Part 35 (2/2)
The old man smiled down from his swaying perch. ”You, Yar Mohammad,” he said, his voice lifting, ”have been given the duty of protecting the Guardian. Your little vial was full when you showed it in your dream to Shaikh Waliullah. I believe it is full even now.”
Shafi Sahib was tired. The old man's head drooped. Yar Mohammad walked on, breathing deeply of the morning air.
”I understand we had some excitement last night,” remarked an aidede-camp as he helped himself to omelette aux herbes Indiennes in the dining tent. ”It seems that two men tried to rob this compound.”
Lord Auckland looked up, scowling. Mariana stared down at her plate. The Eden sisters made a point of looking neither at each other nor at Mariana.
”Yes,” said another aide. ”One of them tried the old trick”-he coughed delicately-”of covering himself with grease.”
The first aide smiled broadly over his b.u.t.tered toast. ”I heard one of them actually got past the guard and tried to get into the tents, and-”
”Absolute nonsense!” Major Byrne's face had reddened. He cleared his throat noisily. ”Nothing of the sort, nothing of the sort.” Avoiding the Governor-General's eye, he inclined his head gallantly toward the Misses Eden. ”Your compound is impregnable, ladies. You must have no fear on that account. Both men were caught by the sentries well before they attempted to get in.”
He glared at the aides. ”Do not let these young men frighten you. They have no idea what they're talking about. And now, ladies, Lord Auckland,” he concluded with a decisive little nod, ”if you will excuse me.”
Miss Emily regarded him silently over the rim of her coffee cup as he strode away.
Lord Auckland nodded vaguely in Byrne's direction, then pushed back his chair. ”Emily, my dear, it seems that we are to be relatively safe from the natives this morning. I thought we might take a drive before lunch. There may be some interesting ruins on the way to Kasur.” He smiled hopefully at his sister from beneath dusty eyebrows.
”I am so sorry, George,” said Miss Emily, glancing reproachfully at Mariana, ”but Miss Givens was quite ill last night. I cannot go out until Dr. Drummond has seen her.”
Mariana pushed smoked fish onto her fork. Miss Emily Miss Emily, she ordered silently, take the drive, take the drive take the drive, take the drive!
”I had hoped,” Miss Emily said, as they waited in her drawing room for Dr. Drummond, ”that we had heard the last of your extraordinary behavior.”
Mariana touched the healing puncture marks on her wrist. She would not explain or apologize, whatever they said to her.
”But not at all.” Miss Emily rose from her seat and crossed the tent to her little bookshelf. ”Since then,” she went on, turning back to Mariana and folding her arms across her bosom, ”you have not ceased to astonish us. Is there any point in my asking why we found you last night lying on your fioor in your nightclothes in the company of not one but two strange native men?”
Mariana's bed, now tightly made, stood on one side of the tent. No one looked at it.
”If you are going mad,” Miss Emily p.r.o.nounced as she lowered herself to the sofa beside her sister, ”your behavior can be explained, although, of course, it can never be excused.”
She opened her hands. ”Why, Mariana? Why the foul-smelling native men? Why the unexplained baby? Why the overturned bed, the general disarray?”
”There was a viper,” Mariana said as coolly as civility allowed, ”under my bed.”
Why did she bother to tell them anything?
A servant bowed in the doorway. ”Doctor Sahib has come,” he said in polite, accented English.
Dr. Drummond stood over her in his old-fas.h.i.+oned clothes, smelling of tobacco. ”Now, Miss Givens,” he said, bending to look cautiously at her over the tops of his spectacles, ”how are we feeling today?”
He pursed his lips. ”I understand,” he continued, nodding toward the sofa and the upright Misses Eden, ”that the timely arrival of these ladies at your tent last night prevented your meeting a most unpleasant fate.
”What none of us can grasp is how these things keep happening to you. Do you you know, Miss Givens? Hmmmn?” know, Miss Givens? Hmmmn?”
