101. A Call of Love (9 page)

“I have a secret to tell you,” he said, “and I am sure you will keep it until we arrive in India.”

“What is it?” the Countess asked with interest.

“I have with me and you have just met her, a very pretty girl who actually is engaged to my cousin Jack.”

“Engaged!” the Countess exclaimed.

“It’s being kept a complete secret until they can be together and actually she has not even told her father who she is meeting in Calcutta.”

“Oh, I do understand now,” the Countess said in a different tone of voice. “I wondered why such a pretty young girl was with you, Charles.”

“I promised to take her out to India and we were to have a relative of hers with us, but she was taken ill at the last moment. I really don’t want you to say anything or to congratulate her until her father learns of the engagement when he meets us at Calcutta.”

“Of course we will keep it a secret,” the Earl said. “I think Jack has done very well and he could not have a prettier wife. Where is he, by the way?”

“When I last heard from him, his ship was making its way slowly from Africa to India and he expects to be in Calcutta when we arrive or just after. When, of course, the balloon will go up,” Lord Kenington said with satisfaction.

They laughed, but he knew that the Countess would not now suspect him of travelling in a most unconventional way, which she would doubtless have done otherwise.

When Aisha joined them, they were very charming to her, but made no reference to her being engaged.

Only when the men went for a walk on deck after dinner and Aisha was alone with the Countess did she ask,

“Have you known Lord Kenington for long?”

Aisha shook her head.

“No, but my family knows his family.”

“Oh, I understand. So this is the first time you have been alone with Lord Kenington.”

Aisha thought it was a good policy to agree to this and she nodded her head.

“Tell me what you make of him.” “I think he is very clever and most interesting.” “That is what I have always thought as well and, of course, very handsome,” the Countess added.

She looked at her in a sideways manner as she said the last word and then Aisha parried,

“So are all the family. My father has often said that they are the best-looking family he has ever known.”

She was making this up, but she knew the Countess was impressed.

Then they talked about clothes and the Countess had a great deal to say about the French couturiers being so much better than the English.

When the men joined them, Lord Kenington said,

“I have no intention of staying up late and actually I have a great deal of work to do while I am on board. So you must forgive me if I retire early.”

“And I must do so too,” Aisha added, “not because I have work to do, but because I want to finish the books I am reading on India.”

“That is very wise of you,” the Countess said. “I always read about the place I am going to visit so that I can be intelligent with the locals when I arrive.”

“I hope not to make too many mistakes in India.” “You are not thinking of living in India, are you?” the Earl asked Aisha.

“No, of course not. I want to live in England, which I love and have good horses to ride.”

This started a conversation on Lord Kenington’s horses and Aisha realised she must keep out of it in case she made a wrong remark.

They then retired having said goodnight.

The Earl and the Countess fortunately had cabins on the other side of the ship.

“I think you came through that ordeal with flying colours,” Lord Kenington confided to Aisha.

“I do hope so. The Countess was inquisitive about when we had met, but I said that my family knew yours and she was satisfied with that.”

Lord Kenington laughed.

“I assure you she is one of the most gossipy women in England, but I believe that we have prevented her from thinking what she was longing to think about you and me.”

“Why should she want to make trouble?” “I just don’t think that such women really intend to make trouble, but they like to be know-alls and would always suspect other women of doing more outrageous things than they would venture to do themselves.”

Aisha grinned.

“I don’t believe a word of that. I suggest that if, after I leave you in Calcutta, you meet them perhaps later on in the year, you should say that after all my engagement to Jack is broken off.”

“I hope I don’t have to lie unnecessarily. I have had to protect you from Watkins and now from the Dartwoods. I wonder what the third crisis will be.”

Aisha gave a cry.

“Oh, don’t think anything quite so horrible! I was so terrified when you first saved me and rather frightened tonight that I would make a mistake. I think if we pray fervently that we will be safe, and that is the right word for it, for as long as we are in India.”

“Of course we will,” he agreed. “But you must still remember that I am looking forward to meeting your father and I would only hope that he does not involve me in one of his adventurous but frightening missions.”

“I will not allow Papa to do anything frightening when I am there,” Aisha replied. “I only hope he will soon retire and come back to England.”

“A great number of people would protest about that,” Lord Kenington said. “The Prime Minister spoke of him in glowing terms and I gather he is so valuable at the moment that you will have the whole British Army against you if you try to take him away.”

Aisha laughed and they had been standing outside their cabins as they talked.

“I expect you are wanting, my Lord, to get to work or enjoy yourself with one of those delightful books you brought with you. So I must not delay you any further or, of course, damage your reputation!”

“I thought it was
your
reputation we were worrying about, Aisha,”

“I am of no real importance. It is quite obvious it is you they will talk about, not me.”

Lord Kenington did not argue. He merely smiled at her before he said,

“Goodnight, Aisha, and tomorrow I suggest that we start the morning with a game of tennis. I intend to beat you hollow.”

“I suppose you can try, but as luck is with me at the moment or rather it is you have made me lucky, I may easily win.”

“I promise you it will not be easy,” Lord Kenington said, as he opened his cabin door.

His valet had left everything ready for him and, having undressed, he sat in a comfortable chair and picked up the book he was reading.

But he found himself thinking about Aisha and how clever she was and how amusing their talks had been.

Tonight at dinner he felt that he had heard from the Dartwoods the same old stories about the same people over and over again – every one of them had been either cynical or damaging to the people concerned.

And it made him wonder why gossip, especially by women, was seldom pleasant or complimentary.

The gossips made it seem as if the Social world was concentrated entirely round themselves and seldom looked further than the end of their noses.

