The India Fan (44 page)

am glad he has become that boring old Comte. He was so wonderful at one time.

ell, Khansamah has been behaving very well lately.

ery well! Trying to force his daughter-in-law to burn herself to death.

was referring to his way with me.

f course. You never give a thought to anything that does not concern you.

Lavinia laughed. tay with me. I love the way you treat me. I don know why. Mama would have dismissed you long ago for insolence.

ut you are not Mama, and if I am dismissed I will take myself off without delay.

uffy again! Of course I want you to stay. Youe my best friend, Drusilla. What a name! It suits you. You look like a Drusilla.

rim? Disapproving of all the fun?

hat right.

t not true. I only disapprove of the so-called fun you like to have with the opposite sex, which has once had dire consequences, which you should remember.

re we back to that?

es and be careful of the Khansamah. He may not be what you think.

h, he polite to me always. He quite humble now.

wouldn trust him.

ou wouldn trust your maiden aunt who goes to church four times a day and prays for an hour kneeling by her bedside every night.

have no such maiden aunt.

ou ought to be one yourselfnly you haven any family to be aunt to. That why you impress your prim propriety on me.

tell you

going home!she mimicked. h, no you won. What was I telling you? Oh, I know. How G.K. is with me. He is rather sweet really. Do you know he brought me a present the other day. I know what it is for. He asking for forgiveness for that outburst. Of course I forgive him. He just admired me so much.

believe you would have surrendered if I hadn come in.

ive up my virtue! What an experience it would have been!

ou have so little virtue that you would hardly be aware of its loss. As to experience so is jumping into the sea and drowning yourself, but I don suggest you try that for the sake of sweet experience.

h, shut up and look at the present G.K. brought to me.

She went to a drawer and took out a case.

ou mean you accepted a gift from him!

f course I accepted it. One has to accept gifts in the spirit in which they are given. It extremely impolite not to do so.

She opened the box and drew out its contents. She held it to her face, peering over the top coquettishly.

I was staring in horror at a peacock-feather fan.

The weeks that followed were marked by increasing tension. In certain parts of the country open rebellion had broken out, but so far it had been kept under control.

At the beginning of March of that year, 1857, Alice and Tom Keeping were married. It was a simple ceremony, which I attended with Dougal, Lavinia and Fabian, who had made a flying visit to Delhi for the occasion and left immediately afterwards. He did say that he had urgent Company business and must keep in touch with the Army. He was going to the Punjab, where, so far, everything was quiet.

Dougal remained in Delhi and I had several opportunities of talking to him.

He said he would very much like to get out of the country and Fabian had agreed with him on this. Undercurrents of rebellion were springing up everywhere and the journey to the coast might prove very hazardous. But for the children, he thought it would be advisable to attempt to leave. Both he and Fabian agreed that Delhi might perhaps be the safest place for us to be after all, for the biggest concentration of Army personnel was stationed there.

I had thought a great deal about the Khansamah gift of the peacock-feather fan to Lavinia. I could not help feeling that there was some sinister implication in this. I chided myself. It was a small matter compared with the cloud of uncertainty that hung over us. Fans made of peacock feathers were common enough in the bazaars and marketplaces. True, they were mostly bought by foreigners who would not know of their reputation whatever that was. But what was the significance of Khansamah gift of one to Lavinia?

She believed it was a form of apology for his behaviour; but then Lavinia would always believe what she wanted to.

I did ask Dougal about peacock feathers. He was very interested in old customs and he had probably heard that they were considered to be unlucky. He had not, but being Dougal, he set himself the task of finding out.

As he had known that one day he would have to visit India, he had made it his duty to find out all he could about that country, and in his possession were several books which he had brought out with him from England. There was not much that he could tell me, however, but he did discover that there were suspicions regarding peacocksfeathers and one or two sources stated that in some quarters they were considered to be bringers of ill luck.

I told him that I had one in my possession, which had been given to me by Miss Lucille Framling, who had certainly believed in its evil influence.

dd that she should wish to pass it on to you,he said.

I told him of the incident when I had taken the fan. He smiled and said, believe she was a little unbalanced.

es, she had a great tragedy. Her lover was murdered and it seemed to her that it was all due to the fan.

ell, that a lot of nonsense.

I did not tell him that the Khansamah had presented Lavinia with one. I wondered what he would say if he knew that she had carried on a mild flirtation with the man. Sometimes I thought he did not care what Lavinia did.

t goes back to the legend of Argus, whose eyes went to the peacock tail. Some believe that Argus wants revenge and that the spots are eyes which see everything that is going on not only what is visible, but what is in the mind. There are quite a number of people in this country who never have peacock feathers in their houses.

hey don all feel like that, I suppose. Some might think the fans made pleasant gifts. They are really very beautiful.

t might be that the fact that they are would make them more evil in the eyes of the superstitious.

I tried to forget that the Khansamah had given Lavinia the fan. Heaven knew there were far more important matters to concern me.

I received a letter from Alice. She was very happy. She wrote: om is wonderful and we often marvel at the fortuitous way in which we met. Tom is wondering what is going to happen next. I think he realizes the danger of the situation more than most, for his work takes him all over the country. His work is so exciting and it is marvellous to be able to help him. You will be happy to know that the cargo is settled and being taken care of. I look forward to meeting you some time. Perhaps we shall come back to Delhi. Tom is never sure where his work will take him and things are a little uncertain now. It would be wonderful to have a real talk about everything.

I was so pleased to read her letter. How wonderfully life had turned out for Alice!

Meanwhile, as the uneasy weeks passed, rumour intensified. April had passed and May was with us. Lord Canning made a proclamation assuring the sepoy troops that the cartridges they used were not greased with pork or beef, but it was, I believed, received with scepticism.

