The Spring of the Tiger

by Victoria Holt

  With Clinton and Celia I had dined at Ashington's. Clinton and Seth talked a great deal about the plantations and I was always afraid on such occasions that Clinton would discover that I had made sure he should not have Ashington's. Owing to my state of mind, brought about by recent events, I had felt less bravado

  and had in fact become, as Janet in the old days would have said, "afraid of my own shadow." There were times, however, when my true nature took charge and assured me that there was a logical explanation to all that was happening and all I had to do was catch the one who was plaing tricks on me. My natural resilience was such that a few nights' good sleep could restore my normal fighting spirit. Then my fears seemed absurd.

  I was in such a mood on this night. Clytie, Celia and I talked of domestic matters, of Ralph and his drollness, of the servants and such things. Then I joined in with the men, which always amused Clinton, and I had to admit that though, when we were alone, he took a delight in exposing my ignorance, he never did so in company. Celia and Clytie were still discussing Ralph. Clytie was very drawn to Celia, I think largely because of the latter's interest in and affection for her son.

  At length it was time for us to leave and we drove off in the Victoria. It was always rather thrilling to ride through the night. Although we were on the road the jungle was close and I always listened for the animals which prowled by night. Sometimes one caught the hint of phosphorescent light among the bushes, the glinting of a watching eye, the sudden crash of a body plunging through the undergrowth, and sometimes the sound of scuffles or a cry of terror and rage.

  When we arrived at the house Nankeen was waiting for us. A little trouble among the men, he told Clinton ingratiatingly. Would he come and settle it. Copal's wife had been wicked again. Sahib Shaw would make it right.

  Clinton left with Nankeen. Celia went to her room and Leila appeared to tell me about Copal's wife, who had never been a good wife to Copal. "She very beautiful. Men like Copal's wife. My sister Anula say where she be there will be trouble."

  I yawned. I was tired. I wondered how long Clinton would be.

  "Soon he come," said Leila. "Copal's wife frightened of Sahib Shaw."

  I went to bed. One of the lamps had been lighted on the dressing table. It gave enough light to undress by. It seemed that the malevolent eyes of the bronze Buddha watched me. I picked it up and looked closely at it. I'll throw it away, I thought; and then

  laughed at myself. That would be foolish. It was admitting fear. I should just ignore it. WTiat was it but a piece of metal?

  I approached the bed and as I did so I recoiled in horror. There curled up on the bed—just as he had been in the undergrowth-was the cobra,

  A cobra in the house! I stood staring at it for some seconds. It was a yellowish olive color and I clearly saw the white crossbands on its back. Thank God it was sleeping! I knew that any movement on my part could arouse it and it would be an angry awakening. It would attack.

  I made for the door and ran downstairs calling to everyone.

  "Come quickly. Leila . . . somebody . . . There is a cobra in the bedroom."

  Celia was running down the stairs.

  "Sarah! What's happened? What's wrong?"

  Leila had appeared and one or two of the other servants. Then Clinton was coming through the door. I threw myself at him.

  "Clinton," I said, "if s there ... in the bedroom. On the bed . . . coiled up asleep."

  "What!"

  "The cobra. It's on the bed."

  Clinton had picked up a walking stick. Three of the men had arrived on the scene. They all started up the stairs.

  I followed with Celia. Leila was just behind us.

  Clinton flung open the bedroom door and went cautiously into the room—the others a step behind.

  There was silence.

  I had followed. They were all looking at the bed.

  There was nothing there.

  I heard the deep sigh behind me and I knew it was Celia. She had taken my arm protectively.

  I heard Clinton say: "We'd better make a thorough search."

  They searched. They went through the house.

  There was nothing.

  Clinton took me into his arms and said: "Sarah, what's v'rong?" "I saw it, Clinton. I saw it clearly," I insisted. He stroked my hair and said nothing.

  "You don't believe me, do you?" I said. "You think I imagined it."

  Still he said nothing.

