to home, Persia and Constantinople.
Those places sounded considerably more alluring than Bali and the Count cheered up at the thought of them.
He told himself, however, first things first and, as he looked around critically, he decided that the sooner he had his first report ready for the Queen Dowager the better.
He had been met at the Port by the Governor with what seemed to be a most efficient conveyance drawn by horses that the Count would have thought beneath his dignity to own had he seen them in Holland.
The Governor himself was a large overweight man in his late thirties with a complexion that made the Count suspect that he imbibed too frequently and too copiously.
He spoke in the sharp staccato way of a man who was used to giving orders to inferiors and the Count suspected that it was with somewhat of an effort that he made himself polite and conciliatory to his guest.
“We have been greatly looking forward to your visit, mijnheer,” he began.
The Count was quite certain that it was untrue, but he acknowledged the politeness with a faint smile and, as they drove away from the Port, looked about him in what he hoped the Governor would think was an interested manner.
He had expected, because he had read about it, that the women would be graceful and he saw now that he had not been mistaken.
The custom of carrying everything that needed to be conveyed on their heads had given them the carriage of a Goddess and the slimness of a long-stemmed flower.
The Count was also intrigued by the fact that they were naked to the waist and the only coverings on their golden skin were bead necklaces that swung and shimmered.
Both men and women wore flowers in their hair and now, as if the Governor felt that he should excite the Count’s interest, he went into a rather lewd exaltation of the attractions of the females.
“You must see the dancing while you are here,” he suggested. “That is something worth watching and I am certain, mijnheer, that you will enjoy the cock fighting.”
The Count did not reply.
This was the one sport which he found particularly unpleasant, but he knew from what he had read that it had an almost obsessional interest for the Balinese and doubtless for their conquerors as well.
“We will do our best to entertain you,” the Governor went on, “although I am afraid that you will find life here dull and comparatively uneventful. There is no fighting here in the North. We see to that!”
He grinned and continued,
“I believe the Radjas in the South are always sparring with each other so sooner or later they will give us an excuse to step in and bring peace to the people.”
“Is that really what
