by Dilly Court
This made Annie laugh and she accepted a handkerchief from Kate, who had come prepared. ‘I can’t believe that a brave soldier like you is afraid of a nurse.’
‘Believe me, Annie, all the men in this ward are terrified of her. What Sister Hayward says goes.’
‘You’re looking a lot better today, Joe,’ Kate said, smiling. ‘Sir Robert is going to contact the military authorities about your repatriation.’
‘Really?’ Joe’s eyes lit up and his thin cheeks creased in a wide grin. ‘That would be wonderful. I can’t wait to get back to London.’ He grasped his sister’s hand and raised it to his cheek. ‘Where have you been living? I hope Aunt Margaret has been looking after you.’
Annie’s lips trembled. ‘I’m ashamed to say that I refused her help at the start, Joe. I suppose I was too proud to accept anything from Mama’s family since they disowned her after she married Pa.’
Kate was suddenly alert. ‘You never mentioned that before, Annie. I thought you had to support yourself.’
‘What’s this?’ Joe raised himself to a sitting position. ‘What were you thinking of, Annie?’
‘It seems stupid now that we’re all living together at Warren House,’ Annie said guiltily. ‘But until the trouble with Monks I had been quite happy living on my own. I had proved that I could support myself by entertaining people with my playing, and it made me feel less of a burden.’
‘I’m sure you were never a burden to anyone, Annie.’ Kate gazed at her in dismay. ‘Why would you think that?’
‘Our father was killed in a duel. He had dishonoured a gambling debt and the man he had cheated called him out. Pa was killed by a single bullet.’
‘How dreadful.’ Kate laid a sympathetic hand on Annie’s thin shoulder. ‘How old were you then?’
‘I was ten and Joe was thirteen. Mama had always been delicate and she never recovered from the shock. The family disowned her and we had to live on a small allowance from a trust fund.’
‘I enlisted as a drummer boy,’ Joseph said, sighing. ‘I only earned a little but I sent most of my wages home.’
‘But why didn’t Harry or his mother do something?’ Kate demanded angrily. ‘I thought Lady Lyndon was a kind woman.’
Annie raised her brother’s hand to her cheek. ‘Lady Lyndon is only related to us by marriage, Kate. Harry was away at school and then at university, so he knew nothing of our plight, and Mama would have died rather than beg the family for help.’
‘It’s obvious who you take after,’ Joseph said with a wry smile. ‘But it’s true, Kate. Our mother died of a fever and I was too far away to do anything to help. Annie sent me word that she was doing well, and I had no reason to disbelieve her. But I did write to Harry and I asked him to keep an eye on my sister.’
‘The rest you know,’ Annie added softly. ‘Harry tried to persuade me to move into the house in Finsbury Circus, but I hardly knew Lady Lyndon, and I didn’t want to be the poor blind relative living on charity. It all seems rather silly now.’
‘At least Harry showed some sense of responsibility and honour,’ Kate said proudly. ‘I need to find him, Joe. Have you any idea where he might have gone?’
Joe shook his head. ‘Not really. He said he was looking for someone, but I wasn’t in a fit state to press him on the subject. He promised to come back for me and I’m sure he’ll keep his word.’
‘I wish I knew why he had gone away like that,’ Kate said slowly. ‘Did he give any reason for leaving, Joe?’
‘No. If I hadn’t been so bound up in my own self-pity I might have shown more interest, but I can only walk a few steps with the aid of crutches. I’m a useless cripple. I’ll be a burden to you Annie.’
‘Don’t say that, Joe.’ Annie’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You’re still my Joe, the brother I love. We’ll manage on our own if needs be.’
‘It won’t come to that,’ Kate said sternly. ‘You’re forgetting that you have a family now, Annie, and that goes for Joe, too. We’ll return to Warren House where Joe will be more than welcome. In the meantime I’m going to make some enquiries.’
Annie clutched Kate’s hand. ‘I’ll go with you.’
