‘He is cruel,’ Latonia thought.
She told herself that she would be very glad when she was released from her pretended role and could go home.
But, as that was something she could not do, she must try now to ignore Lord Branscombe’s jibes and accusations and instead enjoy both the voyage and India when they reached it.
At the same time she knew it was going to be very difficult not to be vividly aware of her supposed Guardian every minute of the day, especially if they were to be cooped up together in the small cabin.
‘How can he be so ridiculous?’ she asked herself, ‘as to think that he could keep someone like Toni confined here and prevent her from mixing with any of the other passengers?’
She knew that Toni would have gone mad at the idea and that somehow, in some mischievous manner of her own, she would have escaped.
She would have bribed the Stewardess, climbed through the portholes, done anything rather than let her uncle succeed in subduing her and keeping her a prisoner.
Yet Latonia knew that she herself was not brave enough to defy him and the small effort she had made to present Toni’s point of view had only made him angrier than he was already.
‘I must be quiet and accept whatever he says,’ she thought.
The ship was still in smooth water, having not yet reached the Channel, and she rose to stand at the table looking at the books. They were all on India and she saw that several were written in what she thought must be Urdu.
Suddenly she had an idea.
*
About an hour later Lord Branscombe returned to the cabin, looking, she thought, almost as angry as when he had left it.
He did not speak to her and she said tentatively,
“I have something to ask you, Uncle Kenrick.”
“What is it?” Lord Branscombe enquired in an uncompromising tone.
“If I am to be kept in here during the voyage, would it be possible for me to learn – Urdu?”
She realised, that it was the first time she had genuinely surprised him.
“Learn Urdu? Why should you wish to do that?”
“I am very interested in languages,” Latonia answered, “and it seems a pity that if I am going to India I shall not to be able to understand what the Indians say.”
“A great number speak English,” Lord Branscombe replied, “and very few British bother to speak to the natives, who do not understand them.”
“I have never had any difficulty in learning European languages,” Latonia persisted, “and I am sure that there must be a teacher of some sort on board. I would like to speak Urdu and I see you that have some books here in that language which might be helpful.”
“How do you know it is Urdu?” Lord Branscombe asked sharply.
“I thought it – must be,” Latonia replied after a moment’s hesitation.
It had not been possible for her to tell him that, when her father was going out to stay in India, he had said,
“I am going to have to mug up my Urdu. It will be very rusty after all these years.”
“Did you speak it when you were in India?” Latonia had asked him.
“I was very young when I went out with the Regiment. In fact it was my very first appointment as a Subaltern,” her father had replied. “As I was full of ambition to get on, I studied Urdu before I left England and during the voyage.”
He had laughed as he added,
“I found that such industry was really unnecessary. None of the other Subalterns could speak a word of Urdu, nor did they have any intention of doing so.”
“Did it ever come in useful?” Latonia had asked.
“In fact it did,” her father had replied. “I found I could talk with Indians in a way that gave me an insight into their characters and I think that the men who served in my Company trusted and respected me, because when they were troubled they could tell me in their own language what was wrong.”
“They adored your father,” Latonia’s mother had interposed.
Her husband had smiled at her and she had added,
“If your Regiment had stayed in India instead of coming home, where everything was so much more expensive, I know you would never have left it.”
“I think that is true,” Captain Hythe had replied. “At the same time I have no regrets. I have been very happy here at The Manor and the climate would not have been good for Latonia. Children never seem to thrive in the heat.”
“That is so,” Latonia’s mother had said in a soft voice, “and I cannot bear to think of all those little graves in the English cemeteries. The mortality amongst small children is horrifying.”
“But we have our Latonia,” Captain Hythe had said, putting his arm round his daughter.
Latonia felt now that her father would have wanted her to learn Urdu. So, despite what she felt was Lord Branscombe’s scepticism, she insisted.
“Please, can you arrange for someone to teach me? I promise you I will study very hard.”
He looked at her suspiciously, as if he thought that she had an ulterior motive in wishing to learn an Indian language, but, because there was no reason why she should not do so, he said,
“I will speak to the Purser and see what he can suggest. If not, I suppose I shall have to teach you myself.”
“So you have taken the trouble to learn it?” Latonia enquired.
He did not answer and she had the impression that it was something he did not wish to discuss with her.
It struck her for the first time that, as he had said he was going to parts of India where there were no entertainments and perhaps no English people, he must be on some special mission.
She glanced towards the papers on his desk and was certain that the key to what she wanted to know would be amongst them.
After a moment she asked,
“You are not joining your Regiment. Now that you have become Lord Branscombe, will you leave the Army?”
There was a frown between his eyes that told Latonia that he did not wish to answer this question either, but equally he did not like to refuse to do so.
