The India Fan (43 page)

h, poor Asraf, to be the victim of someone revenge on someone else!

is own father, of course. Asraf is G.K. only son. It would have been hard to inflict a greater injury. So, you see, we have the seeds of deception in our own household.

ut what can we do about Roshanara?

e shall stop it but subtly and in secret. To make a scene at the funeral pyre would be the utmost folly and could start an instant revolt. I feel certain that if we did there would be an immediate uprising in this very house. We must avoid that. When Keeping comes back I shall discuss with him the urgency of getting you, with Lavinia and the children, out of Delhi.

ou expect trouble in Delhi?

elhi is an important city. When there is trouble it is likely to be at the heart of it.

ell me what you propose to do about Roshanara.

shall have to give the matter some thought, but at the moment it seems to me that what we must do is smuggle her out of the city.

he Great Khansamah would never allow that.

will do it without his knowledge, of course.

s it possible?

e must make it possible. The Company owns several houses in various places. There it is possible for people to live in secret for a little while. I do believe this is the best way to act. We must be very, very careful, though. Tom should return tonight. He comes and goes with frequency, so it will not arouse much comment if he leaves again. When is the funeral to be?

ery soon, I believe. I think in two daystime.

hen prompt action is necessary. Be ready. I may need your help. And remember, not a word to anyone.

l remember,I said.

He smiled at me and leaned towards me. I thought he was going to kiss me, but he did not. I think he must have seen the alarm leap into my eyes. I must disguise my feelings. Alice had noticed something. I must be sure no one else did especially Fabian.

The events of that day stay clearly in my mind.

As soon as I could I saw the ayah, which happened almost immediately, because she was as eager to see me as I was to see her.

I said to her, t is all right. It is going to be stopped, but we have to be careful. There must be no betrayal of what we are going to do.

She nodded gravely.

ir Fabian is going to see that it is all right. You must do exactly what you are told and not whisper a word to anyone.

She nodded again. ow?she asked.

hen we are ready I will tell you. In the meantime you must behave as though nothing has happened.

I knew she would. She was terrified of what would happen to her if the Great Khansamah ever discovered she had been involved in a plot to undermine his authority.

Later that day Tom Keeping arrived.

Fabian summoned Dougal and me to the study and said that Miss Philwright must come, too, for her help might be needed and now that she was engaged to Tom she would work with us.

It was obvious that Tom already knew that Alice had accepted him. His look of contentment mingled with one of apprehension, for which the situation was responsible.

it down,said Fabian. ou too, Miss Philwright. You have heard what is happening?He looked questioningly at Alice.

Alice said she did know.

ell, we have to get this girl out of the house. Tom is seeing to that. There are several small houses owned by the Company to which many of its members can go if ever there is the need to hide. They are run as little inns in the country. There anyone who has to hide for a while can pass as a traveller and little notice is taken of them. Tom, tell your plan.

e are going to get the Indian girl out of danger,said Tom. e could, of course, forbid the ceremony and call in the law. That is what I would suggest normally. But we think that would not be wise in view of the explosive state of affairs at present.

Fabian said, believe that both Miss Delany and Miss Philwright are aware of the growing tension among the people here. Our enemies are spreading rumours among the sepoys that the bullets they use have been greased with the fat of beef and pork, which they consider unclean. They think that we are trying to suppress their old customs by treating them with contempt. Several fires have been started in Barrackpur. I sorry, Tom. I digress, but I do think it is important for the young ladies to understand the gravity of the situation and why we have to act in this devious manner. There have been outbursts of rebellion which we have suppressed, but rumours are running through Oudh and Bundelkhand, which are undermining our prestige. Now, carry on, Tom.

ee highly suspicious of the Khansamah. He is a man who seems able to lead people. It is because of his presence in this household that we have to proceed with the greatest caution, and Sir Fabian and I have come to the conclusion that until we are more sure of his intentions, we must concentrate or the momentore on saving the life of this girl than on seeing justice done. Our plan, therefore, is to get Roshanara out of harm way.

ow?asked Dougal.

y taking her away from here.

ou will be seen leaving,said Dougal.

ot if we do it this way. She will not leave until after dark.

he will be missed from the Khansamah house,I said.

e hope that she is supposed to remain alone in her room, prostrate with grief for the loss of her husband. According to tradition, she should be spending what they believe will be her last night on Earth in meditation and prayer. They will leave her in solitude to do this. What she must do is slip out of his house, but not come into this one. She will go to the gazebo.

he grass around it is infested with snakes,said Dougal. can tell you that some of them are lethal.

know how interested you are in the various species, Dougal,said Fabian impatiently, ut there is not time to discuss them now.

merely thought the approach to the place is dangerous.

he danger is minor compared with what we would have to face if we did not take this action. Go on, Tom.

ell,said Tom, e must disguise Roshanara. This is where you ladies will help. I have a wig here, which will transform her appearance.He opened a small bag and brought out the wig. It was made of human hair and looked quite realistic. It was light brown in colour.

t will make a good deal of difference to her appearance,I commented.

little face powder might lighten her skin,said Alice.

am sure it would,I said. avinia has lots of pots and bottles on her dressing table. Il ask her.

o,said Fabian. on ask her. Take what you want.

he may miss them.

ou must make sure that she does not. You will only need them briefly and they can be replaced before she notices they have been taken away. So you really think you could alter her appearance make her look European?

think we might,I said. e can try.

ut you must not tell Lavinia a word.

t will mean purloining these things.

hen purloin.

he plan is,went on Tom, o get Roshanara here at midnight. She must in no circumstances come into this house. Servants have sharp ears and eyes and are always on the alert, but particularly so now. She should make her way to the gazebo.

n spite of possible snakes,added Fabian, throwing a glance at Dougal.

here,went on Tom, he will be dressed in some garments which you will find for her European style. Her appearance should be entirely changed. She and I will leave at once. I shall get her to a house on the fringe of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldrake will arrive. Sheldrake is one of the Company men. His wife will be a help. Roshanara will pose as their daughter. Mrs. Sheldrake and the girl can travel in a palanquin the girl being ill, we shall say. That will insure against too many questions being asked, for no one will want to go too near her for fear of catching some infectious disease. Thus we will get her to a house of safety, where she will remain until we can review the situation.

