101. A Call of Love (7 page)

“I hope, Your Royal Highness,” he had said, “to get a chance of speaking to some of the senior men in
The Great Game
. They will be able to tell me the truth and will not be over-awed by the Russian advance.”

“They have indeed advanced at an amazing speed,” the Prince of Wales had commented. “At the same time, surely after expanding so far from home, they would not be able to take over India that easily.”

“I feel just the same, Your Royal Highness,” Lord Kenington replied. “But, as we know, a great number of people believe only what they want to believe and can then ignore danger until it is too late.”

“Of course you are absolutely right,” the Prince had said. “I can understand, Charles, that you are looking for the truth and no one could be better than you at finding it.”

“Thank you, Sire,” Lord Kenington had beamed.

There was a pause, then the Prince of Wales asked,

“I hope you will tell me when you return what you have discovered.”

Lord Kenington thought it pathetic that, although he was the heir to the throne, he was not allowed to know any of the inner secrets of the British Cabinet nor would his mother allow him to play any part in her dealings with other nations.

“When I return you will be told exactly what I find, Your Royal Highness,” Lord Kenington promised.

He saw by the expression on the Prince of Wales’s face how concerned he genuinely was and how much such information meant to him.

Lord Kenington was aware that, if it was known he was passing information to the Prince of Wales, he would be severely reprimanded – not by the Prime Minister, who would understand, but by Her Majesty the Queen.

Lord Kenington had realised, when he first had his instructions from the Prime Minister that it would be very difficult to find out exactly what they wanted to know.

He was quite certain that those in
The Great Game
kept themselves very much to themselves and they made it their policy never to talk freely to anyone who like himself was not directly taking part in the defence of India.

Yet, by what almost seemed a miracle, he was now able to get in touch with one of the men who was on the secret list Disraeli had given him.

The Prime Minister had told him,

“I have put down the names of half-a-dozen men who we know are reliable and who have been in India for a long time. You may find others, but you can be quite sure that they will all keep from you as much inside information as possible.

“Why should they do that?” he had enquired.

“For the simple reason, Charles, that people talk, and talk too much,” the Prime Minister had replied. “One fool returning from India had talked about his experiences, and, of course, the subject of
The Great Game
had come into the conversation. And because he had drunk freely at the party at which he was a guest, the man mentioned the name of one member he had been in contact with and two months later the man in question disappeared.”

“You mean he was murdered?” The Prime Minister had spread out his hands.

“No one knows what happened, he just vanished. But his murder, if that is what it was, is a warning not to confide in other people who, after they have visited India, are tempted to speak too freely of all that they have heard and what has taken place while they were there.”

Lord Kenington understood what he was saying and vowed to himself that he would never endanger any man’s life in such a careless way.

He had also wondered, if he was fortunate enough to discover the whereabouts of the men on the special list and make contact with them, whether they would trust him.

There must have been far too much said already and, as he had found in the Diplomatic Service, there were spies everywhere.

Sometimes those who cared so much for their own country were prepared to die for it, but there were those who merely found it an easy way of making money.

Whatever experiences he had had in the past, this he recognised would be the most interesting, intriguing and perhaps the most dangerous mission he had been given by the Prime Minister.

Having made contact by amazing good luck with Major Warde’s daughter, he had no intention of involving her in his investigations.

They had therefore talked about a great number of other subjects, especially the countries Lord Kenington had visited which Aisha had only read about in books.

“Have you really been to Tibet?” she asked. “It is somewhere I would love to go.”

“Their Monasteries, if one can get into them, are fascinating,” Lord Keningon replied. “But the land over which we travelled was rough and uncultivated.”

He paused as if he was thinking back.

“The Tibetans were not particularly friendly,” he went on, “they were dirty and in many cases disagreeable.”

“Nevertheless,” Aisha said, “their faith gives them a special place in the world. I am sure, because you have been to their Monasteries, that you have learnt more about Heaven and Hell than anyone else.”

Lord Kenington smiled.

“It’s not quite as simple as that, but I admit I was amazed by their faith and by their extraordinary ability to foresee what is going to happen long before it does.”

“How do they do that?” Aisha asked.

“I suppose we have all had a chance of doing the same, just as the Egyptians have their
Third Eye
, we too can get nearer to what is really fundamental than we do at present.”

“Do you believe in prayer, my Lord?” “Of course I do. At the same time our relationship with the
World beyond the World
is so often forgotten because we think only of ourselves and that prevents us from grasping the whole amazing wonder of it.”

Aisha clapped her hands together.

“You are saying exactly what I have always wanted to hear, but I have had no one to talk to about it and the books I have read never explain it clearly.”

“I know what you are saying, Aisha. I think really everyone has to find out for himself why he is born and where he is going.”

He realised that this was a subject that had never arisen before between himself and a woman.

When he was in Tibet, he had talked to the Dalai Lama and the Lamas of the great Monasteries he visited.

While they devoted their lives to their religion, he came away feeling that it was a cause every man himself had to fight for and it could not, as he put it, be ‘passed over the counter’ to anyone who asked for it. He found to his surprise that Aisha was exceedingly interested in what the Chinese call the
World beyond the World
.

She had read many books that he had read himself and quite a number he had not even heard about.

He had never known, although he had met a lot of women who were religious, a woman who was interested intellectually in the little that was known of the afterlife.

They talked and even argued with each other as the ship moved across the Mediterranean towards Italy.

“Do we stop at Rome?” Aisha asked him.

