Chapter 8 Section 7

May 29 Thomas Lloyd, with his pipe in his mouth, watched the dexterous hands of Malaya's top servant busy arranging his luggage.Occasionally his eyes turned to the farm.In the next six months, he will not see the familiar scene he has been watching for seven years. It must be strange to be back in England again. His partner, Alan Derek, poked his head in. "Hi Thomas, how's it going?" "It's all ready." "Have a drink, you lucky fellow. I'm dying of envy." Thomas Rloyd walked slowly out of the bedroom, not saying a word, for Thomas Rloyd was an unusually silent man.His friends had learned to correctly guess his various reactions from his silence.

A little pudgy body, a serious face, a pair of pensive and keen eyes.He walks a little slanted, like a crab.This was the result of being stuck in a door during an earthquake, which earned him the nickname "Crab Layman".Partial failure of his right arm and shoulder, combined with the habitual slowness of his walk, often lead to the impression that he is shy.Embarrassment, in fact he was rarely shy, embarrassed. Alan Derek mixed the drinks. "Well," he said, "bon voyage!" Roy Dee snapped back, what sounded like "Uh huh." Derek looked at him strangely.

"Still so calm, as usual," he said. "I don't know how you're still so calm. How long have you been home?" "Seven years—nearly eight." "It's been a long time. I really don't know if you have been completely assimilated by the natives here." "may be." "You always talk so little, like a mute! Are you planning to go back?" "Well—yes—so to speak." A calm bronze face suddenly darkened. Alan Derek said in astonishment: "I guess it's for the girls! Fuck, you're blushing!" Thomas Lloyd said somewhat roughly:

"Don't guess!" Simultaneously puffed on his pipe. He broke the previous record, and then he went on. "Perhaps," he said, "I'll go back and find that things have changed a little." Wen Lun Derek asked curiously: "I never knew why you suddenly didn't go home last time, but decided not to go back at the last minute." Roydie shrugged. "I thought it would be good to go back to hunting. Then there was bad news at home." "By the way. I forgot. Your brother was killed—in a car accident." Thomas Lloyd nodded. Derek had always thought it seemed odd not to be home for that reason.He also had a mother—a sister.At that point of course—he suddenly remembered that Thomas had canceled the trip just before the news of his brother's death.

Allen looked at his friend strangely.Old Thomas, an unpredictable dark horse? Things have been going on for three years, he can ask. "You have a deep bond with your brother," "Adrian and me? Not particularly deep. We always go our separate ways. He's a lawyer." "Well," thought Derek, "very different life. London offices, parties—living off lip service." Adrian Lloyd, he thought, must be a very different man from the silent Thomas. . "Is Lingtang still alive?" "My mother? Yes." "And you have a sister." Thomas shook his head.

"Oh, I thought you had. That snapshot—" Roydy said in a low voice, "It's not my sister, it's a distant cousin or something. My mother brought us up with us because she is an orphan." A blush appeared on the bronzed face again. Derek said, "Is she married?" "Married. Married to that Neville Schunkie fellow," "The guy who plays tennis and all that?" "Yes. She divorced him." "And you want to go home and try your luck with her!" Derek thought. He bypassed this without further questioning and changed the subject.

"Do you want to go fishing and hunting when you get home?" "Stay at home for a while, and then I want to go to Yanpu to play boats." "I know the place, charming little place. There's a nice old-fashioned hotel there." "Yes, the 'Palace' Hotel. Probably staying there, or at the house of a friend of mine who is there." "Sounds pretty good." "Ah. A quiet place, Yanpu, no one disturbs you." "I know," Derek said, "the kind of place where nothing happens."