The Blue Dress Girl

by E. V. Thompson

  ‘How is She-she? I want to see her, Sally.’

  ‘You know … about Chang?’

  Sally looked to Caleb and received a nod.

  ‘I’m very worried about her, Kernow. Except for the evenings when Esme comes here and we say a prayer for you, she hardly speaks to anyone. When Caleb brought her back from the Taiping camp she’d been drugged with opium and didn’t know what was going on around her. I insisted she should stay here with me. I wanted to look after her. It might have been a mistake. Perhaps she would have been better with Nan Strachan. Another Chinese girl might have understood her needs more.’

  ‘From what I hear, you’ve both been very kind – and words can’t express my thanks to Caleb. But I want to see She-she now. Where is she?’

  ‘Where she spends most of the time. In her room. I’ll take you there.’

  ‘I’d like to see her alone, Sally.’

  The American girl hesitated for only a moment. ‘Of course.’

  Sally led Kernow upstairs and at the end of an airy corridor knocked at a door. When there was no reply she opened the door. Looking inside she said, ‘She-she? There’s someone to see you….’

  ‘It’s all right. I’ll go in.’

  Sally was still not certain she was doing the right thing, but Kernow moved past her and went in the room, closing the door behind him.

  She-she was seated at the window. From here she could see across the front garden of the consulate to the ships in the foreign anchorage. She must have seen him arrive at the house.

  When she did not turn around immediately, he crossed the room and dropped to his knees beside her. She had always been slightly built, but now she appeared so fragile he was almost afraid to touch her.

  ‘She-she, I’ve been told what happened. Forgive me for not being here to protect you.’

  The far-away expression on her pale, drawn face made him wince in anguish. ‘I love you, She-she.’ Putting his arms about her he pulled her gently to him.

  For a moment she leaned into him. Then, as though something had triggered in her mind, she went suddenly rigid. It was like holding a statue and he could feel the explosive tension in her.

  Without releasing her, he said, ‘I’m back now, She-she. Everything is going to be all right. I want you to come back with me to the Strachans’ house. I’ve been there to see them. They’d like to have us living with them again.’

  When she made no reply, he said gently, ‘I know everything that happened to you at the Taiping camp. I want you to put it behind you. To forget it ever happened. Nothing bad matters any more. Not now I’m with you.’

  ‘Does matter. Matter too much.’ She spoke in English, her voice even softer than his. But at least she was speaking to him.

  ‘No, She-she. You’re safe, and I’m safe. We’ve both been prisoners. When I was trussed up in the Summer Palace, expecting to die, I realised that life is too precious to waste in bothering about foolish matters. I love you and you love me. That’s all we ever need remember.’

  Without looking at him, She-she said, ‘I happy you safe. Every night I pray with Esme to your God to make you safe. He listened, but even He cannot change what happened to me. Cannot forget. Will never forget.’

  ‘You can, She-she – and you will. Chang only abused the parts of your body he could touch, nothing more. He couldn’t touch your mind, which is yours, or your heart, which is mine. Last year a Chinese shell shattered my body and left me permanently scarred. Must I be held to blame for that? Of course not, any more than you are to blame for what someone else did to your body.’

  She-she was quiet for many minutes while she thought of what he had said, then she replied, less certainly, ‘Not the same.’

  ‘It is the same. Exactly the same. Think about it.’

  ‘I don’t want to think about what happened.’

  ‘After today there’s no reason why you should, but we’ve got to clear it out of the way now if we’re to make things right between us again. Once we’ve done that you can forget it for always. It’s very, very important to you and to me. Chang tried to take you from me and he failed. Don’t hand him victory now.’

  She-she pulled away from him and looked out of the window again. With increasing desperation Kernow realised he had failed to break through the barrier she had built about herself. She had become one of the ‘inscrutable Chinese’, as seen by those with only superficial knowledge of her people.

  ‘She-she, more than anything else in this world I want us to be together again, as we were before I went away. For you to love me as I love you.’

