Fragrant Flower (3 page)

Her face was heart-shaped, very like her mother’s, and her eyes seemed to have grown larger so that they were arresting to anyone looking at her.

If she was unusually pale it was because she was overworked and seldom had an opportunity to go outside the house. Not that she wished to brave the winter winds and the cold of Hampstead Heath.

Azalea looked at herself carefully.

She did not know if her dark hair and big, worried eyes were attractive or not.

She only wished her father was there to tell her what he thought. Then she looked away from her face and down at the enveloping apron in which she had been cooking all day.

Underneath it she wore a gown which had belonged either to Violet or Daisy. They were always dressed in identical fashion and she knew that while it was becoming to them because they looked their best in the pale, pastel shades of blue, pink and beige, such colours were to her unbecoming.

She did not quite know why. Perhaps it was because by the time she received the gowns they were worn out, faded with washing and often difficult to adjust to her figure.

“Oh well, who is likely to see me?” she asked of her reflection, then as she spoke the words aloud she heard footsteps approaching the door.

She knew it was unlikely to be her uncle, since he could not leave his guests and, as she had no wish to encounter strangers, she slipped hurriedly behind the heavy velvet curtains which covered the window.

She had hardly had time to conceal herself before the door opened.

“There is no one here,” a man said in a deep voice. “Let us sit down for a moment, George. We have done our duty in no uncertain fashion!”

“You have, Mirvin,” was the answer.

Having written out the invitations Azalea was now aware of who both the men were.

There was only one man on the list with the unusual name of Mirvin and that was Lord Sheldon who, on accepting, had asked if he might bring with him a friend, Captain George Widcombe, who was staying with him.

Azalea was well aware that Lady Osmund, being so delighted at the thought of Lord Sheldon attending the party, would have agreed to any suggestion he might make.

The General had said he should be sent an invitation. As he informed his wife, Lord Sheldon had served in the 7th Hussars before he came into the title and he had known him in India.

“A clever young man,” he had said grudgingly, “but I never cared for him personally. However, the Colonel secretly thinks a lot of him and he is visiting Hong Kong.”

“Will he be there with us?” Lady Osmund asked with a glint of interest in her hard eyes.

“He will,” the General replied briefly and Azalea knew that for some reason her uncle was not pleased at the idea. Now she heard Captain Widcombe say,

“How on earth you, Mirvin, with your mantelpiece overflowing with invitations to really slap-up parties, can come to this dreary, parochial show, I do not know!”

“You have not yet heard the worst of it, George,” Lord Sheldon replied.

“Can there be a worse?” Captain Widcombe asked. “I see some whisky. Let us have a drink. The champagne was appalling!”

“Army rations, dear boy! Generals always do one on the cheap!”

“That I can well believe!” Captain Widcombe replied, “although as a matter of fact in the Guards we are rather particular!”

“Do not be such a snob, George!” Lord Sheldon remarked. “But I must admit to preferring
aqua vitae
to the type of fizzy muck we have been offered this evening.”

“Well, I must say, I think it is too bad of you, Mirvin, the first night I arrive in London to bring me here!” Captain Widcombe complained.

“I wanted you to realise what I will have to put up with on the voyage to Hong Kong.”

“Good God, Mirvin! You do not mean to say you are travelling with this lot?”

“You would hardly believe it, but the Commander-in-Chief buttonholed me and said that, as the General is travelling in a troop ship and I am booked on the
Orissa
, he would be extremely grateful if I would look after Lady Osmund and her daughters! What could I reply?”

“My dear Mirvin, having seen the lady in question I must offer you my deepest and most sincere condolences!”

“I was hoping for a quiet voyage,” Lord Sheldon went on bitterly. “I have a lot of work to do, George, and now this has been thrust upon me.”

“Why on earth should the G.O.C. bother you?”

“He knows why the Colonial Office has asked me to visit Hong Kong and the General is one of his ‘blue-eyed boys.’ As a matter of fact, that is why he has been given the command.”