  "It was there . . . lying on the bed . . . that yellowish color. I saw it. There was no mistake."

  "Listen, Sarah. It couldn't have been. You'd shut the door behind you when you came out. It couldn't have got out of the room. It would have been impossible. And just suppose it had, it would be in the house somewhere. It's just not here. It's unlikely that a cobra would be sleeping now. They're night creatures. They hunt for food by night."

  "Yet it was there. It was there."

  "Let's forget it."

  "Forget it! How can I forget it!"

  "Sarah, what is happening to you?"

  "I don't know what's happening to me."

  "You seem to think that someone . . . something is working against you and is trying to . . .Do what? Just tell me."

  "Perhaps someone wants to frighten me away."

  He laughed. "What nonsense! And are you the sort of person who could be frightened away?"

  "I don't seem to be the same person I was when I came here."

  "You mustn't lose that fighting spirit, Sarah."

  Suddenly I wanted to cling to him, to beg him to comfort me. I wanted to say: I'm not going mad am I? What did you think of Aunt Martha?

  Instead I said: "You don't believe I saw the cobra, do you?"

  "You couldn't have, Sarah."

  "Then what happened?"

  "It was an optical illusion. Perhaps a trick of the light."

  "I saw it clearly, I tell you."

  "It can easily happen. Something's on your mind and you get this quick impression. You have rather an obsession with cobras, darling."

  "You think something is wrong with me, don't you?"

  "I think you have an attack of jungle nerves. You come out here. It's so different from home. You adjust... so you think. But

  you haven't done so completely. Stop worrying. In a few weeks* time you'll be laughing at all this."

  I suppose there was some comfort in this attitude. Perhaps the common-sense snap-out-of-it note was what I needed. Clinton certainly gave me that.

  He lifted me in his arms and kissed me. "We'll forget it," he said.

  "I'll try but they'll all be talking about it."

  "Let them."

  "They'll say I've been selected by the Spirit of the Moon."

  "Much you care what they say."

  He turned out the lamps. The dark night closed in on me.

  "I promise you I'll protect you from every cobra in Ceylon," he said.

  Later he announced: "I'm going to take you away in a week or so's time. I have to go up north to the pearl fisheries. I'm not leaving you behind."

  "I always wanted to see them."

  "I know. The eternal lure. You'll see how they dive for them. The season will be starting soon. I've never seen a cobra up there."

  Oh yes, he did have the power to comfort me.

  In the morning my uneasiness returned. I could not convince myself that I had not seen a cobra on the bed. It had been perfectly clear to me. But how could I have seen it if it had been quite impossible for it to be there?

  Now the fears began chasing themselves round and round in my head. I was thankful that I had written to Toby. Perhaps it was foolish for I did not see what he could do in Delhi. It was just that I believed he would offer the kind of advice I needed. I wanted him to know what was happening. I wanted to explain my feelings and I wanted his opinion.

  Chnton had gone off early. He had said tiiat perhaps in just over a week he might be ready to go to the pearl fisheries. I wondered whether I really wanted to go. It was
true that I did want to see how they dived for the pearls and to know something about the industry, which was another in Clinton's kingdom. But as my

  uneasiness grew so did my desire for the truth. Half of me wanted to escape, to get away from this grim shadow which was looming over me and seemed to grow more menacingly near with every incident; on the other hand it was characteristic of me that I wanted to face whatever this was and to discover what it really meant.

  If I am going mad, I thought, it would be better for me to know it. I can't go on in this half world of uncertainty.

  The next time I saw a cobra I should go to it and touch it and make sure it was real. What a foolish thoughtl No one would dare to touch a cobra.

  Leila brought me warm water with which to wash. She seemed subdued and kept her eyes lowered. She was thinking of last night's incident obviously, but she said nothing which in itself was significant. I wondered what the servants were saying about me. That I had been touched by the Moon Spirit? That I had jungle nerves?

