by Gai-Jin(Lit)
"Tell me, old friend, if I was to go with her as you suggest, where would I stay? In the state room?"
He stared at her, that problem not having occurred to him. "No, of course not," he said quickly, "of course you have the pick of the cabins. I guarantee everything will--"
"I guarantee every little thing will be done as my husband wished."
Jamie wiped his forehead, his mind working like never before, slightly sickened and out of balance whereas it was obvious she was nothing if not in control. A sudden idea. "Perhaps you're right. Prancing
Cloud's wrong, perhaps. We'll charter another ship--wait, the mail ship's due to leave day after tomorrow, we'll get space aboard her for you,
Hoag and... and him, and I'll persuade her captain to sail early. Tomorrow... That'll solve everything, right?"
"No." She sighed wearily. "Sorry,
Jamie, no." Now there was the barest edge to her voice that cut through plainly. "Please understand me, no. No! He will be buried here as he would wish. The day after tomorrow."
"You can't. Mrs. Struan must... I mean
Tess Struan must be given time. We'll send
Prancing Cloud for her, she would want to be at the funeral, must be."
"You can do what you like but my husband will be buried the day after tomorrow in the way he would want--I don't think there would be time to do what you suggest.
I'm not going to argue with you. Sorry, old friend, it's you who are overwrought and I can well understand it. Please ask Sir William, and Mr.
Skye to come by together now, as soon as possible and
I will settle the matter formally."
"For God's sake, the family crypt in
Happy Valley is where his grandfather, father and brothers and sisters are buried."
"Jamie, I tire of repeating: Please ask Sir William and Mr. Skye to come here as soon as possible. Together."
He did not know what to do so he shrugged helplessly and went out.
For a few minutes she sat still and breathed deeply. That wasn't so bad, she thought, then stretched and got up and went into her own room.
There she selected a clean dress, conservative, dark grey, put it on the bed. The wind rattled the windows but did not chill her.
Her mirror beckoned her. She studied herself.
Critically. No smile. What she saw pleased her. And the new person she had become also pleased her. It was like fitting into a new dress-- no, a new skin. "I hope it lasts," she said to her reflection. "We must work to make it last. This me is better than the other one."
Then she took up the first of the letters, Tess
Struan's letters. She wanted to leave his to last.
END OF VOLUME IX
GAI-JIN
A Novel of Japan by
JAMES CLAVELL
Volume It of Twelve Volumes
Pages i-ii and 2027-2264
For special distribution as authorized by Act of
Congress under Public Law 89-522, andwiththe permission of the copyright holder.
Produced in braille for the Library of Congress,
National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped, by Braille International,
Inc., 1994.
Copyright 1993 by James Clavell
All rights reserved.
GAI-JIN
BOOK FOUR
Thursday, 11th December: (continued)
Sir William was stony-faced. So was
Jamie. Doctors Hoag and Babcott were frowning. Heavenly Skye had a bemused glint in his eyes. All were sitting on chairs in front of Malcolm's desk. She faced them from his tall chair, tiny but secure in it. Darker dress than before, three-quarter sleeves, square neckline, her back straight, coiffure perfect. Without makeup and somehow regal. "The day after tomorrow?" Sir William asked.
"Yes, please," she said. "My husband should not be laid out for long for people to pay their last respects, if they wish to. Isn't three days normal, Doctor?"
"Normally, yes, Angelique," Hoag said. "But we've already made arrangements for the preservation of the body during the voyage home.
Everything will be fine, you've no need to worry."
He added gently, "He should be buried there, he really should. We all agree."
"You've embalmed him? Already?"
The men shifted uneasily. Hoag said,
"No, that's not usual. You, er, you use ice to ensure the preserv--"
"Would you relish being packed in ice and sent to Hong Kong like a carcass of mutton from
Australia?"
The tension in the room spiraled, the men more embarrassed than before. Her voice remained quiet, firm and friendly, which tended to further infuriate them. Except for Skye for whom she was taking on a very new dimension.
Sir William said, "That's not the point,
Madame. We feel for his sake and family's sake that burial at home is wise."
"He admired his grandfather, the tai-pan, didn't he?"
"Indeed he did," Sir William said.
Abruptly, he relaxed, no longer concerned, for now he had the answer to the conundrum, whatever she said. "Everyone knows that. Why?"
"Many times, in various words, Malcolm said he wanted to live like him, be remembered like him and be buried like him. And that's the way it will be."