Kate shook her head. ‘No, you must stay here with Joe. I’ll speak to Sir Robert at dinner this evening – he’ll know how I should go about finding Harry. We’ll be on our way back to England before you know it, and Harry will be with us.’
‘You can’t go gallivanting around the city on your own, Kate,’ Sir Robert said that evening at dinner when Kate told him she wanted to search for Harry. ‘It would be unwise in England, and virtually impossible in this country in these unsettled times.’
‘But the uprising was crushed, Sir Robert.’ Kate put her knife and fork neatly back on her plate, having finished the delicious goat curry that had been served. She could see that Annie was struggling with the spicy food, but that was not uppermost in her mind. All she could think about was finding Harry.
‘It will take the country many years to recover, and unnecessary travel is ill-advised.’
‘That’s why I thought it might be possible to find out where Harry went. He would have had to hire a vehicle and horses. Maybe he needed a guide.’
Sir Robert eyed her over the rim of his wineglass. ‘This young man means a great deal to you, quite obviously. But I seem to remember your father telling me about a certain Subedar-Major Patel who had taken your fancy.’
Kate felt the blood rush to her cheeks, but she met his curious gaze with a firm look. ‘That seems like a very long time ago, sir. Everything has changed since then and I realise that it was not meant to be. I don’t know if Ashok survived the uprising, but if he did I hope he has found happiness.’
‘Well said, Kate.’ Annie clapped her hands. ‘I will accompany Kate, sir.’
‘I thought we’d decided that you should remain here so that you can visit Joe every day,’ Kate said in a low voice.
‘You decided it for me, Kate. Of course I want to be with Joe, but we will have plenty of time together when we set sail for home, and I never want to be so far away from him again. But I know you won’t leave here without Harry, so I don’t see that I have any choice.’
Sir Robert refilled his glass with claret. ‘I see that I have two very determined young ladies at my table.’
‘You have, sir,’ Kate agreed, raising her full wineglass to her lips. ‘I am determined to do this with or without your permission.’
‘Then it seems I can do nothing to stop you. However, I have access to information that would be denied to you. Give me a day or two and I’ll make enquiries. If I am unsuccessful then I will happily put my carriage at your disposal and Sandeep can accompany you, but hopefully that will not be necessary.’
Kate could see the sense in what he was saying, and although she agreed with this in principle, she found it almost impossible to comply with his wishes. For the next three days she arose from her comfortable bed each morning wondering what the day would bring. Apart from accompanying Annie to the hospital there was very little she could do. Sir Robert left soon after breakfast and was driven to his office in the city, where he spent all day, returning in time for dinner each evening. He had nothing to report until on the fourth day, when Kate was growing more and more restive, he announced that he had spoken to an army official who confirmed that Sir Harry Lyndon had been making certain enquiries, about which he was not authorised to comment. However, the official had hinted that a trip on the relatively new railway to Thana might hold the answer to their questions.
Kate was mystified by this. It was Harry’s first visit to India, so why would he want to travel to Thana? She could hardly believe that this piece of information might lead to Harry, but she was determined to follow up the suggestion, even though Sir Robert said it would be a wild-goose chase.
Next morning, without telling anyone where she was going, Kate hailed a tonga and told the tonga wallah to take her to the railway station. She had hoped that the man in the ticket offic
e might remember seeing someone like Harry, but the conversation became confused and there were people queuing up behind her. Eventually she was forced to make way for them and found herself pushed aside by angry travellers. Apparently the train was due in at any moment and then it would make the return trip to a Thana, some twenty-one miles away. She could not think why Harry might have wanted to go there, but she was growing desperate. Joe had been in hospital for so many months that he seemed to have lost all sense of time and urgency, and he was prepared to wait calmly for Harry’s return.
