The Wizard of London (8 page)

“Mem’sab
asked us’t‘ help her with somethin’—there’s this
lady as is a meedeeyum that she thinks is gammonin’ her friend.
We—that’s Sarah an’ Grey an’ me—we says
a’course, but—” Here Nan stopped, because she wasn’t entirely
certain how to tell an adult that she thought another adult didn’t know what
she was getting herself into. “I just got a bad feelin’,” she
ended lamely.

But
Karamjit did not belittle her concerns, nor did he chide her. Instead, his eyes
grew even darker, and he nodded. “Come inside, where it is warm,”
he said. “I wish you to tell me more.”

He
sat her down at the kitchen table, and gravely and respectfully asked Maya to
serve them both tea. He took his with neither sugar nor cream, but saw to it
that Nan’s was heavily sweetened and at least half milk.
“Now,” he said, after she had warmed herself with the first sip,
“Tell me all.”

Nan
related everything that had happened from the time he came to take both of them
to the parlor to when she had left Sarah to find him. He nodded from time to
time, as he drank tea and unwound himself from his mufflers and coat.

“I
believe this,” he said when she had finished. “I believe that
Mem’sab is a wise, good, and brave woman. I also believe that she does
not think that helping her friend will mean any real danger. But the wise, the
good, and the brave often do not think as the mean, the bad, and the cowardly
do—the jackals that feed on the pain of others will turn to devour those
who threaten their meal. And a man can die from the bite of a jackal as easily
as that of a tiger.”

“So
you think my bad feelin’ was right?” Nan’s relief was total;
not that she didn’t trust Mem’sab, but—Mem’sab
didn’t know the kind of creatures that Nan did.

“Indeed,
I do—but I believe that it would do no good to try to persuade
Mem’sab that she should not try to help her friend.” Karamjit
smiled slightly, the barest lifting of the corners of his mouth.
“Nevertheless, Sahib will know how best to protect her without insulting
her great courage.” He placed one of his long, brown hands on Nan’s
shoulder. “You may leave it in our hands, Missy Nan—though we may
ask a thing or two of you, that we can do our duty with no harm to
Mem’sab’s own plans. For now, though, you may simply rely upon
us.”

“Thankee,
Karamjit,” Nan sighed. He patted her shoulder, then unfolded his long
legs and rose from his chair with a slight bow to Maya. Then he left the
kitchen, allowing Nan to finish her tea and run back up to the nursery, to give
Sarah and Grey the welcome news that they would not be the only ones concerned
with the protection of Mem’sab from the consequences of her own generous
nature.

***

Sahib
took both Nan and Sarah aside just before bedtime, after Karamjit, Agansing,
and Selim had been closeted with him for half an hour. “Can I ask you two
to come to my study with me for a bit?” he asked quietly. He was often
thought to be older than Mem’sab, by those who were deceived by the
streaks of gray at each temple, the stiff way that he walked, and the odd
expression in his eyes, which seemed to Nan to be the eyes of a man who had seen
so much that nothing surprised him anymore. Nan had trusted him the moment that
she set eyes on him, although she couldn’t have said why.

“So
long as Nadra don’t fuss,” Nan replied for both of them. Sahib
smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“I
have already made it right with Nadra,” he promised. “Karamjit,
Selim, Agansing, and Mem’sab are waiting for us.”

Nan
felt better immediately, for she really hadn’t wanted to go sneaking
around behind Mem’sab’s back. From the look that Sarah gave her,
Nan reckoned that she felt the same.

“Thank
you, sir,” Sarah said politely. “We will do just as you say.”

Very
few of the children had ever been inside the sacred precincts of Sahib’s
office; the first thing that struck Nan was that it did not smell of tobacco,
but of sandalwood and cinnamon. That surprised her; most of the men she knew
smoked although their womenfolk disapproved of the habit, but evidently Sahib
did not, not even in his own private space.

There
was a tiger skin on the carpet in front of the fire, the glass eyes in its head
glinting cruelly in a manner unnerving and lifelike. Nan shuddered, and thought
of Shere Khan, with his taste for man cub. Had this been another terrible
killer of the jungle? Did tigers leave vengeful ghosts?

