Status Updates From La folie Almayer

"I shall always remember," returned Nina, earnestly; "but where is my power, and what can I do?"
"Do not let him look too long in your eyes, nor lay his head on your knees without reminding him that men should fight before they rest. And if he lingers, give him his kriss yourself and bid him go, as the wife of a mighty prince should do when the enemies are near.

"Forget that you ever looked at a white face; forget their words; forget their thoughts. They speak lies. And they think lies because they despise us that are better than they are, but not so strong. Forget their friendship and their contempt; forget their many gods. Girl, why do you want to remember the past when there is a warrior and a chief ready to give many lives—his own life—for one of your smiles?"

She heard, but did not understand, and drank in the dreamy joy of her new existence without troubling about its meaning or its end,

...in the hot nights of the south-west monsoon she slept dreamlessly under the bright stars on the platform built outside the house and over the river. And she closed her eyes to the murmur of the water, to the whisper of the warm wind above, ignorant of the never-ceasing life of that tropical nature that spoke to her in vain with the thousand faint voices of the forest,

In that supple figure straight as an arrow, so graceful and free in its walk, behind those soft eyes that spoke of nothing but of unconscious resignation, there slept all feelings and all passions, all hopes and all fears, the curse of life and the consolation of death. She lived like the tall palms amongst whom she was passing now, seeking the light, desiring the sunshine, fearing the storm, unconscious of either.

Nina nodded to him with an uncertain smile,&was going to speak,when a sharp report from the gun mounted in the bow of the steam launch that was just then coming into view arrested the words on her parted lips.The smile died out,&was replaced by the old look of anxious attention.From the hills far away the echo came back like a long-drawn & mournful sigh,as if the land had sent it in answer to the voice of its masters

And she submitted after a short and fierce struggle of her old self against the new principle of her life. She wrapped herself up in absolute silence; she could not trust herself to make a sign, to murmur a word for fear of saying too much and the very violence of the feelings that stirred the innermost recesses of her soul seemed to turn her person into a stone.

She recognised with a thrill of delicious fear the mysterious consciousness of her identity with that being. Listening to his words, it seemed to her she was born only then to a knowledge of a new existence, that her life was complete only when near him, and she abandoned herself to a feeling of dreamy happiness, while with half-veiled face and in silence—as became a Malay girl

...and hidden there, leaning against the smooth trunk of a tall palm, he waited with gleaming eyes and an assured smile to hear the faint rustle of dried grass under the light footsteps of Nina.

When questioned with languid courtesy by the grave Abdulla he sought refuge in a vacant stare of his one eye, and in the affectation of extreme simplicity.
“I am only my master’s slave,” murmured Babalatchi,
And the two would separate, the Arab cursing inwardly the wily dog, while Babalatchi went on his way walking on the dusty path, his body swaying, his chin with its few grey hairs pushed forward, resembling [...]

Nina saw those eyes fixed upon her with such an uncontrolled expression of admiration & desire that she felt a hitherto unknown feeling of shyness, mixed with alarm & some delight, enter & penetrate her whole being. Confused by those unusual sensations she stopped in the doorway & instinctively drew the lower part of the curtain across her face, leaving only half a rounded cheek, a stray tress, and one eye exposed,

He glanced at his Malay visitor, who was waiting silently for the end of the uproar in an attitude of amused expectation, and waving his hand contemptuously he murmured—
“It is nothing. Some women.”
The Malay nodded his head gravely, and his face assumed an expression of serene indifference, as etiquette demanded after such an explanation.

It seemed to Nina that there was no change and no difference. Whether they traded in brick godowns or on the muddy river bank; whether they reached after much or little; whether they made love under the shadows of the great trees or in the shadow of the cathedral on the Singapore promenade; whether they plotted for their own ends under the protection of laws and according to the rules of Christian conduct, [...]

They listened and assented, amazed by the wonderful simplicity and the foolish hopefulness of the man, till Almayer, carried away by his excitement, disclosed his regret at the non-arrival of the English, “who knew how to develop a rich country,” as he expressed it. There was a general laugh amongst the Dutch officers at that unsophisticated statement,

The moon rose long before the boats had traversed half that distance, and the black forest sleeping peacefully under her cold rays woke up that night to the ringing laughter in the small flotilla provoked by some reminiscence of Almayer’s lamentable narrative.

...after two days spent in wailing, she returned to her former mode of life,chewing betelnut, and sitting all day amongst her women in stupefied idleness. She aged very rapidly after that, and only roused herself from her apathy to acknowledge by a scathing remark or an insulting exclamation the accidental presence of her husband.
She will poison me, thought the poor wretch, well aware of that easy and final manner

But the world had to be conquered first, and its conquest was not so easy.He was very soon made to understand that he was not wanted in that corner of it where old Lingard and his own weak will placed him, in the midst of unscrupulous intrigues and of a fierce trade competition. The Arabs had found out the river, had established a trading post in Sambir,and where they traded they would be masters and suffer no rival.

When, turning round, he beheld the pretty little house, the big godowns built neatly by an army of Chinese carpenters, the new jetty round which were clustered the trading canoes, he felt a sudden elation in the thought that the world was his.

She was conscious, and in the great peace & stillness of the tropical evening succeeding the turmoil of the battle, she watched all she held dear on earth after her own savage manner, drift away into the gloom in a great roar of flame & smoke.
The light night breeze fanned the brig gently to the southward, and the great blaze of light got smaller and smaller till it twinkled only on the horizon like a setting star.

A numerous and representative assembly of moths were holding high revels round the lamp to the spirited music of swarming mosquitoes. Under the palm-leaf thatch lizards raced on the beams calling softly. A monkey, chained to one of the verandah supports—retired for the night under the eaves—peered and grinned at Almayer, as it swung to one of the bamboo roof sticks and caused a shower of dust and bits of dried leaves

Leaning with both his elbows on the balustrade of the verandah,he went on looking fixedly at the great river that flowed—indifferent & hurried—before his eyes. He liked to look at it about the time of sunset;perhaps because at that time the sinking sun would spread a glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai,and Almayers thoughts were often busy with gold;gold he had failed to secure;gold the others had secured;