Part 8 (1/2)

'Lin, dear,' said Phryne.

She leaned forward, soliciting a kiss, and his smooth lips had just touched hers when Phryne heard a shocked gasp and opened her eyes.

Eliza was standing in the doorway. She said, 'Oh, sorry!' and fled. Phryne leaned forward more emphatically and kissed Lin Chung hard. His inner lip was like silk; he tasted of lemon squash. Heat bloomed in Phryne's spine, grounding with a thud at the base. If the delicious Lin was going to Castlemaine, Phryne thought, it might be an idea if she followed him.

'But I have a suggestion,' he said, once he had freed his mouth and got his breath back.

'And that is?' asked Phryne.

'I will leave my own bodyguard with you. You like Li Pen. Your household knows him. No one gets past a Shaolin monk.'

'He is supposed to be looking after you, beautiful man,' Phryne pointed out.

'Yes, but this is my decision. You and I, Silver Lady, we take our own risks. But I cannot undertake any journey which might leave your family in danger. My own family is well guarded. Anyone getting into the Lin compound will have only a few moments for prayer before the dogs eat him. But until Molly gets a little bigger or we train Ember to claw on command, this household needs a guard.'

'And Ember has always been of the view that training is something which happens to inferior animals, haven't you, my precious?'

Ember paused in his saunter through the parlour to blink, twice, and move on.

'Well? Shall I send Li Pen?'

'Yes,' said Phryne. 'I agree with you. And I may be joining you. Where will you stay?'

'Apparently we still have a market garden at Golden Point,' said Lin. 'I haven't been instructed in all the ramifications of the Lin family business. I was trained as a silk buyer. I don't know much about the rest of it, though I now must learn. There are still Chinese people in Castlemaine. The person I am looking for is a lady called Mrs Ah, who saw the couriers last.'

'She must be pretty antique by now,' commented Phryne.

'I am an expert on antiques,' said Lin. 'If you come to Castlemaine, where shall I find you?'

'Let's look at the book.' Phryne rose and extracted a touring guide from the small walnut bookshelf. She flipped through the pages. 'Ah, yes. The c.u.mberland looks like the best hotel. Thirty-nine rooms. Nothing with a private bath, though. Oh well. One must suffer for one's revenge. My wharfie friend Bert told me that the secret of successful travelling is never to stay at a hotel called Railway or Commercial. There's the Imperial as well-I shall have to see when I get there. Now kiss me again before the girls get home and think of the pleasures of a good, large, impersonal hotel. I'm beginning to feel a touch constrained in my present home.'

Lin obliged enthusiastically. Just in time to hear another shocked gasp from Eliza, who had come back again, and who fled again in the same way.

Phryne pushed Lin away and sat up.

'A nice, big, uncaring, uninteresting hotel,' she told Lin. 'I look forward to it. How am I to find you in Castlemaine, then?'

'I shall telegraph,' said Lin. 'And now I must take my leave. I will send Li Pen soon.'

'I shall lay in a store of Vegemite,' said Phryne. Li Pen was one of the few Shaolin monks to admit to a taste for bread and Vegemite. 'And get Mrs Butler on to vegetarian cooking. I'm sure that Mrs Beeton has a chapter on it.'

'He would be just as happy with rice and steamed greens,' said Lin.

'But Mrs Butler wouldn't be,' said Phryne. 'She likes a challenge.'

Lin smiled, kissed Phryne's hand, and departed, leaving her restless. She wished for a moment that she had never acquired all these followers and family and could just ravish her beautiful lover on the floor of the parlour. But living in the world meant living with people and it was time to get up, see how Dot was, greet the returning daughters and perhaps-for the day seemed to be getting warmer-go for a swim.

No. Until Li Pen arrived they were rather confined to the house, which made Camellia's garden more attractive than ever. At least it was outside. And if anyone came over the wall, Phryne could belt him with a rake. This made her feel slightly cheered as she walked through the house.

Mr Butler joined her after a few minutes with the afternoon post. He looked a little apprehensive. Dot took her sewing away to a safe distance.

'Put it down here, Mr B, and we shall sort,' said Phryne bracingly, suiting the action to the word. 'Bills, bills, a postcard, a letter from Peter, a card for Lady Mary's At Home, nothing explosive. You may come back, Dot dear. I'm thinking of a little trip.'

'A trip, Miss Phryne?'

'Yes, just to Castlemaine. I feel that the solution to our mystery lies there, or somewhere near. Someone had Castlemaine newspapers to hand when they needed to stuff a mummy, and I feel that makes him local. First, of course, we must talk to Reverend Mother about Mrs Carter, and then we must make sure that you are all safe. So Lin has lent me Li Pen.'

'Oh,' Dot was a little cast down. 'So we aren't coming with you.'

