Part 36 (1/2)
Mariana nodded again.
Miss Emily's voice would have been triumphant if it had not been so deadly. ”In that case, the child in your tent was Maharajah Ranjit Singh's hostage, the child whose disappearance caused the Maharajah to fall ill, thus delaying our treaty negotiations. Delaying, in fact, the very Afghan Campaign for which we have all come so far and worked so hard.”
Her eyes bored into Mariana's. ”It was not magic magic that caused the child's disappearance, was it, Mariana? It was a that caused the child's disappearance, was it, Mariana? It was a conspiracy conspiracy in which you played a part. Are you, or are you not, the thief who stole the child from the Golden Temple?” in which you played a part. Are you, or are you not, the thief who stole the child from the Golden Temple?”
Miss f.a.n.n.y gasped.
It was pointless to deny the truth. ”It was I who stole Saboor, Miss Emily, but there was no conspiracy.” Mariana raised her chin. ”I tried to tell you so, after the Maharajah's dinner party, after I got up and spoke-”
”Later, you lied to us repeatedly on the subject. When questions were asked, you deceived and betrayed us.”
It was true. She had lied to them.
”I should have guessed before now.” Miss Emily shook her head. ”It was all in front of me. Your disappearances and your sudden headaches all began after that baby vanished. You fell asleep in your palanquin the morning after the rice test. When I consider that awful scene last night ...”
She closed her eyes. ”Call one of the servants, Mariana,” she said, shaking her head. ”I shall not say another word until I have had tea.”
”I think,” remarked Miss f.a.n.n.y timidly as she stirred sugar into her cup, ”that we should allow Mariana to tell the think,” remarked Miss f.a.n.n.y timidly as she stirred sugar into her cup, ”that we should allow Mariana to tell the entire entire story.” story.”
Miss Emily raised a hand. ”Absolutely not, f.a.n.n.y. I cannot bear any fresh horrors.”
”There may be details we have not understood,” Miss f.a.n.n.y persisted. ”But even if there are not, I should like to hear Mariana's side. It is, after all, a most interesting interesting story.” story.”
Miss Emily sniffed, but did not argue.
”The baby's name is Saboor,” Mariana began, responding to Miss f.a.n.n.y's nod. ”His mother was poisoned by the Maharajah's queens. He had been ill-treated by the queens and and by the Maharajah. He was forced on me suddenly by his own servant, who feared he would die. I returned him secretly to his family on the night of the rice test.” by the Maharajah. He was forced on me suddenly by his own servant, who feared he would die. I returned him secretly to his family on the night of the rice test.”
The ladies stared at one another. Mariana took a sip of her tea to steady herself. ”The Shaikh then proposed that I marry his son. I was horrified, of course, but when the Maharajah announced that he wanted to marry me himself, I used the Shaikh's proposal as a means to refuse him. I honestly believed the Shaikh's proposal was not serious, that it was meant only to save me from the Maharajah. I was tricked into going to the Citadel.”
Miss Emily sat immobile, her teacup partway to her lips. Mariana plunged onward. ”On the morning after the ceremony, the Maharajah sent armed men to the Shaikh's house to fetch the baby and me me. I was forced to take the baby away in the rain, in disguise.” She s.h.i.+vered at the memory. ”Then child thieves came to steal him. The one who nearly got in was covered in grease. He had a knife.”
”Grease? Was he-?” Miss f.a.n.n.y's eyes danced naughtily over the hand at her mouth.
”f.a.n.n.y!” Miss Emily put her cup down sharply.
”Saboor's father caught him just in time, but the struggle was messy because of the grease. That is why he smelled so awful.” Mariana sighed. ”He had had been wearing nice clothes.” been wearing nice clothes.”
Miss Emily drummed her fingers on the arm of the sofa. ”Who, then, was the square man with no neck?”
”I do not know. A friend of Ha.s.san's, I think. He was not supposed to look at me, as I am married. He and a groom and someone else came in to help after I was bitten by the snake.”
