Page:Max Havelaar Or The Coffee Sales of the Netherlands Trading Company Siebenhaar.djvu/78

 pendoppo squatting on the ground, nor to the many who were continually running in and out, nor to the large number of natives of all ranks who respectively either held the horses or rode them about no, the Regent of Lebak himself, Radhen Adhipatti Karta Natta Negara, was seated opposite him.

Waiting is always tiresome. A quarter of an hour seems an hour, an hour half a day, and so on Verbrugge might very well have been a little more talkative. The Regent of Lebak was a well-bred old man, who could talk on many subjects with intelligence and judgment. One had only to look at him to be convinced that the majority of the Europeans who came into contact with him could have learnt more from him than he from them. His vivacious dark eyes contradicted by their fire the lassitude of his features and the whiteness of his hair. What he said was usually well thought out—a characteristic which, for that matter, is common to pretty well all orientals of breeding—and when in conversation with him, one felt that one had to look upon his words as though they were parts of letters, minutes of which were kept in his archives for reference if required. This may probably seem rather unpleasant to those who are not accustomed to intercourse with Javanese grandees, yet it is not difficult to avoid all subjects of conversation that may give offence, especially as they themselves will never brusquely seek to change the course of the dialogue, which would militate against the Eastern conception of good form. He, therefore, who has reason to avoid touching upon any special point, need only talk about insignificant trifles, and he may rest assured that a Javanese chief will not, by any undesired turn in the conversation, take him where he would rather not be led.

There are, it is true, divergent opinions as to the best manner of dealing with those chiefs. But it seems to me that natural straightforwardness, without any attempt at diplomatic cautiousness, deserves the preference.

Anyhow, Verbrugge began with a trivial remark about the weather and the rain.