Havelaar received a letter from the Regent of Tjanjor, telling him that he wished to pay a visit to his uncle the Adhipatti of Lebak. This was very unwelcome to him. He knew how the Chiefs in the Preanger Regencies were accustomed to display great luxury, and how the Tommongong of Tjanjor would not make such a journey without a retinue of hundreds of people who, with their horses, would all have to be housed and fed. He would therefore have gladly prevented this visit, but ponder as he would, he could not think of any means to stop it without hurting the feelings of the Regent of Rangkas-Betoong, who was very proud and would have felt deeply offended if his relative poverty had been adduced as a motive for not receiving the visit. And if that visit could not be avoided, it would infallibly lead to aggravation of the pressure that already weighed so heavily on the people.
It must be doubted whether Havelaar’s address had made a lasting impression on the Chiefs. With many this certainly was not the case, and he himself, indeed, had not expected it. But just as certain it was that in the villages a rumour had gone round that the toowan[1] who held authority at Rangkas-Betoong wished to do justice, and so, even if his words had missed the power to stop crime, they had undoubtedly given the victims of it the courage to complain, although this was only done timidly and secretly.
At eve they would crawl along the ravine, and when Tine was sitting in her room she was often startled by unexpected sounds, and through the open window she would see dark figures stealing past with timorous steps. Soon she no longer felt startled, for she knew what it meant when those figures wandered spectre-like
- ↑ Lord, master.
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