Burmese Days 缅甸岁月 Chapter 18

After the row overnight Ellis was looking forward to a week of baiting Flory. He had nicknamed him Nancy--short for nigger's Nancy Boy, but the women did not know that--and was already inventing wild scandals about him. Ellis always invented scandals about anyone with whom he had quarrelled--scandals which grew, by repeated embroideries ², into a species of saga ³. Flory's incautious remark that Dr Veraswami was a 'damned good fellow' had swelled ⁴ before long into a whole Daily Worker-ful of blasphemy ⁵ and sedition ⁶., ,'On my honour, Mrs Lackersteen,' said Ellis--Mrs Lackersteen had taken a sudden dislike to Flory after discovering the great secret about Verrall, and she was quite ready to listen to Ellis's tales-- 'on my honour, if you'd been there last night and heard the things that man Flory was saying--well, it'd have made you shiver in your shoes!', ,'Really! You know, I always thought he had such CURIOUS ideas., , ,'Worse.', ,There were long recitals ⁷. However, to Ellis's disappointment, Flory had not stayed in Kyauktada to be baited. He had gone back to camp the day after his dismissal by Elizabeth. Elizabeth heard most of the scandalous tales about him. She understood his character perfectly ⁸ now. She understood why it was that he had so often bored her and irritated her. He was a highbrow--her deadliest word--a highbrow, to be classed with Lenin, A. J. Cook and the dirty little poets in the Montparnasse cafes. She could have forgiven him even his Burmese mistress more easily than that., ,That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了 。,Some of the embroideries are in bold, bright colours; others are quietly elegant. 刺绣品有的鲜艳 ，有的淡雅
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