“I have not yet made any hasty decision,” he answered. “I have in fact been requested by the Viceroy to make some investigations which require my travelling to somewhat obscure parts of the country which are off the beaten track.”
“That sounds exciting,” Latonia said, “and I shall look forward to seeing them.”
He looked at her in a way which told her that he thought she was just being pleasant for reasons of her own and would not genuinely wish to do anything that did not involve the entertaining, the dancing and the other amusements that he knew had been her sole interest whilst in London.
“Please, will you tell me about your investigations?” Latonia suggested.
Almost as if he was embarrassed, Lord Branscombe walked to his desk to look at the papers on it before he said,
“I have undertaken to enquire into the behaviour and political inclinations of certain small States which at the moment do not have a British Resident. I presume you know what that means?”
“Yes, of course,” Latonia replied. “British Residents are appointed to guide and advise the Princes or Rajahs and also to prevent any forbidden customs like Suttee from taking place.”
As she spoke, she thought that Lord Branscombe was surprised that she should know about Suttee, which was the burning of a man’s wife or wives with his corpse when he died.
“I think that is a pretty good summary of the duties of a British Resident,” he conceded, “but as you can imagine, the Princes make every effort to do without them.”
“So when you make your investigations you will not be very welcome,” Latonia said with a faint smile.
“That is true,” Lord Branscombe agreed. “But I am not particularly interested in what people feel about me personally. I must do my duty whether they like it or not!”
Latonia thought that this was rather the attitude he was taking up with regard to Toni, but aloud she said,
“Perhaps when you have time you will show me on the map where we will be travelling, as I would like, if possible, to read a little beforehand about the different places we will visit, so that I shall not miss anything when we are there.”
She thought that Lord Branscombe looked unresponsive and she went on,
“And please, will you enquire about Urdu lessons as soon as possible? It will be difficult to learn much in such a short time, but at least I can make a beginning. And when I reach India I shall be able to talk to the servants.”
“I am not sure that would be advisable,” Lord Branscombe said sharply.
“Then, of course, you will have to tell me, Uncle Kenrick, to whom I can talk and with whom I must keep silent,” Latonia said.
Again she thought that he was becoming suspicious because she was being so amenable.
Then finally he took from amongst his papers a small book which she saw, when he put it down on the table in front of her, was a dictionary of Urdu words.
“Pull up a chair at the table and I will see,” he said, “if you have an ear for learning what is a difficult language that requires a great deal of concentration. If I think it is hopeless from the start, I will say so and you must accept my decision in this matter.”
“But of course,” Latonia agreed. “I quite understand, and I am very grateful. At the same time, I don’t wish to be a nuisance, since I can see that you have brought a great deal of work with you. Would it not be better to find me a teacher?”
“It may be possible later, I don’t know,” Lord Branscombe replied. “First we have to establish if you are teachable.”
“Yes, of course,” Latonia said. “It will be very humiliating if I prove to be as half-witted as you think I am.”
As she spoke, she thought that she was being very brave in speaking in such a manner to Lord Branscombe. Equally she could not help feeling extremely resentful that he had been so unkind about Toni.
No one knew better than Latonia that, although Toni might be frivolous and might at times do foolish things, she actually had a sharp brain and was much more intelligent than most girls of her age.
She was not in fact as clever as Latonia was herself, for the simple reason that she found it difficult to settle down to one subject for any length of time or to concentrate as Latonia did on any subject that particularly interested her.
Latonia had always had time to read because there had not been so many diversions at The Manor as there had been at The Castle.
She had been brought up without spirited horses to ride, without many broad acres as a playground, without a lake to swim in and without a huge castle packed with treasures of every sort and description.
This meant that Latonia was thrown back on her own resources and she had learnt to use her imagination and to apply it to everything she read in books.
Both her father and her mother had been very intelligent and between them, because they loved their only child and she was always with them, they had educated her without her really being aware of it.
Because neither of them was interested in the gossip and the chatter that most people filled their lives with, they talked on almost every subject that had concerned mankind since the beginning of time, subjects that embraced the developments of civilisation and concerned both this world and the next.
Sometimes Toni would become impatient when Latonia would spend a long time in the library at The Castle, looking for some particular book she wanted.
“Oh, come on, Latonia,” she would say, “the horses are waiting. Why must you waste the sunshine?”
“I am trying to find a book about the Roman Conquest, which Papa and Mama were talking about last night,” Latonia would reply.
Or else it would be the building of the Taj Mahal, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or the Lighthouse at Alexandria.
To Latonia, what she wished to read was an extension of something that had captured her imagination.
It had seemed very real to her when her father and mother talked about it and, by wishing to know more, she had taught herself in a way that no teacher could have managed to do.
