Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/348

 made more bitter by To' Kâya discovering a stringy thread of egg in one of the sweetmeats prepared for him by his wife, and mistaking it for a human hair. To European ears this does not sound very important, but To Kaya, in common with most Malays, be- lieved that the presence of hair in his food betokened that his wife was either trying to poison him or else to put upon him some spell. He accused her roundly of both crimes, and a row royal followed.

Next evening To' Kaya was again in attendance upon his father until a late hour, and when he at length returned home, his wife greeted him through the closed door with loud reproaches for his supposed infidelity to her. He cried to her to unbar the door, and when she at last did so, railing virulently the while, he shouted angrily that he would have to stab her in order to teach her better manners if she did not make haste to mend them.

At this she was seized by a perfect transport of rage, and making a gesture which is the grossest insult. that a Malay woman can put upon a man, she yelled at him, "Hai! Stab, then! Stab-if you are able:"

It was now To' Kâya's turn completely to lose his head and his temper. He drew his kris clear of its scabbard, and she took the point in her breast, their baby, who was on her arm, being also slightly wounded.

Dropping the child, with unerring maternal in- stinct, she rushed past her husband, leaped to the ground, and took refuge in the house of a neighbour named Che' Long.