In the next cabin Aisha thought the arrival of Lord Kenington’s friends had not been as depressing as she had feared it would be.

At the same time she deeply regretted they were not still together, when they could talk on subjects that really interested her rather than just about other people.

‘The people I admire,’ she thought to herself, ‘have either been dead for years or are explorers and adventurers. One knows so little about them and I long to know more.’

She thought that there was a question here that she might ask Lord Kenington the next time they were alone.

The difficulty was when this would happen.

*

It was in fact very difficult for them to talk together during the rest of the voyage as they steamed towards the Suez Canal and then down the Red Sea and across to India.

At night Aisha would think out questions that she longed to ask Lord Kenington and to which she was quite certain he would give her an answer.

But unless they were actually playing deck tennis, the Countess always seemed to be hovering around them, monopolising Lord Kenington and making it clear that he must talk to her.

And the result was that Aisha had to keep silent or disappear.

It was only their tennis and that Lord Kenington insisted on walking round the deck in the morning, when Aisha could accompany him, that made it possible for them ever to be alone together.

The Earl and Countess sat with them at every meal and, whenever they found a quiet secluded place on deck, the Countess invariably appeared after they had been there only a few minutes.

It was when they were within sight of Calcutta that Aisha said a little wistfully to Lord Kenington,

“I do hope we will meet again. There are so many questions I want to ask you, but since Naples I have never had the chance.”

“And I should have enjoyed answering them,” Lord Kenington replied. “But of course we will meet again. When I meet your father, I will ask him if he will come and see me tomorrow and, of course, you must come too.”

Aisha smiled.

“I would enjoy that. But it will not be the same as being able to talk as we did on the first part of the journey on every possible subject.”

“We certainly covered the world,” he laughed, “but I think there is still a great deal more for us to find out or is it perhaps hidden away in Heaven?”

“Then we must still find it and dissect it between us!” Aisha replied.

“I will tell you what we will do – ” he said.

At that moment an all too familiar voice piped up,

“Oh, here you are, Charles. I wondered where you could be. I have been looking for you everywhere.”

“We were just saying that, with Calcutta in sight, it will not be long now before we will all be saying goodbye to each other,” Lord Kenington replied.

“I hope that’s not true,” the Countess said. “You will be going on to Simla to see the Viceroy and so will we after we have visited the Colonel.”

“Oh, that is splendid news.” There was nothing else he could say.

*

It was afternoon and the sun was very hot when the Liner sailed into Port at Calcutta.

Aisha had already been on deck for half-an-hour, waiting eagerly for the first sight of her father.

When Lord Kenington joined her, he said,

“You must not forget that I am almost as eager to see your father as you are.”

“But for very different reasons, my Lord. I am sure that he will be here waiting for me and he will tell you where we are staying.”

“I expect it will be at Government House, unless your father is at Regimental Headquarters.”

“We will soon find out the answer.” She was looking very pretty, wearing a thin cotton dress because it was so hot. Also a shady hat trimmed with flowers.

Lord Kenington suddenly thought that if she was to meet the Officers of her father’s Regiment, as undoubtedly she would, he would have even less chance of being alone with her as they had been on board.

They waited for the ship to come slowly alongside.

Lord Kenington was immediately aware that Aisha suddenly stepped nearer to him.

He could see that Arthur Watkins was only a little way from her.

When he saw Aisha share a table with the Earl and Countess of Dartwood, Watkins had been astute enough to realise that he had made a mistake about her.

He knew enough of the Social world to be aware that, if she was the type of woman he had thought her to be, the Earl and Countess would not for one moment have sat down at the same table beside her.

In other words she was a lady and, although she was travelling alone, she was not what he had assumed. Nor would she behave in anything but a ladylike way.

‘I have made a fool of myself,’ Arthur Watkins told himself, as he deliberately walked away from Aisha. She gave a sigh of relief.

“Forget him,” Lord Kenington said. “It’s something that happens to pretty girls all over the world and you should never think about it again.”

“Now you are reading my thoughts, as I told you to do. Incidentally it’s an experience I will not forget easily.”

“Of course you will. When you are engrossed with India and only India, and perhaps with the charming young gentlemen who will be praising you to the skies from the moment you appear.”

“I only hope that’s true, but I think it’s unlikely. Now at last we ought to see Papa.”

She leant over the railing as she was speaking and Lord Kenington stood beside her.

He wondered what her father would look like. He expected him perhaps to be in uniform, which would make it easier to identify him.

Although there was a throng of people waiting on the quay, Aisha did not point anyone out.

In fact, when at last they went down the gangway, there was a carriage waiting for the Earl and Countess, which had been ordered in advance, but there was still no sign of Major Warde.

“I cannot think where he can be,” Aisha sighed.

“Of course you let him know that you were sailing on this ship?” Lord Kenington enquired.

“Of course I did and I received a reply from him, saying that he would meet me on arrival. But here I am and there is no sign of him.”

They stood to one side so as not to be pushed about by the crowd disembarking from the lower decks.

There were a large number of Indians among them and the colourful saris of the women looked very pretty in the sunshine.

Finally, when it seemed as if the ship must be now completely empty, Lord Kenington proposed,

“Well, as your father has not turned up, I suggest that you come with me to Government House, where I am going anyway and we will find out if they have any news of him.”

He knew by the expression in Aisha’s eyes that she was worried that he might be in danger.

Then he said quickly,

“Don’t get upset. He may have been held up in a dozen different ways and you should know that the time of day in India varies from person to person, in fact an Indian is invariably too late or too early.”

“That does not sound at all like my father – ” Their luggage, however, was piled onto a carriage and Lord Kenington, who had not asked to be met, told the coachman to drive directly to Government House.