Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/213

 I had seen; for lepers, or indeed deformed people of any kind, are remarkably rare among the healthy Malayan villagers, and the sight had been as un- expected as disgusting. Of the men behind me, some laughed, one or two uttered a few words of cheap jeer and taunt, and every one of them turned aside to spit soleinnly in token that some unclean thing had been at hand. The headman, newly ap- pointed and oppressed by a sense of his responsibili- ties, whispered an apology in my car.

"Pardon us, Tian," he said. "It is an ill-omened sight, and verily I crave forgiveness. It is not fitting that this woman should thus pass and repass athwart the track upon which you are pleased to walk, and that she should bear so unworthy a burden. She is one who hath been inadequately instructed by her parents, one who knoweth nought of language or religion. I pray you pardon her and the village. She is a bad woman to bring this shame upon our folk."

"Who is she?" I inquired.

She is Minah, a woman of this village, one devoid of shame. And behold this day she has smudged soot upon the faces of all of us by thus wan- tonly passing across your path, bearing her man, the leper; and I presently will upbraid her, yea, very certainly, I will reprove her with many pungent words."

"Is she also unclean?" I asked.

"No, Tun, the evil sickness hath not fallen upon her yet. But her man is sore stricken, and though we, who are of her blood, plead with her mevasingly,