'No,' said Phryne as gently as she could. 'It also means that I am leaving you with Eliza, which is a filthy rotten trick. I apologise for that, Dot dear. But she seems to have mostly lost her anger, so she might be easier to live with now. If you can find out what on earth is the matter with her, Dot, it would be a mercy. But I am not going to read my letters from my parents until she says I can, and that leaves me a bit gravelled for lack of matter. Try to find out who the man is, there's a dear. She indignantly refused a delicate hint that she might like to see Doctor MacMillan, so events haven't proceeded too far. And if she should confide in you, Dot, do try and convey to her that I do not in the least mind if she marries a Welsh coal-miner, even if he sings, or a wharfie with a three day beard. I will cover up for her and I will keep Father away. I just want her to trust me. I just want my little sister back, Dot.'

Dot drew a thread through her drawn thread work and said, 'I understand,' very solemnly. 'And it will be nice to have that Mr Li here while you are away,' she added.

'Yes, Li Pen is an a.s.set,' agreed Phryne.

They sat for almost an hour in the shade of the bamboo house. Phryne listened to the hens clucking behind the screen. It was very quiet. The tall bamboo fence which Camellia had ordered cut out a lot of traffic noise. There didn't seem to be anything you couldn't do with bamboo.

She must have said this out loud because someone answered quietly, 'You can make scaffolding out of it. You can cook rice in it. You can build houses from it. Beaten flat, you can make a cape of it that will keep out the rain. And it makes a fine, unbreakable weapon.'

'h.e.l.lo, Li Pen,' said Phryne. 'You move like a shadow.'

'My master sent me to guard your household,' he said reasonably. 'One cannot do that by stumping up and down like an elephant.'

'True. What do you mean, bamboo makes a weapon? It's only wood.'

'I will show you,' said Li Pen. He walked along the bamboo screen, selected and removed one piece, and danced with it. It was the only word to describe it. In the centre of the spinning, whirling staff, there was Li Pen, easy, relaxed, and any attacker would have been whipped and stabbed and tripped and flattened and utterly at his mercy in around five seconds. In the middle of the whirlwind of deadly blows and kicks he danced, his face quite calm, and Phryne was suddenly much more comfortable about leaving her family. Li Pen was quite possibly the best defence anyone could have, not excepting a Hotchkiss gun.

In the thirteenth year of the reign of the glorious Emperor Lord of the Dragon Throne Kwong Sui of the Ching Dynasty, Sung Ma the elder brother greets Sung Mai the younger sister.

We have landed at Melbourne. The solar calendar month is April and the year is 1855. The city is a poor, bare, busy place with few mountains and only one river, which is brown. I bade farewell to Dark Moon and the s.h.i.+pmaster and went with the Lin family to their compound in the city. There we were fed and rested the night. I had the honour of an introduction to Lin Hua, the head of the clan. He stays in the city and engages in trade. His brother Lin Chiang is on the goldfields. We will begin to walk there tomorrow. Mr Lin was kind enough to replenish my medicine box and lend me a copy of a novel, Gold Plum Vase, to beguile my leisure. I am not sure that I shall have any but it was kind of him. I left my copy of Su Tungpo's poems with him for safekeeping. I can recite all the poems in it and Mr Lin was very pleased to see it. His family have been in this city for several years and they mean to stay. His great house is already being built. It is very beautiful but will be surrounded by a great wall, like a castle.

Barbarian people hiss at us in the street. They don't want us here. Just let me get some gold, and I will gratify their wish and leave immediately.

I will send this letter back with the s.h.i.+p. May the G.o.ddess have you in her hands, little sister, and your mother and sister. Ask Uncle if you are in any difficulty.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Every woman knows that the most strongminded woman in a house can set up a domestic tyranny which is sometimes a reign of terror.

George Bernard Shaw An Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism Tuesday began badly. Phryne heard the phone ring, leapt out of bed, and stepped full on Ember's tail. He yowled with pain, gave her a disgusted look, and stalked out of the room, forcing Phryne to chase him to apologise. That meant the sacrifice of her breakfast bacon to soothe Ember's hurt feelings. The girls had been reproachful when Phryne told them that they had to stay in the house unless they took Li Pen as an escort, so they had declined to go swimming and were playing a noisy and irri-tating game of snakes and ladders in the parlour. Dot was still pale and experiencing motorcycle films before her eyes. Mr and Mrs Butler were trying to be staunch and this was always trying. And Eliza had retired to her bed and refused to get up, saying that she had a migraine and adamantly refusing the services of a doctor.

Phryne dressed suitably, dealt with all the immediate problems, and was about to order Dot back to bed also when a telegram arrived from Reverend Mother Immaculata of the Good Shepherd informing her that Mrs Carter, now Sister Elizabeth, was coming into Melbourne to be seen by a specialist and might be properly interviewed at the Motherhouse of the Convent in Victoria Street, Fitzroy. Phryne made her disposi-tions instantly.

'Good. Dot, go back to bed and allow yourself to be looked after. Mrs Butler, look after Dot. If my sister asks for a doctor, call Doctor MacMillan. Mr Butler, I leave my house in your hands. No one is to leave the house without Li Pen. Molly, be good. You may go and lick Dot better if you wish. Now, I'm off,' she declared, and went out to the Hispano-Suiza. The inmates of the house heard a roar and the car was gone.