They already believed her a lunatic. Nothing she told them would change their minds. She turned over her wrist. ”A snake bit me last night.” She pointed to the marks. ”I was very ill then, but I am much better now.”
”Now, Miss Givens,” the doctor said reprovingly, looking not at her but at Miss Emily, ”we all know there is no cure for poisonous snakebite.”
”Yes, Dr. Drummond, but-”
”No cure at all,” he repeated in a firm tone, smiling falsely. ”You had a narrow escape last night, to be sure, but we all know that it was not not from poisonous snakebite. Nonetheless, if it will make you feel better, I will have a look at those marks. from poisonous snakebite. Nonetheless, if it will make you feel better, I will have a look at those marks.
”She could, of course,” he said to the Eden ladies, taking Mariana's wrist in his hand, ”have been injured by one of the men. Miss Givens, do you mind coming to the light?”
Injured by one of the men indeed! If Miss f.a.n.n.y had not been watching, Mariana would have made a face behind the doctor's back.
He turned her wrist this way and that, looking down his nose at the two small marks. After a moment, he nodded. ”You may sit down now, Miss Givens.
”These are clearly puncture wounds,” he p.r.o.nounced, drawing out his words, pointing a stubby finger at Mariana's wrist. ”They do do resemble marks left by the fangs of a snake, but if they resemble marks left by the fangs of a snake, but if they are are bite marks, the snake would have been of a rare, nonpoisonous variety. In any case,” he went on, ”as they are nearly healed, the marks have nothing whatever to do with the events of last night.” He shook his head. ”I really do not know what to make of all this.” bite marks, the snake would have been of a rare, nonpoisonous variety. In any case,” he went on, ”as they are nearly healed, the marks have nothing whatever to do with the events of last night.” He shook his head. ”I really do not know what to make of all this.”
”May I please,” Mariana asked, struggling to keep her tone level, ”tell you the real real story of what happened last night?” story of what happened last night?”
Greeted with silent surprise, she took a deep breath and plunged on. ”The thieves we discussed at breakfast this morning,” she began, ”were child stealers. They did indeed get into the compound. In fact, they nearly got into my tent.”
Miss f.a.n.n.y's mouth opened. ”Nearly got in? But Emily and I saw them clearly!” got in? But Emily and I saw them clearly!”
”No, Miss f.a.n.n.y,” Mariana disagreed patiently. ”That was the bridegroom from the wedding, and another man I had not seen before.” was the bridegroom from the wedding, and another man I had not seen before.”
Miss Emily's face turned pink. ”Are you trying to tell us,” she cried, ”that the filthy creature beside you was your husband husband?”
Mariana glared at her. ”No, Miss Emily. I said I would not not marry him. I am certain you heard me say so. In any case, he was dirty because he had fought with a child thief who had gotten into the compound, and was trying to steal his baby from my tent.” marry him. I am certain you heard me say so. In any case, he was dirty because he had fought with a child thief who had gotten into the compound, and was trying to steal his baby from my tent.”
”Baby?” Dr. Drummond's jaw hung open.
Miss Emily was now scarlet. ”You will not speak to me like that, Mariana,” she snapped.
”Whose baby?” The doctor was looking avidly from face to face. baby?” The doctor was looking avidly from face to face.
”I think, Dr. Drummond,” said Miss Emily, her eyes narrowing, her tone a potent combination of charm and force, ”that we have no further need to take up your valuable time.”
”But, Miss Eden, we have not yet discovered-”
Miss Emily smiled thinly. ”Thank you so very much very much, Dr. Drummond. f.a.n.n.y, please see the doctor out.”
Mariana caught the doctor's disappointed glance over his shoulder as Miss f.a.n.n.y, mute and very pale, ushered him from the tent.
Miss Emily's gaze was inescapable. ”The baby, Mariana, is the key to this entire disgraceful story, is he not? Your 'father-in-law' is Shaikh Wallahwallah, the magician grandfather who was said to have spirited the Maharajah's baby hostage from the Golden Temple.”
Mariana nodded.
”The missing baby, therefore, is now your stepson.”
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