She knew now, as Lord Branscombe sat down opposite her with what she thought was bad grace, that he was quite convinced that her interest in India was only superficial or perhaps just a desire to ingratiate herself with him so as to placate his anger over other matters.
Because her imagination was incited by the very first words he said and because she genuinely wished to learn, it was a long time later when he closed the book and said,
“I think you have done enough for today. You certainly show a natural aptitude for languages, which I had not expected.”
“It is so interesting” Latonia exclaimed. “And I can see now how quite a number of Indian words have grown into the European languages.”
She did not notice that Lord Branscombe looked surprised as she went on,
“I always thought that the gypsy Romany language came from the Hindu and now I am sure of it.”
“Are you telling me that you speak Romany?” Lord Branscombe enquired.
Latonia smiled at him.
“Not well,” she answered, “because, as you know, gypsies are very diffident about letting anyone know their language. But since they have camped in the Park – your Park – every year, I have known them since I was a child and I have picked up enough of their language to be able to greet them and ask after their health.”
“You surprise me,” Lord Branscombe said. “I am even more surprised that my brother should have allowed you to speak to the gypsies, let alone associate with them.”
There was just a faint twinkle in Latonia’s eyes as she replied,
“I don’t think that he was always aware of my friendship with the travelling people.”
She had a feeling that she had said the wrong thing, for immediately the frown was back between Lord Branscombe’s eyes and he retorted sharply,
“You appear to have spent your life steeped in intrigue. I can assure you, if I ever have children I shall bring them up extremely strictly.”
Latonia wondered if she should have replied that that was exactly the way his brother had tried to bring up Toni.
It was not only because he and Toni’s mother wanted her to be a good child but because they were afraid for her.
They always wanted to keep her under their eye and to prevent her from doing anything in which she might harm herself or hear anything she should not hear.
Because Miss Waddesdon had been more lenient, Toni and she had been able to do a thousand things that Lord and Lady Branscombe would have vetoed immediately, had they been aware of what was happening.
What Latonia had been thinking must have shown in her expression, for after a moment Lord Branscombe said,
“I can sense that you don’t agree with me, which is not surprising.”
“I think that children, like most people” Latonia said slowly, “if they are categorically forbidden to do one particular thing, look upon it as forbidden fruit.”
“And what is the alternative?”
“I should think that is obvious!” she replied. “If you tell a child reasonably that something is wrong or dangerous, convince him or her that that is why it is forbidden, then there is much more likelihood that you will be obeyed than if you just give peremptory orders that anyone with spirit would resent.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Lord Branscombe enquired.
Latonia almost replied that her parents had been so broad-minded that she always felt that she was given the choice of what she might do and not do. Then she remembered that she was Toni and not herself.
“Yes, that is exactly what did happen,” she replied. “I seem to remember ever since I was a small child being told ‘no, no!’ instead of ‘yes, yes!’”
“So, what you are saying,” Lord Branscombe said, as if he was reasoning it out, “is that when you were grown up, whenever you had the chance you deliberately did things that you
knew were wrong – ”
“Not deliberately,” Latonia interrupted, “but I suppose that, like everyone else, I wanted to be free to stretch my wings, to prove that I was a person, not just a puppet manipulated by strings.”
“I cannot believe that such an assertion has any foundation of fact,” Lord Branscombe said sharply.
“You know what – Papa was – like,” Latonia replied, talking as if she was Toni. “He never put a foot wrong from the time he was a little boy. He wanted his life to be ordered on the rigid lines that it always had followed in his father’s time and his grandfather’s before that. Surely – you felt that when you were – small and – living at home?”
“I suppose that is true,” Lord Branscombe said, as if he thought of it now for the very first lime.
There was silence while Latonia was certain that he was thinking over what she had said and assimilating it.
Then suddenly he said sharply,
“You are making a very good case for yourself, Antonia, but don’t think that you can blind me by argument or make me change my mind about what I am going to do with you and how I intend that you will behave now that I have taken over the job of chaperone.”
“I am not arguing,” Latonia answered. “I am only showing you perhaps a different angle from the one from which you have contemplated the subject previously.”
“I am not concerned with angles,” Lord Branscombe replied. “As far as you are concerned, I wish you to keep to the path of righteousness and I intend that is what you will do.”
Latonia smiled at him.
“As long as the path leads to India and the learning of Urdu, I am for the moment perfectly content.”
She knew by the way he moved sharply away from the table to sit down at the desk that he was a little discomfited by her answer.
“Now,” he said, “I intend to concentrate on my own work, which is something I must not neglect.”
“Then I will not disturb you,” Latonia answered sweetly, “and thank you so much for all you have taught me so far. I shall do my best not to forget it and I hope to have learnt a great many more words before you give me my second lesson.”
Punished with Love Page 6