Heavy,
dark drapes of some indeterminate color shut out the cold night. Hanging on the
walls, which had been papered with faded gold arabesques upon a ground of light
brown, was a jumble of mementos from Sahib’s life in India: crossed
spears, curious daggers and swords, embroidered tapestries of strange
characters twined with exotic flowers and birds, carved plaques of some heavy,
dark wood inlaid with brass, bizarre masks that resembled nothing less than
brightly painted demons. On the desk and adorning the shelves between the books
were statues of half-and fully-naked gods and goddesses, more bits of carving
in wood, stone, and ivory. Book shelves built floor to ceiling held more books
than Nan had known existed. Sahib took his place behind his desk, while
Mem’sab perched boldly on the edge of it. Agansing, Selim, and Karamjit
stood beside the fire like a trio of guardian statues themselves, and Sahib
gestured to the children to take their places on the overstuffed chairs on
either side of the fireplace. Nan waited tensely, wondering if Mem’sab
was going to be angry because they went to others with their concerns. Although
it had not fallen out so here, she was far more used to being in trouble over
something she had done than in being encouraged for it, and the reflexes were
still in place.

“Karamjit
tells me that you six share some concern over my planned excursion to the
medium, Nan,” Mem’sab said, with a smile that told Nan she was not
in trouble for her meddling, as she had feared. “They went first to
Sahib, but as we never keep secrets from one another, he came to me. And I
commend all of you for your concern and caution, for after some discussion, I
was forced to agree with it.”

“And
I would like to commend both of you, Nan and Sarah, for having the wisdom to go
to an adult with your concerns,” added Sahib, with a kindly nod to both
of them that Nan had not expected in the least. “That shows great good
sense, and please, continue to do so in the future.”

“I
thought—I was afeared—” Nan began, then blurted out all that
she’d held in check. “Mem’sab is ‘bout the smartest,
goodest lady there is, but she don’t know bad people! Me, I know! I seed
‘em, an’ I figgered that they weren’t gonna lay down
an’ lose their fat mark without a fight!”

“And
very wise you were to remind us of that,” Sahib said gravely. “I
pointed out to Mem’sab that we have no way of knowing where this medium
is from, and she is just as likely to be a criminal as a lady—more so, in
fact. Just because she speaks, acts, and dresses like a lady, and seeks her
clients from among the gentry means nothing; she could easily have a crew of
thugs as her accomplices.”

“As
you say, Sahib,” Karamjit said gravely. “For, as it is said, it is
a short step from a deception to a lie, from a lie to a cheat, from a cheat to
a theft, and from a theft to a murder.”

Mem’sab
blushed. “I will admit that I was very angry with you at first, but when
my anger cooled, it was clear that your reasoning was sound. And after all, am
I some Gothic heroine to go wide-eyed into the villains’ lair, never
suspecting trouble? So, we are here to plan what we all shall do to free
Katherine of her dangerous obsession.”

“Me,
I needta know what this see-ants is gonna be like, Mem’sab,” Nan
put in, sitting on the edge of the chair tensely. “What sorta things happens?”

“Generally,
the participants are brought into a room that has a round table with chairs
circling it.” Mem’sab spoke directly to Nan as if to an adult,
which gave Nan a rather pleasant, if shivery, feeling. “The table often
has objects upon it that the spirits will supposedly move; often a bell, a
tambourine, and a megaphone are among them, though why spirits would feel the
need to play upon a tambourine when they never had that urge in life is quite
beyond me!”

She
laughed, as did Sahib; the girls giggled nervously.

“At
any rate, the participants are asked to sit down and hold hands. Often, the
medium is tied to the chair; her hands are secured to the arms, and her feet to
the legs.” Nan noticed that Mem’sab used the word
“legs” rather than the mannerly “limbs,” and thought
the better of her for that. “The lights are brought down, and the
séance begins. Most often, objects are moved, including the table, the
tambourine is played, the bell is rung, all as a sign that the spirits have
arrived. The spirits most often speak by means of raps on the table, but
Katherine tells me that the spirit of her little boy spoke directly, through
the floating megaphone. Sometimes a spirit will actually appear; in this case,
it was just a glowing face of Katherine’s son.”