"Very correct, and wise." Sir William added crisply, "His grandfather's buried in the family crypt in the cemetery in Happy
Valley." He added kindly, "Angelique,
I agree it should be the same for him. Now I unders--"
"But Dirk Struan wasn't buried in Hong
Kong," she said, startling them. "Oh I know his name's carved into the stone but he was buried at sea.
My husband will be buried at sea, in the same way."
"Sorry, Angelique, but you're wrong,"
Jamie said. "I was there, I'd just joined
Struan's, an apprentice China trader fresh from England, and went to the funeral. It was an immense affair, all Hong Kong went. There was even a huge, separate procession in Chinatown organized by Gordon Chen."
"Sorry, Jamie, but you are wrong. An empty coffin was interred in the crypt, he was buried at sea with his mistress, May-may, in international waters off Hong Kong." She felt tears near. No tears, she ordered herself, not yet. "He was buried at sea. It was a
Christian service, done correctly as he wished, and the witnesses were Culum and Tess
Struan, Gordon Chen and Aristotle Quance."
"That's not possible," Jamie said.
"Oh yes it is and that's what happened. Your
Church hierarchy refused to allow them to be buried together, refused them a Christian burial in hallowed ground in Happy Valley."
"But, Angelique, I saw the funeral.
He was buried there, I don't know where
May-may was buried but I agree, she wasn't with him."
"You saw a sham, Jamie, the coffin was empty."
"This is nonsense," Sir William said.
"The hierarchy were adamant against a joint burial," she said as though he had not spoken.
"It was unheard of. They had been scandalized by Dirk Struan for many reasons, as you know only too well, Sir William, but the idea was too much for them. In his will, part of his Testament that's handed down from tai-pan to tai-pan, he had written two weeks before he died that if he and
May-may died together, they were to be buried together, that it was his intention to marry her and--"
"He actually wrote that? He was going to marry her?" Sir William said, the others equally shocked, for even today, marriage to a Chinese was unthinkable--ostracism would be permanent, even for
Dirk Struan. "He actually wrote that?"
"Yes," she said, seeing that Hoag alone did not share Sir William's consternation.
The English, the British, are such awful people in many ways, she was thinking. Such hypocrites, bigots, uncivilized and different from us, only too aware of their antagonism to mar
riage of
Protestant to Catholic, let alone their detestation of intermarriage with peoples of their
Empire.
Why consider intermarriage a heinous sin, she wanted to shout, while you have native mistresses and children by them openly, such hypocrisy! It's never been like that with us, in our French colonies or
Empire. If a Frenchman marries a native woman she becomes not only his wife but
French with all the protection of French law.
We even encourage intermarriage, correctly.
A man is a man a woman a woman whatever the color of her skin but not to you people. God protect me from becoming English, thank God
I can never give up my French citizenship whoever I marry...
What am I saying, she thought with a jolt, bringing herself back to the room and these enemies of her husband. Time enough for such luxury later.
"I find some British attitudes difficult to understand, Sir William, about intermarriage, but then I am French. That aside, with the funeral of my husband's grandfather there was an impasse: your Church was outraged and would not agree to joint burial. The new tai-pan, his son, Culum, was insisting on it--anything other than a proper Christian burial for Dirk
Struan was unthinkable, Culum more so than Tess who was very disturbed by Dirk's wishes and his flouting of conventions that were the bedrock of all her beliefs.
Her father, Tyler Brock, now the most powerful trader on the island was vehemently opposed, so was
Tess's mother, so were most traders publicly, whatever they felt in private. The Governor supported the Church."
"Quite right," Sir William muttered.
"Yes," she said. "If Hong Kong had been
Catholic my Church would have been equally hostile. So the scandal threatened the
Colony, and this when most of Hong Kong lay in ruins after the typhoon--with no ice," she added thinly.
They shifted in their seats, except Skye who slouched in his chair with the same slight smile.
Babcott said gently, "It's normal, correct medical practice for important people in these circumstances, Angelique. Your husband was and is important to us. You must believe that."
"I do." She took her eyes off him and addressed Sir William as before, continuing in the same matter-of-fact way: "To break the impasse, a compromise was arranged. The compromise was arranged by Aristotle Quance and
Gordon Chen, it was verbal, nothing in writing.
Quietly--the word should be secretly because that was what it was--the bodies were put aboard China
Cloud. The Church of England ceremony was officiated at by a Naval Chaplain and
Captain Orlov. It was a proper Christian burial. Dirk Struan and his mistress,
May-may Sheng were buried together as he had desired."
"If it was so secret how do you know this's true?"