Dougal was called away. He went reluctantly.

don like leaving you here alone,he said. ajor Cummings will keep an eye on the house. You must do whatever he tells you.

Lavinia was rather pleased. She was developing a fondness for Major Cummings.

The day Dougal left, Fabian returned.

He asked me to go to his study. When I arrived, I saw how serious he was.

He said, can talk to Lavinia. She has no sense of responsibility. I can tell you how worrying this is, Drusilla. It seems to me you are the only sensible one here, now that Alice Philwright has gone. A pity. She is a practical young woman.

hat has happened?

od knows. There is a terrible feeling of uneasiness throughout the Company and the Army. It was a mistake to depose the King of Delhild Bahadur Shah was quite harmlessnd an even greater one to try to turn them out of the family mansion. You see, Drusilla, we have won many a battle with the sepoy troops. Now they say to themselves: Who won these battles? It is the soldier who wins the battles not those in command. What we could do for the British we could do for ourselves. They are against us, Drusilla and they are part of the Army.

o you really think they would revolt?

ome would. The Sikhs are loyal so far. I think they can see what benefits have come through us and they care enough for the country to want us to continue. But this headlong nationalism we can stop it. What worries me is you and Lavinia and the children. I do wish I could get you home.

don think that would be easy, would it?

ar from easy but just possible. You see, if we got you out of Delhi, where would you go? One doesn know from one hour to the next where revolt will break out. We might be sending you into disaster whereas here in Delhi at least we are well represented and we know where we are.

here must be more important things to worry about than us.

hat is not the case,he said. wish to God you had never come. I wish I could stay here. I want to keep my eyes on things here. But I can. Drusilla, you will have to think for yourself and Lavinia.

ave you talked to Lavinia?

have tried to. It doesn make much impression. She doesn really see danger. I don like leaving you here with the Khansamah. I wish I could get rid of him. I am certain that he was responsible for that outbreak of thuggery. He would regard it as a gesture of defiance against us, you see. He is at variance with the laws because we have imposed them. But someone took revenge on him, for the murder of young Asraf was revenge by the family of one of the victims. Now he may suspect that we were involved in the plot to spirit Roshanara away. I want you to be ready to leave at a moment notice.

will be.

here may not be much warning. I wish I could stay in Delhi, but I have to leave tonight.

on worry about us. I will be prepared.

he children

shall manage that. I shall tell them it is a new game. They will be easy to handle then.

sure youl manage. Sometimes I thank God you are here and at others I curse myself for having brought you.

I smiled at him. lease don do that,I said. t has been illuminating.

He looked at me steadily for a moment and then suddenly he put his arms round me and held me tightly against him.

Then I felt that everything was worthwhile.

When he had gone I felt a frightening loneliness. There seemed to be a special stillness in the air a tension, as if something terrible were lurking, ready to spring out on us and destroy us.

It was early evening. The children were in bed. The ayah cousin had joined her to help her look after the children. She was a quiet, gentle girl and both Louise and Alan were already fond of her.

I heard a gentle knock at the door. I went to it and there was the ayah.

s anything wrong?I cried in alarm.

She put her fingers to her lips and came into the room.

want you to come see my brother. He must see you.

hy does he want to see me?

e want to say thank you.She lowered her voice. or saving Roshanara.

here is no need for that.

es great need.

I knew how easily susceptibilities could be wounded, so I said, shall be home tomorrow. Perhaps he would call then.

e not come. He say you go to him.

hen?

ow.

he children

hey are in good care.

I knew that she had set her little cousin to watch over them.

ery important,she said and added mysteriously, or plan.

I was very puzzled and she went on, ome. Go to gazebo. Wait there.

I was very curious, but I did sense an urgency in her manner, and because I knew that I must be prepared for any extraordinary occurrence I fell in at once with her suggestion.

I looked in at the children. They were sleeping peacefully and the ayah cousin was seated by Alan bed.

watch,she said.

I went with all speed to the gazebo. The ayah was already there. She opened a box and took out a blue sari, which she asked me to put on. It seemed to become more and more mysterious, but remembering Fabian warnings and the dangers in which we were living, I complied. She gave me a piece of material rather like a shawl to put round my head.

e go,she said.

We left the garden, avoiding coming in view of the house, and we were soon hurrying along the streets.

I knew the way well. It was near the bazaar.

We came to a house. I had noticed it before, because it had a magnificent mango tree in front of it. Now it was full of blossom.

his is my brother house,said the ayah.

The brother came out to greet us. He bowed twice and took us into the house. He drew aside a beaded curtain and invited us into a room which seemed full of carved wooden furniture.

alar very happy,he said. e want thank for Roshanara He shook his head and there were tears in his eyes. he safe now she well. She happy. Missie Drusilla, she say, she one great lady.

h, it was nothing,I told him. aturally we wouldn have allowed it to happen. It is against the law.

alar he wish to do service. He wish to say not good in big house. Not good stay.

es,I said, here is trouble everywhere.

ot good,he went on, nodding. alar want to say big thank.

ell, you must not think any more of it. We were fond of Roshanara. We could not allow her to do as they wanted her to. Naturally we did what we could.

The ayah said, y brother does not understand. He say you must leave big house. It not good.

know,I said. e shall go when we can.

y brother say best go back across sea.

ell him we shall when the opportunity comes.

They talked together, Salar shaking his head and the ayah nodding with him.

e say will help,she told me.

ill you thank him very, very much and say that I shall not forget his kindness.

e owe debt. He like not to owe. He like to pay.

am sure he does and I do appreciate it. Tell him that if I need his help I will ask.

In due course we were ushered out of the house.