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‘Ah, I have a few friends left. But now do you see, my friend, what ruin he iss preparing for me?
Already he hass calumniated me right and left. When this absurd rebellion breaks out, he will do
everything in his power to connect my name with it. And I tell you that the slightest suspicion of my
loyalty could be ruin for me, ruin! If it were ever breathed that I were even a sympathiser with this
rebellion, there iss an end of me.’
‘But, damn it, this is ridiculous! Surely you can defend yourself somehow?’
‘How can I defend myself when I can prove nothing? I know that all this iss true, but what use iss
that? If I demand a public inquiry, for every witness I produce U Po Kyin would produce fifty. You do
not realise the influence of that man in the district. No one dare speak against him.’
‘But why need you prove anything? Why not go to old Macgregor and tell him about it? He’s a very
fair-minded old chap in his way. He’d hear you out.’
‘Useless, useless. You have not the mind of an intriguer, Mr Flory. Qui s’excuse s’accuse, iss it
not? It does not pay to cry that there iss a conspiracy against one.’
‘Well, what are you going to do, then?’
‘There iss nothing I can do. Simply I must wait and hope that my prestige will carry me through. In
affairs like this, where a native official’s reputation iss at stake, there iss no question of proof, of
evidence. All depends upon one’s standing with the Europeans. If my standing iss good, they will not
believe it of me; if bad, they will believe it. Prestige iss all.’
They were silent for a moment. Flory understood well enough that ‘prestige iss all.’ He was used to
these nebulous conflicts, in which suspicion counts for more than proof, and reputation for more than
a thousand witnesses. A thought came into his head, an uncomfortable, chilling thought which would
never have occurred to him three weeks earlier. It was one of those moments when one sees quite
clearly what is one’s duty, and, with all the will in the world to shirk it, feels certain that one must
carry it out. He said:
‘Suppose, for instance, you were elected to the Club? Would that do your prestige any good?’
‘If I were elected to the Club! Ah, indeed, yes! The Club! It iss a fortress impregnable. Once there,
and no one would listen to these tales about me any more than if it were about you, or Mr Macgregor,
or any other European gentleman. But what hope have I that they will elect me after their minds have
been poisoned against me?’
‘Well now, look here, doctor, I tell you what. I’ll propose your name at the next general meeting. I
know the question’s got to come up then, and if someone comes forward with the name of a candidate,
I dare say no one except Ellis will blackball him. And in the meantime——’
‘Ah, my friend, my dear friend!’ The doctor’s emotion caused him almost to choke. He seized Flory
by the hand. ‘Ah, my friend, that iss noble! Truly it iss noble! But it iss too much. I fear that you will
be in trouble with your European friends again. Mr Ellis, for example–would he tolerate it that you
propose my name?’
‘Oh, bother Ellis. But you must understand that I can’t promise to get you elected. It depends on
what Macgregor says and what mood the others are in. It may all come to nothing.’
The doctor was still holding Flory’s hand between his own, which were plump and damp. The
tears had actually started into his eyes, and these, magnified by his spectacles, beamed upon Flory