“And if he jumped at the job,” Captain Widcombe said shrewdly, “I am sure it was because her Ladyship thought it an excellent opportunity to foist those nit-witted pink and white twins on an unsuspecting Colony!”

“Her Ladyship has already cross-questioned me as to the social amenities she is likely to find there for her little ones.”

“I suppose by that she means what sort of eligible bachelors they will encounter!” Captain Widcombe observed.

“Of course!” Lord Sheldon agreed. “What interests any Regimental mother except unattached Subalterns?”

“The Fishing Fleet!” Captain Widcombe remarked scathingly.

“Exactly! At the same time, make no mistake, George, I have seen these young women from England in action – they do not fish! They grab – they claw – they devour!”

He gave a short disdainful laugh.

“They are man-eating tiger cubs, every single one of them, and all I can tell you is that my heart bleeds for every fresh-faced Subaltern who finds himself Shanghai’d up the aisle by one of these simpering creatures and is then tied to her for the rest of his life!”

“You certainly do not paint a very pleasant picture, Mirvin!”

“I have seen too much of it,” Lord Sheldon replied. “You have not yet served abroad, my dear boy, although it looks as if you will be in India before long, facing the Russians.”

“Do you think there will be a war?” Captain Widcombe asked.

“I think it may be avoided,” Lord Sheldon answered, “but the powers-that-be are apprehensive. They are increasing our strength in Hong Kong in case the Chinese get nasty while we are otherwise engaged.”

“So that is why you are going there!”

“I wish that was the only reason!”

“What else?”

“You will hardly believe it if I tell you,” Lord Sheldon replied, “but the main trouble in Hong Kong at the moment is purely domestic drama!”

“What do you mean?”

“There is a ridiculous, absurd squabble taking place between the Army, that is to say the Hong Kong garrison under the command of General Donovan, and the Governor.”

He paused before he continued,

“It is petty and completely childish, but it has assumed such proportions that I have been sent out with instructions jointly from the Colonial Office and the War Office to put both the contestants in their respective corners and tell them to behave themselves!”

Captain Widcombe threw back his head and laughed.

“I do not believe it! Good God, Mirvin, after all your achievements and all your brilliance in really dangerous situations, I can hardly see you playing Nanny!”

“And acting as a kind of Cook’s Courier to Lady Osmund and her man-hunting twins on the way out!” Lord Sheldon added bitterly.

“What is the Governor of Hong Kong like?” Captain Widcombe asked in a more serious tone.

“His name is Pope-Hennessy. He has just been knighted. He is apparently extremely tactless and has caused General Donovan to send dozens of complaints about him back to the War Office.”

Lord Sheldon gave a short laugh with no humour in it.

“You will hardly believe this, George, but things have been brought to explosion point by the fact that on May 26th, which is the Queen’s birthday, it is traditional for the Garrison Band to be detailed to play at Government House.”

“Sounds reasonable to me!” Captain Widcombe exclaimed.

“That is what it may sound,” Lord Sheldon agreed. “But General Donovan has refused point-blank to release the Band and has arranged an alternative Queen’s Birthday dinner at the barracks!”

Captain Widcombe laughed uproariously.

“I do not believe it! And they have sent for you to solve this difficult and dangerous problem!”

“There is more to it than that,” Lord Sheldon said drily. “Sir John Pope-Hennessy has what is called locally a ‘Chinese Policy’. He has reformed the prisons and abandoned public floggings and branding on the necks of criminals.”

“That must have caused a commotion,” Captain Widcombe exclaimed.

“It has!” his friend agreed. “What is more, he has given permission for the Chinese to build where they wish and – more explosive than anything else – he actually invites Indians, Malayans and Chinese to his official entertainments and has made personal friends amongst them!”

“Good Lord!” Captain Widcombe exclaimed, “I see you have a social revolution on your hands!”

“Something very like it,” Lord Sheldon agreed. “But you do see my difficulties?”

“And what does the War Office think?”

“Need you ask?” Lord Sheldon replied. “The natives must be kept in their place at all costs. We must show our white superiority or God knows where it will all end!”

