Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/177

 pears to have said something about this intention during a whist-evening at the General’s quarters. But what do you think happened! Next day he received orders to go to a certain division of which the Controller-in-charge had been suspended for real or supposed dishonesty, in order that on the spot he might investigate certain matters and might ‘report’ on them. It is true, the Assistant-Resident was astonished that a charge was given to him which did not in the least concern his division, but since strictly speaking he could consider this charge as a distinction which conferred an honour upon him, and as he was on such a friendly footing with the General that he had no cause to suspect a trap, he acquiesced in his mission, and set out for I want to forget where  in order ta carry out his orders. After a while he returned, and sent in a report which was not unfavourable to the Controller. But lo and behold! in the meanwhile at Padang the public—i.e. no one and yet everyone—had discovered that the Controller had only been suspended to create an opportunity for temporarily removing the Assistant-Resident from the place, in order to prevent his intended inquiry into the disappearance of that child, or at least to defer it till such time as would render it more difficult to clear the matter up. I repeat that I personally cannot vouch for the truth of this, but, from the knowledge I myself obtained afterwards of General Vandamme, this reading of the case seems to me quite credible. At Padang there was no one who, as regards the depth to which his morality had sunk, did not consider him capable of such action. Most people only attributed one good quality to him, that of intrepidity in danger, and if I, who saw him in times of danger, had held the opinion that after all he was a brave man, this alone would now move me not to tell you this story. Certainly, in Sumatra he had been responsible for a deal of sabre-slashing, but anyone who had seen some of these occurrences at close quarters would have felt strongly inclined to discount his bravery; and, strange though it may seem, I believe he owed his soldier-reputation largely to the love of contrast which exists more