101. A Call of Love (6 page)

Arthur Watkins realised that he was locked in, but that did not perturb him.

He had learnt during the years in which he had made money to wait for exactly the right moment before forcing the issue.

‘It will only be a question of time,’ he thought to himself, ‘before Aisha comes to bed and Lord Kenington, I am almost sure, will not be with her.’

He did not realise that Lord Kenington was next door, as he had not been interested in anyone’s cabin with the exception of Aisha’s.

One of the reasons he had made so much money was that he had concentrated fiercely and determinedly on one issue at a time. And he never relaxed for one second his insistence on getting what he wanted.

That evening he did not have to wait long.

When Aisha came into the cabin alone and locked the door behind her, he thought that he had been extremely enterprising.

Peeping through the curtain, he saw Aisha standing in front of the dressing table gazing at herself in the mirror.

Then slowly she took off the necklace from around her neck and next the dress that covered her slim body.

Because she was so lovely, Arthur Watkins felt his heart pounding and his breath coming quickly.

Then, as she crossed the floor, he realised what was going to happen and waited.

When Aisha pulled back the curtain and screamed, he realised that it might alert a Stewardess and so he put his hand over her mouth.

She struggled, but he was very strong and his right arm pulled her close against him.

“Now listen to me – ” he started to say.

But she was struggling, even kicking at his legs, in an effort to get away from him.

She wanted desperately to scream out, but his hand was held tight over her mouth preventing her from making a sound.

She continued to struggle, although she felt every movement she made was ineffective against his strength.

*

In his own cabin, Lord Kenington thought that he had enjoyed the evening enormously.

All the fresh air and the exercise he had taken had made him feel more active than he had felt for a long time. He had, in fact, through overwork, been more tired than he had thought it possible to be.

He had to admit his mother was right when she had said it was good for him to take some rest and have plenty of sleep on the voyage.

As he took off his evening coat, he realised he had not told his valet to be waiting for him and, if he required the man, he would have to send a Stewardess for him.

On most evenings he let his valet, whose name was Newman, help him take off his clothes, so that he could press them ready for the next day.

But he thought tonight that there was no need to bother the man and actually, having enjoyed his time with Aisha, he had no wish to talk anymore.

He therefore was just about to undress further when there was a knock at the door.

A Steward then entered the cabin with the bottle of water he always had beside his bed.

“I’m sorry to be late, my Lord, but we’ve run out of the particular brand your Lordship wanted and it had to be fetched up from the storeroom.”

“Thank you for taking so much trouble. I do prefer that water to any other.”

“I agree with your Lordship, it’s the best.”

Then the Steward started.

“Was that a scream?” he asked.

“A scream?” Lord Kenington said. “I did not hear one.”

“I’m sure I did, my Lord, and from the next cabin. I wonders if the lady who was dining with your Lordship is in any trouble.”

Lord Kenington walked across the cabin.

“You have your master key. Open it for me.”

The Steward did as he was told.

Taking his master key from his pocket, he went out into the passage with Lord Kenington close behind him.

As the Steward turned the key in the lock, he heard a man’s voice and, pushing the Steward onto one side, he opened the door.

He saw Aisha struggling against Arthur Watkins, whose left hand over her mouth was preventing her from screaming again.

It only took two steps for him to reach Aisha.

Pushing her on one side, he struck Watkins a blow on the chin that lifted him off the ground and he fell back onto the floor.

He started to splutter in anger, but before he could say any more than a word, Lord Kenington dragged him to his feet.

He pulled him across the cabin, past the Steward, and struck him again so hard that he crashed down on the floor outside.

For a moment he was almost unconscious and then Lord Kenington turned to the gaping Steward and said,

“Take that swine away and, if I catch him in here again, I will myself throw him overboard. Make that clear to him.”

Somewhat nervously the Steward replied,

“Yes, my Lord.”

Lord Kenington took one look at Watkins, who was striving to sit up with blood pouring down his chin.

Then he went into Aisha’s cabin and shut the door behind him.

She was standing with her hands clasped together wearing only her silk petticoat and, as Lord Kenington reached her, she said in a voice that did not sound like her own,

“You came – you saved me. I was so – terrified.”

“I am sure you were, Aisha, and I promise you that it will not happen again. It’s a disgrace to the ship and to the P & O Company that any man should behave in such a manner.”

“But you saved me and, as I could not scream, I thought there was no chance of you – knowing what was – happening.”

The words seemed to come jerkily from between her lips.

“It has been a nasty shock,” Lord Kenington said. “Sit down on the bed for a moment while I bring you something to drink and then you must go to bed and forget it.”

“You don’t think – he will come again?” “I am certain he will not again attempt anything so stupid tonight or any other night.” “You were – wonderful – my Lord,” Aisha faltered.

“Fortunately I learnt to box at University,” Lord Kenington added, “and it has stood me in very good stead tonight, as it has done on several other occasions.”

As he was talking, he was pouring out some water from the bottle by her bed and now he handed it to her.

She had sat down on the small stool in front of the dressing table and, as she took the water, he realised that her hand was trembling.

“Hold it with both hands” he advised.

She did as she was told and, after she had drunk a little, the colour seemed to come back into her cheeks.

He thought, as he looked at her, how attractive she was with her bare shoulders and the silk petticoat showing every curve of her body.

“Now go to bed, Aisha. If you want me, knock on the wall and I will come to you at once. But I can promise you that you will not be interrupted by Mr. Watkins again tonight. If doubt if you will see him tomorrow either and I think, if nothing else, he probably lost a tooth or two in the last blow I gave him.”

Lord Kenington spoke with an inner satisfaction, as he had been taught that particular punch to end a fight.

“I am sure I will be fine now,” Aisha was saying, “and thank you again for being so very kind to me.”

