The India Fan (39 page)

She nodded.

I looked at the ayah. how us,I said.

I was holding the thing gingerly. I could smell a faint narcotic odour.

Louise was leading the way to a small gate. It was locked, but possible for one of Louise size to crawl under it, which she proceeded to do.

his Great Khansamah garden,said Ayah, shaking her head.

ome back, Louise,I called.

She stood on the other side of the gate looking at us wonderingly.

t was in here I found your flower,she said, pointing. ver there.

his Great Khansamah garden,repeated Ayah. ou must not go there. Great Khansamah he be very angry.

Louise scrambled back looking alarmed.

ever go there again,said Ayah. t is not good.

Louise gripped her sari as though for protection. Everyone had heard of the power of the Great Khansamah.

I took the sprig into the house and burned it. Then I realized that I should have kept it and shown it to Dougal or Fabian.

I saw Dougal soon after that and told him what had happened.

re you sure?he said.

he ayah called it thorn apple and I remembered what you had said.

ould you recognize it from my description?

ell, no not exactly, but it could have been. But the ayah knew it. She would surely know and she recognized it at once.

He was silent. Then he said, he Great Khansamah garden is his own property and we cannot tell him what he can and cannot grow there.

ut if he is growing this drug

e is a law unto himself.

ut he is employed by the Company and if he breaks the law

think it wiser to say nothing abut this just yet. After all, we have to have proof, and it could cause a great deal of trouble if we tried to prevent his growing what he wants to, in that patch of land that the Company has decided shall be for his sole use.

I wished that I had spoken to Fabian about it. I was sure his reaction would have been different.

On the other hand, I had only the ayah word for it that it was the dreaded datura. She could so easily have been wrong, and I could imagine the outcry there would have been if we had tried to interfere with the Great Khansamah right to grow what he wanted to in his own garden.

That very day we had a great surprise and perhaps that is why I was not more concerned at the time with the discovery of the deadly plant in the garden.

Tom Keeping came to the house.

He came face to face with us as Alice and I were preparing to take the children into the garden.

iss Philwright, Miss Delany,he cried, his face breaking into a delighted smile.

I was aware of Alice, a little tense beside me.

knew you were here,he went on. t is a great pleasure to see you again. Are you well? Are you enjoying being here?

I said we were and Alice agreed with me.

knew we should meet again sometime, and urgent business has brought me here.

hall you be staying?

hat depends on many things. However, we shall be able to meet at times.He was looking at Alice. ou find it congenial?

es,she said. get on well with the children. Don we?she said, looking at Louise.

Louise nodded vigorously, staring up at Tom Keeping with interest.

e too,said Alan.

es,said Alice, ruffling his hair. ou too, darling.

want to see Sir Fabian urgently,said Tom. am told he will be here this afternoon.

e never know when he will be here,I told him.

e should be getting along into the garden,said Alice.

Tom Keeping smiled. e shall meet again soon. Au revoir,he said.

Dougal had appeared. He said, ir Fabian will be here very soon. In the meantime, come into the study and we can talk things over.

They left us and we went into the garden.

hat a surprise!I said.

es, but I suppose as he is employed by the Company Alice voice trailed off.

e is such a nice man.

Alice was silent. She looked pink and flushed and younger; I noticed, too, that she was rather absentminded. I thought: It would be wonderful if he cared for her, but if he does not it would have been better if he had not come back.

Fabian returned later that day. He was closeted in his study with Dougal and Tom Keeping. They did not appear at dinner, but had something sent to the study.

Lavinia and I were alone.

hank goodness,she said. can bear all this Company talk. You think there was nothing else in the world.

She chattered on about a certain young captain whom she had met the previous evening.

o handsome, and married to the plainest girl I expect it was for her money. She doesn even know how to make the best of herself. Fancy anyone with her dark skin wearing brown.

I could not give much attention to such matters. I was thinking about Alice and Tom Keeping.

The next day we took the children into the gardens. Tom Keeping joined us. I made an excuse and left him and Alice together. Alice looked a little alarmed, but I was firm. There was something I had to do for the Countess, I lied.

I could not help feeling that Tom Keeping was rather pleased.

On the way into the house I came face to face with Fabian.

He said, ello. Are you busy?

ot particularly.

like to have a talk.

hat about?I asked.

hings,he said.

here?

think in my study.

I must have shown some apprehension. I had never forgotten that occasion when he had made some sort of advance when he had been under the impression that I was Fleur mother. I could never be alone with him without wondering whether he was going to do the same again. He knew now that I was not a woman of easy virtue, but I fancied that would not prevent his belief that as a Framling and so much above me in the social scale, it would be in order to amuse himself with me for a while. Perhaps that was why I always seemed to be on the defensive. He was aware of this, I was sure. That was what was so disconcerting. He seemed to read my thoughts with ease. I had always felt that he was faintly attracted by meot for my good looks, which were nonexistent, not for my feminine appeal, but because I was, as Lavinia had pointed out many times, prim, and a man such as he was would find it diverting to break through my armour and to see me submit to him.

I was determined not to show him that I felt excited as well as apprehensive.

He shut the door, his lips turning up at the corners. He held the chair for me and as I sat down his hand touched my shoulder. He took a chair by the table, which was between us.

ou know Tom Keeping is here,he said.

es, he is in the garden with Miss Philwright and the children.

noticed the little charade. You discreetly left them together. Is there some relationship between Keeping and the nanny?

hat is something you should ask them.

I saw the amused look in his eyes. It faded suddenly. rusilla,he said seriously, ou are a sensible girl. I wish I could say the same for my sister.He hesitated. e are a little alarmed.

bout what?