"It was recorded in the ship's log, Sir
William, which was at once put into the tai-pan's private vault and all witnesses,
Culum and Tess Struan, Aristotle Quance, and Gordon Chen, and of course the minimum crew aboard were sworn by holy oath to secrecy. The
Naval Chaplain, who he was I don't know, was sent back to England at once. The other funeral took place with all the pomp due the tai-pan of the Noble House."
The silence stayed in the room, broken only by the breath of the wind against the windowpanes, the afternoon outside fair. Sir William said, "Have you seen the log?"
"No, nor spoken to... to his mother about it."
Jamie said, "Tess Struan could corroborate it, or Gordon Chen--if they would agree to break their oath--and if they wanted to."
Skye straightened in his chair. "This morning
Mrs. Struan asked me if this story her late husband had told her was true. Happily I was able to corroborate certain details."
"And you know it's true because?"
"I happened to meet one of the crew who was less susceptible to secrecy than the others. A seaman, Hennery Fairchild--I've no idea if he's alive or dead now--but when I first came to Hong Kong, Sir William, I made it my business to learn all I could about the
Noble House, the Brocks, Quance, about the founding of Hong Kong, and the... the various corruptions that took place in high places."
Sir William nodded sourly, finding his bad breath and bad teeth more overpowering than usual, knowing some of the dirty scandals that had been kept from public view and had preceded him. "That's hearsay evidence."
"It would not have much weight in court, Sir
William. But it is true."
What to do? the Minister asked himself. Have to do the right thing, by God. The judgment of Paris? No, this is all a typhoon in a wineglass. "Very well, Madam, by all means let us respect his wishes. Jamie send the body at once to Hong Kong for burial at sea, at once," he said crisply, and thought, once there Tess
Struan can have at Angelique Struan and I'm damned if I'm going to get between them. What the devil's come over Angelique, never seen such a change! "Quite understand you are loath to go by Prancing Cloud. We'll arrange the mail ship."
"Thank you," Angelique said calmly, "but no, Sir William. My late husband will not be sent like a carcass, in ice, to Hong Kong.
He will not."
"By God, Madame, if I order it, it will happen."
"True, if you order it. But, Sir
William..." She glanced at Skye.
"What is the legal position?"
"Legally the wishes of the husband, supported by his widow would take precedence."
"Before I answer that where is there any proof?
There's none. As to preference over whom?" Sir
William said testily, "Over Mrs.
Struan, Tess Struan, is that what you are saying? We should disregard any consideration of her?"
Skye began to answer but Angelique motioned him to stop, and said, "Not at all. If
Prancing Cloud went at once. A fast time to Hong Kong is ten days there and ten days back, in fair weather. A few days to turn around. Dr. Hoag, is there time for your, your ice," she said distastefully, "to preserve my husband's mortal remains properly over that time for his mother to be brought here--if she wished to come?"
Hoag was thinking about Dirk Struan and his legendary May-may, his beloved beauty, and about intermarriage and how he himself wished he had not killed his wife, love of his life.
He often felt he had. His love for her should have been great enough not to have married her, not to have taken her out of her safe, serene Indian life into the disaster he knew would be their lot. And was.
Once again your future is in the balance,
Hoag old man. Do you help this girl or
Tess Struan? Don't forget it was your fault that bloody assassin lived to frighten her, near to death. "Medically it might be, but I would advise against it," he said with a sideways glance at Babcott, cautioning him not to interfere. "The decision, Sir William, is really whether he should be sent back or not. If not, I think he should be buried as... as his wife wants."
Sir William hesitated, irritated that his solution was not accepted. "Angelique, why are you opposed to going with the body to Hong Kong, if not by Prancing Cloud by mail ship?"
"I am opposed because then he will not be buried in the way that he wishes, like his grandfather--his mother would never admit the other story, could not. I am his widow and I tell you his wishes are my wishes, with all my heart."
Sir William was unsure of his legal grounds for assenting or dissenting, and massively concerned about Tess Struan, her position now as de facto head of the Noble House, her written opposition to the marriage, and what she would do if the body was not sent back.
She'll scream bloody murder for one thing, he thought, almost wincing. Obviously she'd want the burial there, it should be there, at sea or not at sea, whatever the truth or untruth of the story, and fifty pounds against a bent farthing in any event she'll try and overturn the marriage, with a fair chance of doing it. So y
ou poor lady, like it or not, are on a very dicey wicket. "I'm afraid you are making an already tragic happening even more complicated than it need be. The poor fellow can be buried at sea just as easily from Hong Kong as here. So the best thing..."