Nan
thought that over for a moment. “Be simple ‘nuff’t’
tilt the chair an’ get yer legs free by slippin’ the rope down over
the chair feet,” she observed, “An’ all ye hev’t’
do is have chair arms as isn’t glued’t‘ their pegs, an’
ye got yer arms free, too. Be easy enough to make all kind uv things dance
about when ye got arms free. Be easy ‘nuff’t’ make th‘
table lift if it’s light enough, an’ rap on it, too.”

Sahib
stared at her in astonishment. “I do believe that you are the most
valuable addition to our household in a long time, young lady!” he said
with a delight that made Nan blush. “I would never have thought of any of
that.”

“I
dunno how ye’d make summat glow, though,” Nan admitted.

“Oh,
I know that,” Sarah said casually. “There’s stuff that grows in
rotten wood that makes a glow; some of the magic men use it to frighten people
at night. It grows in swamps, so it probably grows in England, too.”

Karamjit
grinned, his teeth very white in his dark face, and Selim nodded with pride.
“What is it that the Black Robe’s Book says, Sahib? Out of the
mouths of babes comes wisdom?”

Mem’sab
nodded. “I should have told you more, earlier,” she said ruefully.
“Well, that’s mended in time. Now we all know what to look
for.”

Grey
clicked her beak several times, then exclaimed, “Ouch!”

“Grey
is going to try to bite whatever comes near her,” Sarah explained.

“I
don’t want her venturing off your arm,” Mem’sab cautioned.
“I won’t chance her getting hurt.” She turned to Sahib.
“The chances are, the room we will be in will have very heavy curtains to
prevent light from entering or escaping, so if you and our warriors are
outside, you won’t know what room we are in.”

“Then
I’d like one of you girls to exercise childish curiosity and go
immediately to a window and look out,” Sahib told them. “At least
one of us will be where we can see both the front and the back of the house.
Then if there is trouble, one of you signal us and we’ll come to the
rescue.”

“Just
like the shining knights you are, all four of you,” Mem’sab said
warmly, laying her hand over the one Sahib had on the desk. “I think that
is as much of a plan as we can lay, since we really don’t know what we
will find in that house.”

“It’s
enough, I suspect,” Sahib replied. “It allows three of us to break
into the house if necessary, while one goes for the police.” He stroked
his chin thoughtfully with his free hand. “Or, better yet, I’ll
take a police whistle; that will summon help in no time.” He glanced up
at Mem’sab. “What time did you say the invitation specified?”

“Seven,”
she replied promptly. “Well after dark, although Katherine tells me that
her sessions are usually later, nearer midnight.”

“The
medium may anticipate some trouble from sleepy children,” Sahib
speculated. “But that’s just a guess.” He stood up, still
holding his wife’s hand, and she slid off her perch on the desk and
turned to face them. “Ladies, gentlemen, I think we are as prepared as we
can be for trouble. So let us get a good night’s sleep, and hope that we
will not find any.”

Then
Sahib did a surprising thing; he came around his desk, limping stiffly, and
bent over Nan and took her hand. “Perhaps only I of all of us can realize
how brave you were to confide your worry to an adult you have only just come to
trust, Nan,” he said, very softly, then grinned at her so impishly that
she saw the little boy he must have been in the eyes of the mature man.
“Ain’t no doubt ‘uv thet, missy. Yer a cunnin’ moit,
an’ ‘ad more blows than pats, Oi reckon,” he continued in
street cant, shocking the breath out of her. “I came up the same way you
are now, dear, thanks to a very kind man with no son of his own. I want you to
remember that, to us here at this school, there is no such thing as a stupid
question, nor will we dismiss any worry you have as trivial. Never fear to
bring either to an adult.”

He
straightened up, as Mem’sab came to his side, nodding. “Now both of
you try and get some sleep, for every warrior knows that sleep is more
important than anything else before a battle.”

Ha
,
Nan thought, as she and Sarah followed Karamjit out of the study.
There’s
gonna be trouble; I kin feel it, an’ so can he. He didn’ get that
tiger by not havin’ a nose fer trouble. But—I reckon the
trouble’s gonna have its hands full with him
.

***

“I’m
glad you aren’t angry with me—”

Isabelle
and her husband had turned to each other and said virtually the same words at
the same time. And now both laughed.

“Oh,
we know each other far too well, my love.” Frederick took her in his
arms, and she laid her head contentedly on his shoulder. “Far too well.
So, you were annoyed because I was being the warrior and not giving you credit
for being one in your own right.”