He waved his hands. verything,he said.

don understand.

wish we did more fully. Tom Keeping has a special position in the Company. He travels around a great deal. He keeps an eye on things.

ou mean he is a sort of Company spy?

hat is hardly the description I would use. You see the position we are in here. It is, after all, an alien country. Their customs are so different from ours. There are bound to be clashes. We think we could help improve conditions here. They are thinking we are an imperialistic conqueror. That is not so. We want the best for them providing it is also the best for ourselves. We have made good laws for them but they are our laws not theirs, and they often resent them.

know. You have told us.

hey act in defiance to us. That is the trouble. That is what Tom is here to talk about. There has been a rather bad outbreak of thuggery some thirty miles from here. A group of four travellers have been murdered. We recognize the methods. They had no enemies four innocuous men, travelling together for company. They have all been found dead in the forest near a certain inn. The innkeeper admits they stayed there. There were two men at the inn who dined with them. A few hours later the four travellers were found dead in the forest. They had died of poison, which must have been administered in some drink just before they left the inn. There was no reason for the deaths except to placate the bloodthirsty Kali. It seems to me that in defiance of our law there is a return to this old barbaric custom.

ow dreadful! Innocent travellers murdered by strangers!

hat is the way of the Thagi. It makes me very uneasy. There have not been many cases lately and we were beginning to think we had wiped the whole thing out. It a return to it a defiance That is what is so upsetting. Tom is investigating. If we could find the source of the trouble if we could find the murderers and where they come from we might be able to stamp it out, and we must stamp it out quickly. To allow it to go on would not only bring terror to countless Indians, but, worse still, it is an open defiance of British law.

hat are you going to do about it?

o doubt there is some sort of central control. These people have their meetings, you know. Wild ceremonies with blood offerings to Kalitrange oaths and so on. If we could find the leaders and root them out, we stop the whole thing. No sensible Indian would want to continue with that.

ut Dougal was saying that people value their independence more than anything. They don want improvements if they are going to interfere with that.

h, Dougal. He a dreamer. Wee got to find out what this means and root it out.

erhaps it could be explained to the people.

He looked at me in exasperation. rusilla, you are a child in these matters. The sentimental view will only make matters worse. We have to stamp out these evils if we are going to have a reasonable country here where we can live and work and bring benefits to them as well as to ourselves. If they won accept this, we have to make them.

o you think you will ever do that? e have to try.

hat would you do if you found the murderers?

ang them.

ould that be wise? They are following what seems to be a religion with them. It is the worship of the goddess Kali that makes them do such things.

ou are a clever young lady, my dear Drusilla, but in these matters you are infantile.

hen why do you bother to tell me of them?

ecause I think we should all be warned. Keeping doesn like the way things are going. He says he is aware of an undercurrent. He has detected insolence in certain people. He is trained to recognize these moods. He is a very experienced man, and he is disturbed.

hat should one do about it?

ake great care. Watch the way the wind blows. It is no use talking to Lavinia.

o use at all. But why do you talk to me?

ecause I expect you to be sensible.

n what way?

e watchful. Tell one of us if you see anything that may seem strange. We are going through an uneasy patch. We have them from time to time. We must be careful not to offend not to show arrogance to respect their customs.

xcept thuggery.

hat is true. But we are hoping that this is an isolated outbreak. If we could track it down and put an end to it there might be no more. If it goes undetected it might grow.

understand your anxiety. Thank you for telling me.

daresay Tom Keeping will tell Miss Philwright. In fact, I am sure he will. He has a great respect for her intelligence. He seems to be very interested in her.

t was obvious when we travelled with him.

nd she what are her feelings?

am not sure. She is not one to betray them.

here are some like that,he said, smiling at me.

t is often wise.

am sure anything Miss Philwrightnd you alsowould do would be wise. Tom Keeping is a good fellow a very faithful member of the Company. I owe him a good deal.

es, he is clearly very efficient.

ou owe him something, too.

ou mean because he looked after us during the latter part of our voyage?

e looked after you very well. I don think you are aware of how well.

I waited.

He went on, o you know he rescued you from a rather tricky situation?

I looked at him in surprise. know he was very kind and helpful.

ow good a student of human nature are you, Miss Drusilla?

o you mean can I judge people? Oh, tolerably well, I believe.

imagine that might be so among ordinary people with whom you come into contact. The lady helpers at the church and the garden bazaar and so on; who must arrange the flowers in the church for Easter; who must be given that best stall at the sale of work; who is a little jealous because someone had too friendly a smile from the delectable Reverend Brady By the way, Brady is married. He married the doctor daughter.

He was watching me intently.

very suitable match,I said. trust it satisfies Lady Harriet?

here might not have been a marriage if it had not.

suppose not. Colin Brady is a very docile subject.

ou were less so.

like to manage my own life, don you?

recisely. But we stray from the point, which was an assessment of your ability to judge human nature. I can tell you this, Miss Drusilla, you may be an expert in your narrow field, but when you stray outside that you are an utter ignoramus.

ndeed.

ndeed yes. You were completely taken in by the charming Lasseur.

I was startled.

e was attractive, was he not? The attentive Frenchman. Were you just a little impressed by him? Did you find him quite attractive?

onsieur Lasseur I murmured.

he very same. He was not really a Frenchman, you know.

ut

He laughed at me. ou were an innocent a sheep among wolves. I think it would always be well to know when one is out of one depth.

ou are talking in riddles.

lways an amusing way to talk, don you think?

o. I would like plain speaking.

hen I will speak plainly. Monsieur Lasseur, no Frenchman but a gentleman of obscure origins, was playing a part. The gallant gentleman was out to deceive unsuspecting ladies who believe they have such a good understanding of life and its little vicissitudes that they are ready to fall into his trap. Your Monsieur Lasseur