Summary
A narrative of personality and class conflict in an exotic setting, this story opens with Mr. Warburton, the Resident, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his new assistant, Alan Cooper. For twenty years, Mr. Warburton has been the only Englishman within many miles, but at the station, work has increased to the point that an assistant is needed. As he steps off the boat, Cooper disconcerts Mr. Warburton by greeting him with a breezy informality. After showing Cooper to his bungalow, the Resident invites him to dinner.
Although the dinner is for two, Mr. Warburton has arranged a formal table with a continental menu prepared by his excellent Chinese cook. As always, he dons his formal dinner jacket and tie. Thus he is taken aback when Cooper arrives in the same soiled shorts and shirt that he wore on the journey. The dinner confirms Mr. Warburton’s perplexed conclusion that Cooper is no gentleman. A colonial born in Barbados, he received an indifferent education and was an enlisted man during the war. The conversation becomes strained as Mr. Warburton gives Cooper some pointers about dress and manners. After dinner, Cooper asks Mr. Warburton to find him a new servant because his previous boy unaccountably disappeared during the journey upriver.
As the narrative makes plain, Mr. Warburton’s character and background differ markedly from Cooper’s. At twenty-one, he inherited a fortune that enabled him to move with ease and grace among the highest London society. A popular young man, unfailingly generous and polite, he preferred the company of noblemen, not for their wealth but for their titles. He became known as a snob, though his extravagance and generosity made the fault appear minor. He was also passionately fond of gambling and speculation, activities that led to his financial ruin at age thirty-four. After paying off his debts, he did what English gentlemen in his situation usually did: He went out to the colonies to seek a living. Now fifty-four, he retains many habits and attitudes from his London days, but he has gradually changed. During his annual visits to England, he now feels uncomfortable and out of place. He has developed an affection for Borneo and its indigenous people. His will, though no one knows or even suspects it, orders that he be buried there.
At a second dinner on the following Sunday, Cooper arrives in proper dress, and Mr. Warburton wonders whether his first impression might have been severe. For Cooper’s servant, Mr. Warburton has selected Abas, a nephew of his own head boy. Feeling relaxed and congenial, he entertains Cooper with stories of his association with dukes and princes. Cooper, who has heard of Mr. Warburton’s snobbery, listens with wry amusement. Though he speaks little, he makes it plain that he is glad that the power of the aristocracy is broken. At one point, he angers Mr. Warburton by alluding to snobbery, never realizing how great an offense he has given.
A few weeks later, Mr. Warburton’s anger changes to hatred through a seemingly trivial occurrence. Having been called away from headquarters, he leaves the management to Cooper. When he returns, he finds copies of his London Times, which arrived during his absence, disordered and scattered as Cooper had left them after he searched for details of a murder case. The Resident views the spectacle with anger and dismay. Normally, copies of the Times reach him in a large bundle several weeks after publication. He carefully dates and numbers each paper without tearing the wrappers, so that every morning at breakfast he opens the issue dated six weeks earlier. It gives...
(This entire section contains 1129 words.)
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him the illusion that he is still connected with London society and represents a tie to civilization. Cooper, lacking any understanding of such matters, storms out of the room after Mr. Warburton confronts him.
Thereafter the two avoid each other’s company except when their duties bring them together. However, several episodes involving Cooper and the Malays, for whom he has contempt, require Mr. Warburton’s intervention. When Cooper’s servants leave him because of his harsh and tyrannical treatment, the Resident orders them to return. At one point, Cooper violates regulations by requiring prisoners to work overtime, and Mr. Warburton countermands his order. Following an angry confrontation over this matter, the Resident writes to the sultan asking that Cooper be transferred.
The reply comes from the sultan’s secretary, whom Mr. Warburton knows. It suggests that Mr. Warburton is too much impressed by social distinction and emphasizes that Cooper’s energy and industry are valuable. Rebuffed, Mr. Warburton feels discouraged and weary with life. When the head boy learns that Cooper will not be transferred, he startles Mr. Warburton by intimating that there will be a misfortune. All of Cooper’s servants have abandoned him except Abas, whom he has kept by withholding his wages.
The Resident ruefully observes that Cooper has no understanding of the Malay character and inclination toward vengeance. The idea of finding him dead with a knife thrust into his back strikes Mr. Warburton as an appropriate outcome, and he is tempted to let events take their course. However, his sense of duty requires him to warn Cooper. The warning falls on deaf ears, for Cooper only sneers contemptuously.
Without servants, Cooper finds that, over several months, nervousness, irritability, the extreme heat, and poor food take their toll, and one day he goes too far. When the boy Abas confronts him to demand his wages, Cooper strikes a savage blow to his head, knocking him down. Afterward, he realizes his rashness, but vanity prevents his seeking help from the Resident. When Mr. Warburton hears of the incident and again decides to warn Cooper, the raucous sound of Cooper’s phonograph deters him from going to the bungalow. The next morning he is awakened by the calls of his head boy. Summoned to Cooper’s dwelling, he finds Cooper lying face down on the bed, a kris in his back, the body quite cold.
Mr. Warburton immediately takes all the necessary steps. After he orders the arrest of Abas, his head boy tells him that witnesses can place Abas elsewhere. Mr. Warburton curtly dismisses the alibi, and the head boy temporizes, cautiously inquiring whether Abas will be hanged. The Resident acknowledges that the provocation was great. Abas will be sentenced to serve a term in prison. In a short time, he will be paroled and taken into the Resident’s house as a servant. His uncle can teach him his duties. Mr. Warburton intimates that Abas should surrender to him soon. He turns to his breakfast and ruffles the pages of the Times. Lady Ormskirk has at last given birth to an heir. He must send his congratulations at once.
