By Eastern windows (13 page)

She drew in a harsh breath. ‘But, Lachlan, he
said
– ‘

‘A whole blather of things, I'm sure, but there is no need to tell all the servants.’

Jane turned her head to see a number of the servants had gathered in a small group at the end of the veranda and were exchanging animated whispers.

‘But, Lachlan – ‘
 

‘Not now, not yet,’ he commanded softly, and then called down the veranda to the House Steward who was the ringleader of the whisperers. ‘Bappoo!’

‘
Huzoor?
’

Bappoo came running, a big man with a permanent smile on his face, adjusting his loose turban before giving a salaam.

‘Yes, Huzoor?’ Bappoo said cheerfully.

Lachlan emitted a weary sigh, about to tell Bappoo
once again
that there was no need to call him Huzoor –
Your Honour
– but Bappoo was a law unto himself.

‘Bring us tea.’

‘Oh, yes, Huzoor! I bring tea in two months.’

Lachlan nodded, knowing Bappoo's English often confused minutes with months and a great deal else. ‘As quickly as you can.’

*

‘You see, the family's obsession with fortune-hunters, and their dislike of all soldiers, is all due to my sister Rachel,’ Jane explained later. ‘Rachel married a most handsome Englishman, a charming young lieutenant who had been stationed in Antigua with his regiment, and was about to return to England. His credentials were of the highest order. He came from a respectable family of wealth and rank. And away Rachel sailed with him, having brought to the marriage a very substantial dowry.’

‘I think I can guess the rest,’ Lachlan said tiredly.

‘Well nobody else guessed. No one had the slightest suspicion that Woodward was not from a good family by any means. Papa was appalled when he discovered that Rachel had not married prosperously after all.’

‘Ah,’ Lachlan said, ‘is this the infamous
Woodward
whose name is forbidden to be breathed, and the reason why Maria always changed the subject whenever your sister Rachel was mentioned?’

Jane nodded. ‘Woodward sold his commission in the Army as soon as he returned to England. Then he lived the life of a lord on the marriage dowry and did away with the money in the space of a year on wine, women and gambling. According to James, it was rumoured that Woodward often lay a thousand pounds on the turn of one card. He lost in the end, of course, lost all the money. Poor Rachel was reduced to poverty, but when Papa died he left her not one penny in case her scoundrel of a spouse got his hands on it.’

At last, Lachlan was beginning to understand. ‘And James Morley and your brother in Antigua are convinced that I am another Woodward? Is that it?’

‘That's it,’ she replied honestly. ‘James is convinced of it.’

‘Damn James,’ he said angrily.

*

Bappoo's face beamed like the sun when, a week later, he was told that he would not be dismissed with most of the other servants, but would accompany the Sahib and his wife to their new house.

‘You will have to do a lot more work than you do now,’ Lachlan told him bluntly.

‘Good, good, excellent.’ Bappoo looked very pleased with himself.

Lachlan studied Bappoo's smug face, knowing that Bappoo always managed to get out of doing any task he considered not to be in his unwritten contract of employment. But he liked Bappoo, if only for his pleasing manner and unwavering good humour – a precious necessity in the frugal days ahead.

‘You must be willing to do whatever task is required of you, Bappoo. Even if it is outside the role for which you were originally engaged as House Steward. It will no longer be acceptable for you to refuse to lift even a water-jar from the garden because you are the "House" steward, or because of your often-repeated excuse that you are "no strong and have bad back."’

He looked wryly at the huge brown man who appeared as strong as a Moor barbarian, dressed in voluminous white muslin pantaloons, embroidered waistcoat, and white turban.

‘You must be willing and able to do all things asked of you, Bappoo. Are you agreeable to that?’

‘Oh yes, Huzoor, yes, yes, by Jove! Your unworthy servant agree to be father and mother, son and daughter, sun and moon, cloud and rain, and all things pukka desired by the Captain-sahib and his lady Mem.’

‘If you just carry out your normal day-to-day duties, that will be enough.’

‘For the Captain-sahib and his Memsahib,’ Bappoo spread his hands expansively, ‘Bappoo also agrees to do enough. Yes,
enough!
’ And still smiling happily, Bappoo raised his fist and shouted the words that all Englishmen seemed to shout when they agreed with something. ‘
Hear! Hear!
’

*

By the end of the week the Macquaries had removed to their new house, which was smaller, and half the rent of their bridal home. They brought with them only a handful of essential servants including Bappoo and Jane's eleven-year old little Indian maid, Marianne.

Without even a pause for reflection, Jane had accepted her reduced circumstances without a word of complaint, declaring proudly that no amount of money could compensate for character, and as her brother in Antigua and her brother-in-law in Bombay had obviously become a pair of
ill-natured
characters, she would have no further contact with either of them.

She would also show them, she declared, that the Macquaries could manage very well without that
beastly
money which had caused so much trouble. And then, like a pioneering Englishwoman, rather than a pampered white child from Antigua, she set about arranging her new establishment on the system of English modesty instead of Eastern luxury. She took charge of all household expenses and viewed all prices with a careful eye.

She discovered that an entire lamb cost three rupees, whereas five rupees bought only a mound of cheese. She had never realised that cheese was a luxury, but it was, so cheese would have to go!

Madeira – two rupees a bottle – but English claret demanded sixty-five rupees a dozen. Now there was a saving! Her pen dashed claret from the list with all the nonchalance of a fan wiping away a fly.

‘Madeira will grace our dining-table well enough,’ she said to Lachlan, who could not help admiring her efforts at ruthless economy, bearing in mind that her life hitherto had been rich and plenty.