Fabian looked at me. ou are thinking this a little melodramatic. Why do we not simply stop the proceedings? Believe me, it is what I should prefer to do.

do understand,I assured him. t must be done as you have arranged. Alice and I will do our best to disguise her.

he thing is to find something to fit her,said Alice. he is so young and slight.

ny garment will do,said Fabian. he will be in the palanquin most of the time except at first, of course.

nd that, I should imagine, is the most dangerous part,I said. I turned to Alice. here shall we find the clothes?

Alice studied me for a few seconds. ou are very slim, though much taller than the girl. We could cut off the bottom of one of your dresses.

hat the answer,said Tom, looking proudly at Alice, who had produced it.

nd don forget,said Fabian, y sister must not be in the secret. She would be unable to stop herself blurting out something about it.

e must first get the message to Roshanara,said Tom.

will speak to the ayah at once,I told him.

don like a native being involved,said Fabian.

I looked at him with exasperation. on you see, Ayah wants this to succeed as much as any of us. She is her aunt. She brought her up. She will do everything she can to save her. I know.

t doesn do to get emotionally involved,said Fabian. t leads to misjudgement. Impress on the ayah

f course I will, but she will understand that without telling. We can trust her discretion absolutely.

t is a mistake to trust absolutely.

Why was it, I asked myself, that I could never be with him without this argumentative mood overtaking me? This was no time for it. We had to concentrate all our efforts on making the plan work.

As soon as I left the house I saw the ayah. I suggested she go to the gazebo, where we could talk. Fabian was right. One should not be too trusting, and although I was sure there must be many of the servants who would be sad to see Roshanara burned to death, they would never know where the wrath of the Khansamah would end, and some might feel a patriotic desire to drive the British out of India and defy their laws.

I told Ayah what we planned. Roshanara would hear what she had to do when she arrived at the gazebo. We would tell her while we dressed her. It was pathetic to see the hope in her eyes. She believed Roshanara chances of survival had come through my goddess-like power. I wanted to tell her that it was Fabian and Tom Keeping who had formulated the plan between them.

She listened carefully to what I said. Roshanara would come to the gazebo at midnight, when the house of the Great Khansamah was quiet and all in it were sleeping. It could be done, she knew, because the whole family would be in their rooms praying the night before the funeral.

Alice and I would go to the gazebo during the day, taking certain of the things we would need to change the appearance of Roshanara. Our great fear was that we might betray in some way that we were acting in an unusual manner.

Apparently we did not, for all went smoothly.

Alice and I dressed Roshanara. The poor child was trembling with fright. She could not believe that anyone could challenge the orders of the Great Khansamah, but at the same time she had great confidence in me.

There was no need to warn either Indian of the consequences to themselves if the plan went wrong. They were as aware of that as we were.

So in due course Roshanara was ready. She did not look in the least like her old self. The cut-down dress hung on her a little, but it was not entirely ill-fitting, and the wig of light brown hair completely transformed her. She looked like a Eurasian. Her graceful movements and her striking dark eyes could not be disguised.

I knew how successful our plan had been when, a few days later, a note was delivered from Tom Keeping.

ll is well,he wrote. argo will be safely delivered from the city tonight.

That seemed satisfactory. We had saved Roshanara.

There was a great outcry the next day when the news of Roshanara absence became known.

The Khansamah said nothing, but I knew he was in a murderous rage. He had wanted the old custom of suttee to be carried out to the letter. He wished to defy the British, which was apparently a sentiment gaining ground throughout the country.

The ayah told me that many questions had been asked. He had interrogated her particularly. What did she know? She must have an idea. Had the girl gone off on her own? They would find her, never fear. She would die in the fire if she were found, and she would not have the honour of making a sacrifice for her husband and her country. But die she would, for defying the orders of the Great Khansamah and for being a traitor to her country.

Poor Roshanara! I hoped she had escaped from her formidable father-in-law forever.

Lavinia had been kept in ignorance of all this on Fabian orders, but now she was aware of Roshanara escape. The reason for it had seeped out and everyone was talking of it.

oor girl,she said. id you know they wanted her to jump into the funeral pyre?

ell, it was an old custom at one time.

ut it isn now.

o. Thank goodness it has stopped.

ut they still do it. The Great Khansamah wanted it done this time. It was out of respect for his son. He seems a little annoyed that his wishes were disobeyed.

erve him right.

e only following the old custom.

wonder if he would be prepared to jump into a fire for the sake of an old custom.

f course he wouldn. Roshanara well out of it. I wonder how she managed it. I wouldn have thought she would have had the spirit.

hen one is faced with death one finds the power to do all sorts of things.

ow do you know? Youe never faced death.

oue right. We none of us know how we would behave in certain circumstances if we have never faced them.

hilosophising again! Trust old Drusilla. G.K. has been questioning them all. He is trying to find out who disobeyed his orders.

as he been telling you?

ot he! He very dignified now since that time I sent him off with a flea in his ear.

s I remember, you did nothing of the sort. The encounter was brought to an end when I came in and rescued you.

rusilla to the rescue! Because you did it once over that boring old Comte, you think you do it all the time.