Even though she had no interest in steam engines or railways, Kate could not resist the temptation to wait until the train came rumbling into the station. She had never travelled by rail and she was beginning to think it would be a fascinating experience, when there was a sudden rush for the gates and people waved their tickets at the guard as they hurried onto the platform. The train pulled in with a loud whistle and a gust of steam enveloped everything in its wake. Kate was about to leave, but she hesitated, hoping that by some miracle Harry would emerge from the damp cloud. But he was not amongst the passengers who pushed and jostled at the barrier where they had to hand in their tickets, and Kate struggled with a feeling of disappointment. She knew that it had been a vain hope, but she dragged her feet as she made her way out onto the dusty street, almost tripping over a small child who was clutching at her skirts and holding out his grimy hand. Kate opened her reticule and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of painfully thin urchins, begging for money.
‘No,’ Kate said, shaking her head. ‘Go away. I haven’t enough for all of you.’ She attempted to escape, but she was surrounded, the clamour grew louder and the small hands grabbed at her arms and tore her skirts.
‘Get away, all of you.’ A man’s voice thundered above the noise from the steam engine preparing to leave on its return journey, and the ugly shouts of the hungry children. ‘Jaldi!’ he added angrily when they refused to move. He raised his swagger stick and the children cowered and backed away.
Kate was trembling but she held her head high. ‘Thank you, sir.’
The army officer smiled and proffered his arm. ‘I take it that you are newly arrived in India.’
‘Why would you say that?’
‘Because you would not be here on your own, and you would not have given alms to beggars.’
‘I lived in Delhi for several years,’ Kate said defensively. ‘It just so happens that I am looking for someone, or I would not have come to the station alone.’ She met his amused gaze with a frown. ‘Thank you, sir. But I’ll hail a tonga and be on my way.’
‘Where are you staying, Miss – er – I’m sorry we haven’t been formally introduced. My name is Francis Lambert.’
‘Kate Martin.’ Kate hoped he could not see that she was still trembling, although she forced herself to speak calmly. ‘I see by your uniform that you are Colonel Lambert.’
‘That’s correct, but might I ask why you are here on your own? If you’re familiar with India you must know that it’s inadvisable, especially now.’
‘You’re right, of course,’ Kate said coldly. ‘Thank you for stepping in, but I’d better return to Audley House before I’m missed.’
‘I have a carriage waiting. It would be my pleasure to see you safely home.’
‘I’m staying with Sir Robert Audley.’
‘I know him well.’ Colonel Lambert proffered his arm.
Kate had little alternative but to take him up on his offer. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see some of the older boys lurking behind an iron pillar, and she knew it was not safe to remain here on her own.
‘Thank you. I won’t make the same mistake again,’ she said as he handed her into his carriage.
‘Audley House. Drive on,’ Colonel Lambert said as he climbed in beside Kate. ‘Now, perhaps you’d like to tell me for whom you risked all? He must be someone special.’
Kate shot him a sideways glance. ‘It’s a long story, Colonel.’
‘I’m sure it will make the drive back to Audley House very interesting, but I don’t wish to pry.’
‘Are you married, Colonel?’
‘I am, as it happens,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘Does that have any bearing on what you might tell me?’
‘Not really, but if you have a wife and family you might understand why it’s important for me to find my friend. I sailed from London several months ago, accompanied by my friend Annie. Her brother was a soldier in the East India Company Bombay Army and we received a letter saying that he had been badly wounded and was in hospital.’
‘That must have been very upsetting.’
‘It was, sir. Annie is blind, although she is a very independent person, and she adores her brother. Her cousin, Harry, travelled to Bombay intending to bring Joe home, but apparently he was injured in a skirmish and was also suffering from malaria. He ended up in hospital with Joe and there seemed to be no answer other than for Annie and me to come to Bombay and bring them both home.’
‘Are they still in hospital?’
‘Joe is in the military hospital, but Harry was discharged some weeks ago and no one knows where he is now. He told Joe he had business to attend to, and Sir Robert has been making enquiries. We think that Harry might have travelled to Thana.’
‘So it was Harry you hoped might be at the station?’
‘It was a foolish idea, Colonel. I had no reason to believe that he was on that train, and no proof that he ever travelled on that line.’
‘How disappointed you must feel.’