“I am afraid not, although I would have liked to show you Saint Peter’s. Our next port of call is Naples and then it is full steam ahead to the Suez Canal.”

“I am longing to see it again,” Aisha said. “But I always feel as if one is sailing on sand and if you see a ship approaching from far away, that is exactly what it looks like because the level of water in the Canal is lower than the land it passes through.”

Lord Kenington remembered that when in the past he had reached Suez he had always thought thank goodness half his journey was over and it would not be long before he reached his destination.

But it so interested him to hear what Aisha thought about her travels and he found that practically everything she said was original and different.

He learnt that she was impressed and influenced by the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

And she was eager to find out more about those living in the East, who believed so sincerely in the
Wheel of Rebirth
.

“Do you really think that when we all die we come back again in another body?” Aisha asked him.

“As nearly three quarters of the world believes it, it must I feel be a reasonable explanation of why we should strive and struggle to develop our minds. Surely it would be a waste if, when we die, there was nothing more for them than to be buried with us.”

Aisha responded quickly,

“Oh, I am sure you are right, it is what I always thought myself. It seems such a sad waste and I am quite prepared to believe that someone as clever as my Papa has lived before. In fact I am sure of it.”

“What about yourself?” he asked her.

“I am not certain who I was or what I did, but there are moments when I know what is going to happen next just as though I had seen it all in another life.”

She spoke in a dreamy way and then she said,

“I am not making myself very clear, but I hope you understand, my Lord.”

“Of course I do, Aisha, and I am sure that you must have been someone very bright in your last incarnation, perhaps even a man.”

Aisha laughed.

“Now you are being really complimentary and you know as well as I do that no one would expect a woman, who we usually think of as being very silly, to be as clever as you are, even in another life!”

“I have not for a moment doubted your ability to argue with me and even quite often to be right,” he replied.

“Now you are conceding quite a lot for the sake of argument, but in your heart of hearts you think you are superior to every woman you have ever met and which of course you are.”

“Thank you, ma’am, that is very generous of you.”

“It’s the truth, you know it’s the truth,” Aisha said. “Men are cleverer than women, so that they can organise the world, while women remain at home and look after the children and make their husbands, when they do return, as happy and as comfortable as possible.”

“There I agree with every word!” he exclaimed.

“Of course you do,” Aisha said laughing, “and that is why we, as women, must always take second place in a world ruled by men.”

“What would you want to be if you were not a woman?” Lord Kenington enquired.

“I am not going to answer that question for the simple reason that you want me to say I would like to be a man. Then you would add that I would make a very bad one! I think rather that you should learn to read other people’s thoughts, which is something you should have done when you were in Tibet.”

“I realise the monks can do it if they wish, but I never thought of trying to do it myself.”

“Yet you live in a political world,” Aisha argued, “and it would be most advantageous if you knew what your opponents were thinking and what they were planning.”

“I would have thought it was impossible for anyone to know that,” Lord Kenington replied.

“I think we can do it if we practise.” When he did not answer, she went on,

“Shut your eyes and think of something and I will try to tell you what you are thinking. Please don’t make it too difficult, as I am only an amateur.”

Lord Kenington thought she was talking nonsense, but it was different from anything he had ever done before.

He therefore shut his eyes and concentrated on the horse with which he was hoping to win the Grand National next year.

There was silence and then Aisha said slowly,

“You will win the race, but not next year, perhaps the year after.”

Lord Kenington opened his eyes.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“You were thinking about your horses and racing a particular one, but I could not get his name. He will come in second or third next year in the big race and first another time.”

Lord Kenington stared at her.

“Did you really know I was thinking about that?” he asked. “It’s the most extraordinary thing I have ever known!”

“Books have told me that thought reading comes quite easily to those who devote their lives to prayer and worship,” Aisha answered. “I have tried it with Papa and, now, when he is away for so long, I feel somehow that I can communicate with him, even though he is not always very aware of it.”

“I have never heard anything so extraordinary. It’s certainly something I would like to try myself.”

“Well you must practise. It’s really a question of close concentration and forcing every instinct in you into elucidating from the other person what is in their mind.”

Lord Kenington laughed.

“I don’t believe all this,” he sighed. “How could I have come on a perfectly ordinary voyage to India and then found a young and beautiful woman who would teach me about the afterlife and other issues I have never known or even thought about myself?”

“It is something I have never talked about except with Papa,” Aisha replied. “For the simple reason that I knew ordinary people would not understand and certainly would not be interested.”

“And you thought I would be?” “It seemed to come naturally into our conversation after we had talked about Tibet. It then struck me that it might be useful in what you are trying to find out when you reach India.”

“I am hoping your father will help me with that.” “Papa is not the only person involved. You will find, if you can thought read, a great number of people know more about what you are seeking than you give them credit for.”

“Now I am really frightened,” Lord Kenington said. “While I will undoubtedly try to follow you myself, I will be extremely annoyed if anyone else reads my thoughts.”

“Well, be very careful. Remember it’s possible for many to do so, especially in the East.” When he went to bed that night, Lord Kenington thought he had never before had quite such an interesting time with a woman he was not actually making love to.

He had, because such issues had always interested him, been particularly intrigued in the way Aisha had read his thoughts and he was determined he would try to do it himself.

It would indeed be very useful in his political work, especially when he was confronted, as he was now, with a special mission from the Prime Minister.

At dinner they had talked of many different issues and Aisha had persuaded him to tell her about some of the strangest people he had met on his travels and these ranged from devil-dancers to the Geisha girls in Japan.