“I can promise you one thing,” Lord Kenington said as he moved to the door, “that you can sleep peacefully. But I suggest you lock your door when I have left so that no one else can get in.”

“I cannot imagine how he was able to come into my cabin before I came to bed,” Aisha sighed.

“Forget him. I have disposed of him and I promise you that you are absolutely safe tonight and I will see that the same can be said every night on this voyage.”

He smiled at her before he added,

“I will search your cabin myself, though I think Mr. Watkins will be laid up for a few days. That will give us time to make sure that there are no more Mr. Watkins’s aboard!”

The way he spoke made it sound funny and Aisha gave him a little smile.

“I am sure I am quite safe now,” she said. “And I will lock the door as you have told me to do.”

“If you want me, knock on this wall.”

Lord Kenington pointed to the wall that separated the two cabins.

Then he went out and closed Aisha’s door.

She managed to rise to her feet and turn the key in the lock and then, because she felt weak, she lay down as she was on the bunk.

‘How is it possible,’ she asked herself, ‘that all this is happening to me?’

Then, because her heart was still fluttering and it was difficult to speak, she prayed silently,

‘Thank You, God, thank You for letting him save me.’

The next day they reached Gibraltar.

Aisha was thrilled, as Lord Kenington thought that she would be, with the monkeys running over the Rock and the shops were filled with fine goods from the Far East.

He insisted, although Aisha did protest, on buying her a shawl that had been embroidered by the Chinese.

“I have seen little boys not much older than four working on them,” he told her.

“It seems cruel, my Lord, but I cannot say ‘no’ to such a wonderful present.”

Lord Kenington felt that her enthusiasm was more genuine than he had received for much more expensive presents he had given in the past.

“We must not linger,” he advised as they went to yet another shop, “because the Captain is anxious to reach Calcutta on time.”

“Which I am sure he will do. This ship is far faster than any I have ever been on before.”

“They are very proud of it, because it is the latest addition to their fleet,” Lord Kenington declared, “and I believe it is very popular with passengers for India and the Far East by reducing the time the voyage takes.”

He thought, as he was speaking, that they would pass through the Suez Canal and he was grateful that it was now there despite British opposition at the outset.

And he had often thought that it would have been very boring to have taken six weeks to reach India round the Cape. One must surely have run out of conversation being shut up for so long with the same people.

After they had left Gibraltar, the Mediterranean was the blue of the Madonna’s robe and the endless sunshine made everything seem indescribably beautiful.

Lord Kenington was not at all surprised that Aisha wanted to stand in the front of the ship and watch the bow-waves breaking over the prow rather than play deck tennis.

However, somewhat reluctantly on her part before tea, they played a game and Lord Kenington won the first game and Aisha the second.

“I can see I will have to look to my laurels,” he said. “I have always rather fancied myself at deck tennis.”

“I am delighted and proud of having beaten you, my Lord, and I will certainly tell Papa about it with great satisfaction when we meet him.”

“What I really want to know is what your father is doing at the moment,” Lord Kenington enquired.

As he spoke, he wished he had not done so, because he saw a look of anxiety come into Aisha’s eyes.

Equally he was aware that whatever the Liberal party might say in London, it was absolutely essential for Britain to know what the Russians were planning.

They were pushing forward their frontiers and Lord Kenington was told that the Czar’s Empire was expanding by fifty-five square miles a day.

He found it hard to believe, but the British in India were indeed becoming more and more apprehensive, and to discover whether this Russian expansion was true was the reason the Prime Minister had sent him.

When he retired to bed last night, Lord Kenington had thought again that, considering who her father was, finding Aisha was one of the luckiest things that had ever happened to him.

He had been suspicious of the stories about
The Great Game
. Were those who supplied the Viceroy with so many alarming reports to be believed?

He thought a bit cynically that the young Subalterns were aware that here was a chance to escape the monotony of Garrison life and perhaps to attain promotion and glory.

Naturally they would make the most of what they were doing and he could understand that Mr. Disraeli did not want to be shown up as being over-hysterical about the Russians.

He had been given a list of more senior Officers, experienced in
The Great Game
, who it was thought would tell him the truth rather than make, as the Prime Minister was afraid, a melodrama out of the whole scenario.

“It will not be easy for you to find out the truth,” he had said to Lord Kenington. “But you have never failed me in the past, and I cannot believe you will fail me now. The Liberals, as you well know, are determined that the whole thing is exaggerated and just a bogeyman to frighten us with. But from many other sources I cannot help feeling that the situation is very serious.”

“I will do my best,” Lord Kenington vowed.

The Prime Minister smiled.

“You always do, Charles, and that is exactly why I am sending you on what may prove to be a wild goose chase. But I would rather have your opinion than anyone else’s.”

He had not been particularly overwhelmed by the Prime Minister’s complimentary remarks. He had heard them before and he knew that Disraeli always preferred to coax those who worked for him rather than order them.

He was aware that the Prime Minister was feeling somewhat embarrassed at taking him away from London at the height of the Season, as he knew that he was always in demand at all the best and most amusing parties.

He was a frequent guest at Marlborough House as well and when Lord Kenington told the Prince of Wales where he was going, he had not added the reason for his journey.

The Prince had, however, been instantly aware of it.

“Of course you are going to find out,” His Royal Highness said, “how strong Russia is and if we need more troops in India.”

Lord Kenington was not in the least surprised that he had correctly guessed why he was being sent.

Although his mother excluded him from anything to do with the Affairs of State, the Prince of Wales took the keenest interest in everything to do with the Empire.

The Affairs of State in their red boxes were locked against him, but he knew much more than Queen Victoria supposed.

Lord Kenington was extremely sorry for the Prince and thought that he was very badly treated.