  He detected uncertainty in her stance and for a few breathless moments thought she was about to come back to him.

  ‘Please, She-she. I need you.’

  ‘I would like you to leave me alone now.’

  ‘I can’t leave you like this, She-she. Let’s talk some more. Until we work things out between us.’

  ‘No talk. Please, you leave me now.’

  Kernow felt torn apart by She-she’s attitude towards him. Although he realised she was very close to breaking-point at this moment, he did not want to leave her without having matters settled between them.

  ‘I need to think, Kernow. I must think. English girl not need to think, maybe. I Chinese girl. If can’t think here I should go live in city, perhaps.’

  ‘You know I don’t want that. All I want is for us to be as we were.’ He took her by the shoulders and turned her towards him, but when she looked up at him it was as though she had shrivelled inside. He dreaded to think what might happen to her if she were suddenly thrown upon her own resources inside Shanghai city. He would probably lose her for ever.

  ‘All right, She-she. I’ll leave you alone to think. I’ll be back to see you again soon because I intend that one day we’ll be together, loving each other for the rest of our lives. Think about that too, I beg you.’

  Chapter 35

  KERNOW WOULD HAVE only one meeting with She-she before he was unexpectedly sent from Shanghai once more. When he reached the waterfront to board a boat that would take him back to the ship, a soldier was waiting with a message from General Grant. The commander-in-chief was at the British consulate. Kernow was to go there immediately to meet him.

  Shown into a room where the air was thick with cigar-smoke, Kernow found Grant with a number of other senior officers. He was in an unusually jovial mood.

  ‘Ah, there you are at last, Captain Keats. I was beginning to think you’d gone off on another of your mysterious jaunts.’

  The commander-in-chief had just been congratulated by the British consul and shown a copy of a letter sent to the British government in London by Lord Elgin. The British special ambassador had been extremely complimentary about the commander-in-chief of the land forces.

  ‘I’ve just received a most unusual request, Keats. It’s come from one of the Chinese generals we were fighting on the way to Peking. The chap you mentioned to me. The civilised one who improved things for you when you were a prisoner. Son of a war-lord or some such, isn’t he?

  ‘As you know, now we’ve finally ratified the treaty with the Imperial Chinese there’s only one thing standing in the way of permanent peace and increased trade. I’m talking, of course, about the Taipings. They are straddling the Yangtze river, the lifeline to the heart of China. If we’re not careful they’ll destroy all we’ve fought for. This Chinese officer has asked if we’ll loan you to the Imperial army to help train a few regiments of Chinese. They’ve already mustered a company of European irregulars – mercenaries, and a cut-throat gang they are too, by all accounts – but they’ll fight, at a price. He’s suggested that you select any men you need to help you from among their number.’

  General Grant coughed as though embarrassed. ‘It’s all highly irregular, of course, but not without precedent. I spoke to Lord Elgin before he left. Rather surprisingly, he thinks it’s a good idea. He suggested the post might have been made for you. I agree with him. You speak fluent Chinese and ha
ve an understanding of the Taipings. It seems this Chinese chap who rescued you will be in overall charge of things, so he’ll be able to keep an eye on you.

  ‘I’ve made a few stipulations, of course. You’re not to be used in a combat role – unless you personally feel it to be in the best interests of Great Britain. In order to prevent any repercussions at home about serving British officers fighting with a foreign army, you’ll be taken off the active duty list. Placed on half pay – with the rank of brevet major, I might add. The Chinese have promised to more than make up the rest. What I’d particularly like you to do is see if you can’t persuade the Chinese to maintain some sort of control over this hotch-potch army of mercenaries. At the same time I hope you can build up a good relationship with them. It’s a tricky job, Keats, but I have every confidence in you. What do you say, eh?’

  A vision of Chang’s face rose up between General Grant and Kernow.

  ‘I’ll be delighted to take on the task, sir. When do I begin and where?’

  ‘Good man. I thought that’s what you’d say.’