  I washed behind the curtain and came back to my bedside to dress. My bare foot touched something sharp. I stooped and picked it up.

  It was a stone—very small like a topaz. I didn't think it was real. It was made of glass, I was pretty sure. It must have come off a button or some ornament. I would ask Leila. I put it in a little pot on my dressing table while I tried to stop thinking of the cobra and to concentrate instead on my coming trip to the pearl fisheries.

  I wondered what clothes I should need. Perhaps Leila could make me something. It would be a pleasant diversion to think of new clothes. Perhaps Clyde, Celia and I would go into Kandy and choose some material.

  Then I thought of Celia. If I went to the pearl fisheries she would not want to stay in the house with only the servants. I could not ask her to leave. After all, she had suggested going several times and I had persuaded her to stay. She had become like a member of the family. In any case, I didn't want her to go. I valued her friendship too much. We had fallen back into that relationship which we had enjoyed at the Grange with the utmost ease, which was the way it was with real friends.

  I went downstairs. She was in the garden. She looked at me

  rather sheepishly as she bade me good morning and I knew she was thinking of last night.

  I said to her: "It's no use avoiding the subject, Celia. I know I saw a cobra and nothing will make me think differently."

  "It must have escaped somehow," she said soothingly. "What are your plans for today?" she went on quickly.

  "I want to go to Ashington's first. I should like to go into Kandy." I plunged into the matter which was uppermost in my mind. "Clinton wants to take me away. He will be going shortly up to the pearl fisheries. He's insisting that I go with him."

  She nodded slowly.

  I went on: "Celia, I have been thinking about you . . ."

  Her face broke into smiles. "Oh, you mustn't worry about me, Sarah, truly you mustn't. I could stay at the hotel. I should be gone by now. . . only I don't want to leave you . . . just yet."

  She put out a hand and it closed over mine. I was moved. I knew she meant that she would hate to leave me while I was going through this strange period. Her voice trembled slightly.

  "I can't tell you what it has meant to me to have you here," I said. "You were a comfort to me at the Grange, and now here."

  "I want to stay as long as I can be of any help. I do think it's the best thing possible for you to go away for a while. You'll get your strength back. You'll sleep well at night . . . and then all this will just seem like a temporary sickness. As a matter of fact I have an idea. I wonder if I could stay with Clytie. I could help with Ralph. I do love that little fellow. He's so bright and amusing."

  "I know you have a special feeling for him. I believe old Sheba is quite jealous. Of course, Clytie would love to have you. I'll tell you what. I want to get you and Clytie to come with me to Kandy to buy some materials. Let's go over and see her and you can make your arrangements with her."

  She agreed and later in the morning we rode over.

  Clytie was delighted to see us and when she heard that I was going away with Clinton immediately agreed that as Celia would not want to stay in the house without me, she must go to Ashington's.

  "We'll go to Kandy tomorrow," she said. "It's too late today. If

  we went now we should arrive at midday and all the shops would be closed in any case. And it would be too late to go in the afternoon. We'll go early tomorrow morning. Are you feeling all right, Sarah?"

  "Why, don't I look well?"

  "A little tired, I thought."

  I did not want to tell her about the cobra now. I would do so when we were alone together. Celia changed the subject, sensing my wishes.

  I thought what a good friend she was and how I should miss her when she returned to England, which she must do in due course.

  The following day we went to Kandy and had a pleasant morning selecting some delightful silks in deep red and kingfisher blue. I felt better. I had had a good night's sleep and nothing extraordinary had happened. I longed to hear from Toby but it was too early yet. I could hardly hope for a reply before I went off with Clinton.

  I was trying to face the facts as I assured myself I must. Was it possible, I asked myself, that a woman like Anula could put a spell on someone she wanted to get out of the way? Could she really make me see things that did not exist? I had heard a great deal about the mysticism of India and the same beliefs prevailed here. I had heard of the famous rope trick, though I had never seen it—nor did I know anyone who had—but I had been told that it was an optical illusion, a kind of hypnosis which enables one man to convince a crowd of people that they were seeing something which was quite impossible. Did Anula possess these special powers? I shivered to contemplate the possibility of this being true. If it were, I should be as some creature of hers whom she could govern from a distance. It was an uncanny thought and of course I wouldn't accept it.

