Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/106

 which must have impressed the superficial onlooker with a high opinion of the importance he attached to the affair. Havelaar, on the other hand, when with uplifted finger he repeated the oaths, showed something in his face, his voice, and his bearing that seemed to say: “this is self-evident; I should do this even .” And anyone with some knowledge of human nature would have felt more confidence in his unconstrained manner and seeming indifference than in the official solemnity of the Resident.

For is it not absurd to think that one who is called to administer justice, one in whose hands is placed the happiness or misery of thousands, that such an one should consider himself bound by a few spoken sounds, if, even without those sounds, he did not feel himself impelled to the right by his own heart?

We believe this of Havelaar, that, wherever it might have been his fate to meet the poor or oppressed, he would have protected them, even though he should have promised the contrary by “Almighty God.”

Then followed an address to the Chiefs by the Resident, who introduced the Assistant-Resident to them as the head of the division, asked them to obey him, to carry out scrupulously their obligations, and more such commonplaces. After this the chiefs were one by one presented by name to Havelaar. He shook hands with each of them, and the “installation” was over.

Dinner was taken at the house of the Adhipatti, Commandant Duclari being also invited. Immediately after the meal the Resident, who wished to be at Serang again that evening:

Because. He. Was. So. Exceptionally. Busy. re-entered his travelling coach, and Rangkas-Betoong returned to the quietude which may be expected at a Java outpost in the interior, where but few Europeans live, and which moreover is not situated on the main road.

The acquaintance between Duclari and Havelaar was soon placed on an easy footing. The Adhipatti gave signs of being taken