She eyed him warily, wondering if he was laughing at her, but his expression was sympathetic. ‘Yes, I am. Although it was a vain hope.’
‘This man means a great deal to you?’
‘Yes, he does.’ Kate smiled, shaking her head. ‘I didn’t realise how much until I found that he’d disappeared.’
‘Have you any idea where he might have gone?’
‘I’ve been racking my brains, but I can only think that he might be trying to find someone I was very fond of when I lived in Delhi with my parents.’
‘That person must have been very important to you, too.’
‘Yes, at the time he was. I fancied myself in love with a very handsome subedar-major, but I realise now that it was just an infatuation. However, I would like to know that he survived the conflict. He was someone very special.’
‘Might I know his name? Perhaps I can help find him through army records. At the moment we are in a state of flux since the nationalisation of the East India Company Army, of which I was a part, but now we are the Indian Army, I’m proud to say.’
‘He’s called Subedar-Major Ashok Patel.’
‘Leave it with me, Miss Martin. I’ll go through what records we have here. I can’t promise anything, but I might be able to trace him for you. In the meantime I’m sure your friend Harry … what’s his surname?’
‘He is Sir Harry Lyndon, although he sometimes uses the alias Harry Trader.’
‘I’m sure he will turn up when he’s ready, but I will also make enquiries. Maybe I can help you to find both of them.’
Chapter Twenty-One
That evening, sitting in the jasmine-scented courtyard of Audley House, listening to the tinkling of the water in the fountain, and the song of the cicadas, which was almost drowned out by the chatter of monkeys as they settled down for the night in the tall trees nearby, Kate felt very much at home. Annie had retired to bed early, and Sir Robert was in his study, going over a set of documents. He had apologised for leaving Kate on her own, but he had an important court case next morning, and he needed to go through his notes thoroughly before he slept.
The warm night wrapped itself around her and the skies above her were pin-pricked with millions of stars; she was on her own, but she did not feel lonely. If she could reach out beyond the stone walls she felt that the answer to everything was within her grasp. Kate sipped the last of her rapidly cooling coffee, smiling at her own folly. If she remained here in
Audley House she might succumb to the idle lifestyle of so many of the ex-patriots who had chosen to spend their lives in this fascinating but dangerous country. But that was not for her: tomorrow she must face reality. Her talk with Colonel Lambert had made her think hard as to Harry’s motives for leaving Joe in hospital, and she could only imagine that he might have gone in search of Ashok. He knew how much she had cared for her handsome Indian soldier, and perhaps he thought by bringing her news of Ash he might lay a ghost from her past. He must have had good reason for his trip to Thana, and whatever had led him there it was likely that he would return by the same route. If it would serve any useful purpose she was quite prepared to meet every train that arrived at Bori Bunder station, but if Harry returned to Bombay he would almost certainly go straight to Joe in the hospital. She would have to curb her impatience and wait a little longer. Kate rose to her feet and made her way across the paved yard to the house. She would sleep on it and hope that in the morning a clever plan might have formed in her brain.
Next morning at breakfast Kate confided in Annie, who listened patiently.
‘I agree that you can’t camp on the station platform, Kate,’ Annie said gently. ‘If Harry has gone to Thana he might return on horseback or in a carriage, and you would have wasted your time. That’s if he actually went there in the first place.’
‘I know. It’s all a matter of supposition, but surely Harry wouldn’t simply abandon Joe in hospital. He came all this way specifically to take care of Joe and to bring him home. I can’t believe that he would simply walk away.’
Annie smiled as she buttered a slice of toast. ‘You really do love him, don’t you?’
‘I never said I did.’
‘You didn’t have to, dear. You’ve been fretting for him ever since we arrived at the hospital and discovered that he wasn’t there.’
‘Yes, well, that’s true, but anything could have happened to him, and I hate mysteries. I want to know why he went and where he is now.’
A gentle tap on the door preceded Mrs Ogilvy’s dramatic entrance. ‘Miss Kate, there’s a gentleman to see you.’ She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her generous bosom, disapproval written all over her face.