  The general had the grace to looked mildly embarrassed as he continued, ‘Your duties begin right away. This Chinese general chap seemed so certain everyone would agree to his request that he sent an escort along with it. I’ve told them you’ll be ready to go off with them tomorrow. That suit you?’

  It did not suit Kernow, but having said he would accept the task he was obliged to agree. ‘I have a few things to settle first, sir, but I’ll be ready to leave in the morning.’

  ‘Good man! I trust you’ll be discreet in all you do. We don’t want to provoke any awkward questions in the House of Commons about Royal Marine officers training Imperial Chinese troops in their war against the Taipings. Before you go kit yourself out well with whatever you need. I doubt if you’ll get much from the Chinese. Take your pick of the cavalry horses and requisition anything else you think you’ll need. When you eventually get back to England come and see me. I’ll find a place for you on my staff. You’ve done a sterling job out here.’

  Kernow broke the news of his imminent departure to She-she that night. It shook her out of her apathetic state as nothing else had been able to do.

  Seated on a chair by the window in the United States consulate she swung around to face Kernow and a succession of expressions chased each other across her face. Fear, distress, unhappiness, uncertainty. All were there.

  ‘You go away to war again? Why? Because of me? Who you fight now? I thought your country had made peace with the Chinese?’

  ‘We have and I’m not going to fight anyone. Shalonga has asked for me to help train Imperial Chinese troops. I couldn’t refuse. He has saved my life twice.’

  ‘So you will help him defeat the Taipings? Defeat Chang?’

  ‘Yes.’ Kernow hesitated before saying, ‘Have you thought any more about what I said? About us?’

  She-she nodded. ‘Much of what you say is true. Not all. What happened to your body brought you honour. For me there is only dishonour.’

  He would have interrupted her at this point, but she silenced him with a movement of her head. ‘No, hear me, please. I believe you speak the truth when you say “no matter”. I think maybe you love me enough. I was going to ask you to give me time. Time to stop thinking all time like Chinese girl. To learn more how Fan Qui girl thinks.’

  It had been a long time since Kernow had heard She-she use the expression Fan Qui. It showed him how far her mental attitude had reverted since she had been taken by Chang’s men.

  ‘I have time now. I will try hard, Kernow. It would be easier if you were here with me, but I will try. You will never be ashamed of me, I promise.’

  Suddenly She-she began to cry. When he held out his arms she came to him and there was no holding back now. No tension in her body. He knew then that the hardest part of the battle to make She-she come to terms with what had happened to her had been won.

  Kernow left Shanghai in the company of Shalonga’s escort a much happier man than he had been twenty-four hours earlier. She-she was on the road to recovery, of that he had no doubt. It might prove to be a slow progress, but she had friends about her to help. She was also aware now that nothing of her relationship with Kernow had been destroyed by what had happened to her.

  It would take time before She-she could put the kidnap and rape behind her, but she had made a start. Kernow had spent much of the night in her room either talking with her or content just to hold her in silence.

  Now Kernow was on his way to the town where Shalonga was camped, no more than sixty miles from Nanking. The commander of Kernow’s escort was a knowledgeable man who was able to talk about the progress of the war. He claimed that the Taiping rebels guarding the road between the Imperial Chinese camp and Nanking were commanded by Chang, the Heavenly Prince himself.

  Kernow hoped this was so. He had been forbidden by General Grant from taking an active part in the battles between the Taipings and their Imperial Chinese enemies, but if Chang were involved …

  On Kernow’s arrival at his destination, Shalonga introduced him to some of the officers of the mercenary ‘Ever Victorious Army’. Kernow was not impressed with any of them.

  He was even less impressed when he accompanied the irregular unit in a small battle to take a poorly defended town, only five miles from Shalonga’s camp. They conducted much of the battle at long range, where their superior weapons gave them an impressive advantage over their opponents.

  There was nothing wrong in this, but once the town was taken the men, most of whom were Europeans, went on an orgy of rape and pillage.

