THIS happened in Papeete, where the sky is bluer than is seemly, and the green things greener than is suitable, and the flowers are both larger and more colourful than is anyhow respectable. Also there is tropic moonlight and a perpetual distant sound...
THIS happened in Papeete, where the sky is bluer than is seemly, and the green things greener than is suitable, and the flowers are both larger and more colourful than is anyhow respectable. Also there is tropic moonlight and a perpetual distant sound of surf, and the stimulating scent of frangipane upon dusky-skinned, smiling girls. And there are other things, too, which are detrimental to the morals and discretion of young Gauls in the 'service of their country, and which ought to be considered extenuating circumstances. But there must have been something personal to young M. Duchet to make him pattern his life in a fashion the rest of his world regarded with combined amusement and irritation.