  Then how . . . There I was back at the beginning, and I had promised myself that I would forget it. I was going to think only of this coming trip with Clinton. Red Bokhara silk would become me. I must fight my way back to that self-sufficient woman I had been before I had been beset by these hallucinations and fears.

  When we had bargained over our silks as was expected, for both CHnton and Clytie had assured me that the shopkeepers despised a buyer who paid the first price asked and considered themselves cheated of a pleasure if haggling did not ensue before a bargain was struck, we went to the club and drank lemonade slightly laced with gin. It was pleasant and refreshing.

  Mrs. Glendenning bore down on us and wanted to know what we had been doing in Kandy and why it was that she had not seen us lately. She was delighted to hear of what we had been buying and that Clinton and I were proposing to go on a trip.

  "Everyone will say that it is right," she said, implying that in view of Clinton's reputation it was as well that his wife accompanied him when he was away from home.

  I wanted to ask sarcastically what business it was of everyone's but refrained from doing so.

  She clearly knew nothing of what I had come to think of as my ''strangeness," which showed that, although I was sure the servants were aware of it and gossiped in a manner to be expected, their whispers had not, as yet, extended beyond our area.

  When she had left. Sir William and Lady Carstairs joined us.

  He wanted to know if anything had been heard about that disgraceful business. He was referring to the kidnaping of Ralph.

  ''It was a terrible affair." He looked reproachfully at Clytie, who shook her head and murmured: "It was the only way."

  "The villains. We might have caught them though and retained the pearls."

  "I couldn't risk it," said Clytie fiercely. "I had to get my son safely back. I'd do the same again. You must understand that."

  "Perfectly," said Sir William. "It is always so. Mothers will never wait for us to act in these cases. But I have every co
nfidence that we shall recover the pearls in due course."

  I wished we had not met him for he had clearly upset Clytie and spoiled our day. However, when we rode back with our silks she recovered her good spirits and neither Celia nor I mentioned the pearls. Celia was very good at assessing other people's feelings. She was always the essence of tact.

  Having gone early, we were back just before lunch. We took a

  light meal and sat about desultorily during the early afternoon, discussing patterns and new styles.

  At four o'clock when the heat of the day was over we went into the garden and Ralph came out to join us.

  I found myself wandering ofiF with him alone. He wanted to show me the elephant, he said. He put his hand in mine and chattered away about his animals and I wondered if he ever remembered that night he had spent away from home when he was kidnaped. Clytie said it was a good thing he lived in his dream world so that the event was to him just another of the adventures of his imagination.

  He was now saving something about the naughty Cobbler.

  "Oh, has he been naughty?" I asked.

  "He ran away."

  "Where did he run to?"

  "He ran away on his own. He thought he was clever. Then he had a fight with a mongoose and he might have died. But I came along and I was on my elephant and we rescued naughty Cobbler. Come and see him."

  He pulled my hand as we ran across the grass. He crawled under a bush and came out dragging the toy cobra with him. The reality of it struck me forcibly and I felt a shudder run down my spine. It was so exactly hke the real thing ... in size, color . . . everything.

  "Therel" said Ralph. "He knows he's been naughty. Aunt Sarah doesn't like you anymore. Cobbler. She likes Jumbo better."

  He looked up at me. "You're very cross with him. Poor Cobbler. He's sorry now. He'll never run away again. You see, he didn't know about the mongoose till I told him. My papa is going to buy me a mongoose. It'll be a good one. It won't hurt Cobbler though. He thinks it will. He's very sulky."

  The thing lay coiled realistically at my feet. Ralph knelt on the grass and put his head right down so that it was almost touching the toy.