Dit is een stelopdracht naar aanleiding van een fragment dat eveneens afkomstig is uit "The Human Element" van W. Somerset Maugham.
Carruthers is op bezoek bij Lady Betty Welldon-Burns, een vriendin die op Rhodos woont. Hij is al jaren verliefd op haar en vraagt haar bij elke gelegenheid ten huwelijk. Hij wordt echter steevast afgewezen. Tijdens zijn bezoek probeert hij bij haar heimwee naar Engeland op te wekken, met als doel haar als zijn vrouw daar weer mee naar terug te brengen.
[Carruthers] could not sleep. It was hot under his mosquito-net. He turned and tossed. Presently he thought he would go down to the little beach at the foot of the hill and bathe. It was not more than three minutes' walk. He put on his espadrilles and took a towel. The moon was full and he saw it shining on the sea through the olive-trees. But he was not alone to have thought that this radiant night would be lovely to bathe in, for just before he came out on to the beach sounds reached his ears. He muttered a little damn of vexation, some of Betty's servants were bathing, and he could not very well disturb them. The olive-trees came almost to the water's edge and undecided he stood in their shelter. He heard a voice that gave him a sudden start.
"Where's my towel?"
English. A woman waded out of the water and stood for a moment at its edge. From the darkness a man came forward with nothing but a towel round his loins. The woman was Betty.
"Where's my towel?"
English. A woman waded out of the water and stood for a moment at its edge. From the darkness a man came forward with nothing but a towel round his loins. The woman was Betty.
(Mijn toevoeging/einde van het verhaal:)
Indecisive, Carruthers lingered in the shelter of the trees. He could hardly walk towards her – with her being naked and him practically in that same position, that would be embarrassing to both of them.
Then, just as he wanted to turn around and walk back to his searing hot room, he recognised the man with the towel. He formed an inwardly swear with his lips, without making any noise, and his eyes narrowed as he watched the chauffeur handing over his towel to Betty.
This could not be happening.
He didn’t want to watch them, but still – he couldn’t take his eyes off them either. He could not believe what he was seeing; Betty, Lady Betty, was kissing her chauffeur.
At least now he had an explanation for the chauffeur’s impudence, he thought, getting angrier every second.
Clearly, Betty wouldn’t want to marry him as long as she was in love with one of her servants. The lack of a good reason to turn his proposals down suddenly made perfectly good sense. Being Lady Betty, she couldn’t tell him about her secret love affair.
His rage, which had come very fast, suddenly left him when he heard the happy, confident and relaxed laughter of the couple. His anger was replaced by frustration, which, a few seconds later, changed into disappointment and regret. He was disappointed with himself, for not noticing the feelings Betty and the chauffeur had for each other. He regretted his own actions; should he have tried harder to conquer Betty’s heart?
Carruthers left the trees. He walked back to his room, heartbroken, humiliated, but with an answer. Finally, he had gotten an answer to his question of why she always refused his proposals. The next day he would return to England, never to ask for Lady Betty’s hand again. He had seen the love in her eyes, he had heard the happiness in her laugh. She would never love him the way she loved the man who had become so much more than just her servant.