  When Kernow tried to prevent this happening he was warned to stay out of the way or he would be shot. The men of the ‘Ever Victorious Army’ were deadly serious in their threat.

  When Kernow reported the matter to Shalonga, the Tartar commander merely shrugged his shoulders, saying in French, ‘To the victor goes the spoils, my friend. It is a reward given to every victorious army in China. Even the Taipings, now.’

  ‘It will be their downfall, as it might well be yours. A defending army will fight to the last if death and the rape of their women is the only reward for surrender.’

  ‘How else would you reward men who risk their lives in battle?’

  ‘By paying them far more than they would receive in other occupations and by putting towns out of bounds when they are captured. Give them instead a pride in winning. Pride in themselves.’

  Shalonga smiled. ‘It is a unique solution, my friend, but I will give it a try. Do you have any further ideas for improving the efficiency of the Imperial army?’

  ‘A great many. Let it be known that you are recruiting men for a special unit. A unique unit, whose pay will be far higher than that of their fellow soldiers. Let them understand that every volunteer will be interviewed and only the very best will be accepted. I believe you’ll have more volunteers than you need.’

  Kernow’s predictions were proven to be correct. They were overwhelmed with volunteers but initially accepted only one hundred men.

  Even more surprising, three officers serving with the Ever Victorious Army volunteered to join, at a reduced salary. Kernow accepted two of them and had no cause to regret his decision.

  He now commanded a company of men of whom he was very proud. As part of his policy of making them feel special, they were given a red sash to wear, similar to the one made for Kernow by She-she.

  His elite company became known as the ‘Red Sash soldiers’ and good men were clamouring to join. His soldiers were well paid and, what was more important from the men’s point of view, their pay was received regularly, something that Kernow insisted upon. They were better fed too.

  Before long, the discipline of Kernow’s company was such that, even though they were still a training company, when a town was captured from the Taipings, they were detailed to police it, in order to keep their more rapacious companions out.

  They did not lose by their discipline. What they had not tak
en by force was freely given to them by a grateful population.

  Soon Kernow was able to raise a second company, then a third. He set his standards even higher, but still men flocked to join him.

  Meanwhile, the battles between the Taipings and the Imperial Chinese army were fought on a very wide front, and neither side could claim absolute victory. The Taipings would win a battle here, the Imperial army there.

  The battle front resembled hot fat in the bottom of a cooking pan, moving this way and that, constantly changing shape, forever in danger of erupting into flames.

  Chapter 36

  SOME MONTHS AFTER taking over the training of troops for the Imperial army, Kernow was in his headquarters tent, only three miles from Taiping territory. He was reading a letter for the third or fourth time.

  The letter was from Esme Pilkington. Crumpled and grubby, it was three months old and had undoubtedly travelled in a great many pockets and pouches before arriving at its destination. The letter contained much of importance to him, providing news of She-she.

  The missionary assured him that She-she had almost fully recovered from her ordeal at the hands of Chang. This was fortunate because she would soon have to move out of the consulate home of the Merrills. War had erupted in the United States of America. The Southern States had seceded from the Union and battle lines were being drawn. Even more than in the war between the Imperial Chinese and the Taipings, it would be a conflict where brother would fight against brother.

  The Merrills were from the South. Consul Merrill felt he could no longer represent the interests of the government of the North. Caleb would return with them. He too was from the South and felt obliged to offer his services to the armies of the secessionist States.

  However, Esme assured Kernow he need not worry about She-she. Esme had accepted a new post at the missionary station at Ning Po and was taking She-she with her. Esme informed Kernow that She-she was working hard to learn about Christianity. She was, declared Esme, a ‘good girl’, adding, ‘If ever good is seen to come from evil, this is it. After all that happened to her I despaired for a long time of health and reason being restored to her. I am convinced that God has taken a hand in her recovery, although credit must also be given to the faith she has in you. It is a great responsibility, Kernow, but I trust, I beg, you will not let her down.’