“Well, all I can say is, I do not envy you!” Captain Widcombe exclaimed. “Give me the responsibility of guarding Buckingham Palace and you can keep the whole of the East as far as I am concerned!”

“You are insular, George, that is what is wrong with you!” Lord Sheldon answered. “It would do you good to take up the white man’s burden in some far-flung outpost of the Empire. It might even broaden your mind – if you survived the experience!”

“It is an experience I have no intention of trying – unless it is forced upon me!” Captain Widcombe remarked.

Listening, Azalea heard him rise to his feet.

“Come on, Mirvin, let us leave this mausoleum and go and enjoy ourselves. I learnt in the Club of a new place where they have the prettiest and most delectable little ‘soiled doves’. Many of them, I hear, are French, and to my mind they are always gayer and more amusing than the English variety.”

“I will take your word for it,” Lord Sheldon answered. “Personally I am going home. I have a great deal of work to do. I cannot waste my time chasing pretty Cyprians, however attractive you make them sound!”

“The trouble with you, Mirvin, is that you are growing serious! If you are not careful you will find yourself being walked up the aisle by a milk-faced creature who is still wet behind the ears!”

“That is one thought you can dismiss from your impertinent mind!” Lord Sheldon replied. “I have no intention of getting married, George, and as you are well aware, having been my friend for many years, I like picking flowers when they are in bloom!”

“And the flower I saw you with last time I was in London,” Captain Widcombe said, “was an exquisitely rare bloom, and I do not suppose there was a single man in the restaurant who did not envy you!”

“Thank you!” Lord Sheldon replied. “I am glad that you approve my taste, George.”

“No one has ever questioned that it is impeccable!” Captain Widcombe laughed.

Azalea heard the two gentlemen put down their glasses and make towards the door.

She was glad they were leaving. She had stood for a little while behind the curtain and then, because she was tired, she had lowered herself very gingerly onto the floor.

As she did so she made a very slight noise with her foot on the uncarpeted boards in front of the window.

She had held her breath, but there had been no pause in the conversation and she was quite certain it had passed unnoticed.

Now she waited breathlessly until she heard the door close.

Rising to her feet, conscious that the draught through the window or the March wind which was whistling round the house had left her chilled, she pulled aside the curtain intending to go and warm herself before the fire.

As she did so she stood transfixed.

One of the gentlemen was still in the Study, standing with his back to the door!

He was looking at her and she was quite certain that it was Lord Sheldon who stood there!

Just for a moment she felt unable to move, then as her eyes wide and frightened were on his, he moved towards her saying,

“I hope what you overheard, my little eavesdropper, was of use to you? Would it be impertinent to enquire why you were so interested?”

Azalea drew in her breath and moved from the window so that the curtains fell to, behind her.

“I – I did not – mean to – eavesdrop,” she said. “I just – hid when I heard you – come in.”

“Why?”

The question was sharp.

“I did not wish you to – see me.”

“For any particular reason?”

Azalea made a little gesture with her hands.

“I was not dressed for a party.”

“No, that is obvious,” Lord Sheldon said looking down at her apron. “What is your position here?”

Azalea did not answer and after a moment he said,

“You sound a little too cultured for a housemaid. You are too young to be the housekeeper. Perhaps you are a companion who is giving an extra hand because there is a party?”

Again Azalea did not reply and he said,

“You may think I am inquisitive, but I assure you that it is my job to be suspicious of people, especially attractive young women who listen to conversations that should not be overheard and hide themselves behind curtains!”

Azalea did not speak and with his eyes on her face, he went on,

“You do not look English. What nationality are you?”

The way he spoke and the searching manner in which he looked down at her face made Azalea know that he suspected her of having an ulterior motive for listening to what he had said to his friend.

Then she told herself he had no right to question her.

“I assure you, my Lord,” she said quietly, “I am not interested in anything you have said.”

“How can I be sure of that?” Lord Sheldon enquired.

“You could perhaps believe what I have – told you.”

“I could do that,” he replied. “At the same time I may have been somewhat unguarded in what was an entirely private conversation. In which case I am of course interested in your reaction.”