But Jane showed no signs of missing her former luxuries, and instead of the usual ornate carriage behind a prancing team of four, she seemed quite happy to travel in and around Bombay in a modest gig, behind a solitary old white horse which, she insisted, possessed the ‘
sweetest
’ nature, and was much better than any other horse she had known.

*

Meanwhile, James Morley, still ranting biliously about a certain staff officer, decided to quit Bombay for a time and follow his wife to England where he could ensure that she spent not one penny of
his
money on English purchases for her sister Jane. Oh yes, he knew all about the number of ‘small items’ that Jane had asked Maria to purchase for her in London.

Jane was beset with worry when she heard of James's departure to England.
 
‘He will give Maria the most distorted account of it all,’ she said anxiously to Lachlan over dinner. ‘And even though I have written to Maria and explained everything in great detail, when James arrives with his version of events, I'm sure Maria will not know who or what to believe.’

She snatched up an orange and began peeling it with shaking hands. ‘And then there's my other two sisters in England ... I wrote telling them all about my gallant officer and what a wonderful husband you are, but I fear James will convince them that you are merely another ne'er-do-well.’

Her hands went still over the orange. ‘Oh, Lachlan ... James seems to detest you so much, I think it quite probable he will spend his first weeks in England doing nothing else but complaining about you.’

Lachlan shrugged, unconcerned. ‘I shouldn't worry,’ he advised her wryly. ‘From what I have observed of dear James, I think it quite probable that he will fret himself to death before he even reaches England.’

SIX

The silver and china adorned with the
Macquarie Arms
arrived from England.

Jane's delight was so great, Lachlan knew it would be cruel to suggest sending them back.
 
But he did, just the same.

‘We can't, Lachlan. Oh we
can't
send them back!’ Jane moved a finger lovingly over the engraving of the Macquarie Arms. ‘They can't be re-sellable, can they? Not with the Macquarie Arms on every piece.’

That was a very valid point.

She stood clutching a silver salver to her breast, staring at him, her eyes stilled in a desperate plea. Suddenly he knew he had no choice, no choice at all. No matter how much his heart quailed at the prospect, he would have to go to his bankers and take out a loan at the current astronomical rate of twelve per cent interest.

‘Can we keep it, Lachlan?
Please
! Can't you find a way of paying for them, somehow?’

‘For you, my sweet Jane,’ he said in all truth, ‘I would do
almost
anything.’

*

‘Four thousand rupees!’

 
Jane stared at the banker's draft that had just been handed to her by John Forbes. Slowly she turned and handed the bank draft to Lachlan.

‘But why?’ Jane said in amazement, turning back to John Forbes, ‘why should the old brigadier leave anything to me?’

John Forbes smiled.`Because he had a sincere affection for you, Jane. It seems you were very gracious and kind to him once, at a party. And that is why he left you this gift in his Will.’

Left her a hundred rupees at the most, Lachlan thought, studying the draft in his hand, not four thousand – the
exact
amount they needed immediately, and the
exact
amount he had applied to borrow from his bankers only yesterday.

But now it had arrived as a gift.

Lachlan looked at his banker and saw that John Forbes was avoiding his eyes.

‘You will stay to dinner, John?’ Jane asked.

‘No, Jane dear, thank you, but my nephew Charles has arrived from England and will be expecting me to dine with him. And anyway,’ Forbes added with a small laugh, ‘since your wedding I have dined so often at the Macquaries' table I think you both must be well and truly sick of me by now.’

‘Never in a lifetime, John!’ Jane declared honestly. ‘Come tomorrow evening? Bring Charles with you.’

‘Very well, we'd be delighted.’ John Forbes glanced at Lachlan who was still looking down at the draft.
 
‘Now, if you will forgive me, I really must be off.’

Lachlan laid down the draft and turned to perform the courtesy of seeing him out. He walked with John Forbes down the veranda and onto the drive where his palanquin and bearers waited for him.

‘A generous man, the brigadier,’ Lachlan murmured.

‘Yes, a dear old thing,’ Forbes agreed. `But then, you know, yourself and Jane have many friends in Bombay, Lachlan, many friends.’

That was the problem. They had too many friends in Bombay.

‘It's strange, just the same,’ Lachlan said softly, ‘that the amount of his bequest should be the same as I applied to borrow.’

‘Is it?’ Forbes's eyes looked vague for a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose it is, now you mention it. Strange that.’ He looked round sharply. ‘Does this mean you will no longer need to borrow the money?’

Flinching inwardly, Lachlan answered through dry lips. ‘No, I don't suppose I will.’

‘No? Are we to be deprived of the interest? Oh dear!’ John Forbes shook his head as he climbed into his palanquin. ‘Still, I suppose the old brigadier was only doing his best without any desire to put us out of business.’
 

When his bearer had closed the door, John Forbes extended his hand through the window. Lachlan reached to clasp it in farewell. ‘Goodbye, my friend,’ Forbes said lightly. ‘See you tomorrow evening, all being well.

Lachlan nodded. ‘All being well.’

He stood with a set face and watched the palanquin carried out of sight. Would he ever know the truth of it? But if the money had come from John Forbes's own pocket and not the brigadier's account, then one could only admire John's clever and delicate way of doing it – a personal gift to Jane, left to her in a Will by a dead officer whose estate the bank had been settling.

Bunkum!

Not for one minute did he believe the four thousand rupees had come from the brigadier's estate.

Lachlan turned back to the house, riven by a humiliation that John Forbes had done his utmost to avoid.

*

The money paid for the silver and plate, but what was left did little to help Lachlan honour his debts. He began to yearn an escape from this life of Eastern luxury. And yet,
 
in comparison to the rest of Bombay society, he and Jane were living a life of Scottish frugality.