”Ah, the snake.” Miss Emily sighed pointedly.
”I was was bitten, bitten, after after the fight.” Mariana touched her wrist. ”I thought I should die from the pain. I fell down, something horrible poured from my mouth, and then I fainted. They sent for someone who cures snakebite by reciting verses-” the fight.” Mariana touched her wrist. ”I thought I should die from the pain. I fell down, something horrible poured from my mouth, and then I fainted. They sent for someone who cures snakebite by reciting verses-”
”I see.” Miss Emily raised her hands. ”All politesse politesse was fiung away as soon as you were to be seen rolling on the fioor and foaming at the mouth. More native men were summoned, mumbo jumbo was recited, and you recovered.” Her hands dropped to her lap. was fiung away as soon as you were to be seen rolling on the fioor and foaming at the mouth. More native men were summoned, mumbo jumbo was recited, and you recovered.” Her hands dropped to her lap.
Mariana refused to look away. ”I know it sounds fantastic....”
Miss f.a.n.n.y let out her breath. ”And we all believed camp life was dull!”
”I blame myself.” Miss Emily shook her head. ”I should have had your tent put closer to mine. I should never have allowed you to be pushed off alone into a corner of the compound with only a native manservant and no woman to confide in. That is precisely how young girls get into trouble. And you, Mariana, you have a genius for trouble.” She folded her hands in her lap. ”This wild behavior must stop at once.”
”But Emily,” Miss f.a.n.n.y protested, ”she only-”
Miss Emily ignored her sister. ”First,” she announced, ”that baby is to be returned immediately to the Maharajah. The child's welfare is no concern of ours. I will not not spirit the Maharajah's hostage out of the Punjab like a thief in the night. And as for you, Mariana, our only choice is to send you to Calcutta at once. You are a danger to yourself and all of us. I shall speak to my brother this afternoon.” spirit the Maharajah's hostage out of the Punjab like a thief in the night. And as for you, Mariana, our only choice is to send you to Calcutta at once. You are a danger to yourself and all of us. I shall speak to my brother this afternoon.”
The air around Mariana seemed to go cold. Her training and manners forgotten, she jumped up. ”No, Saboor cannot go back! If you send him to the Maharajah, he'll die of grief, and it will be all your fault all your fault!” She turned on her heel, then started for the doorway without looking back.
There was no time. Before Miss Emily went to Lord Auckland, she and Saboor must escape once more. With only Yar Mohammad and Dittoo for company and nowhere safe to take refuge, she and Saboor must become gypsies, traveling at night, hiding from people who did not care for them, who thought only of rewards or politics.
To her shame, the previous evening she, too, had chosen England over India. In her haste to forestall her own ruin, she had put her troubles above Saboor's. In the hours before the child thief came and the snake coiled itself beneath her bed, she had chosen Mama and Papa over the Shaikh and Safiya Sultana, Freddie over Saboor, eau de cologne over attar of sandalwood.
How could she have failed to see that, willingly or not, at every fork in the road she had taken the path leading to India? How could she have failed to notice that each choice had been made as if she had, indeed, been on a s.h.i.+p piloted by someone else? Now, when she was about to lose him, she knew for certain that she was Saboor's true guardian, as Yar Mohammad's dreams had foretold.
How could she ever have thought of leaving India?
”Mariana, sit down. Emily, I am shocked I am shocked.”
Mariana had never heard Miss f.a.n.n.y use that tone.
”Whatever we may think of her, Mariana is is the child's stepmother. It is for her to decide what is to be done with him.” the child's stepmother. It is for her to decide what is to be done with him.”
Before a startled Miss Emily could reply to her sister's declaration or Mariana return to her seat, a b.u.mbling sound came from outside.
”He gave me no peace.” Unshaven and untidy as ever, Dittoo nodded apologetically as he pushed his way inside, rumpled and out of place in Miss Emily's grand tent, a freshly bathed Saboor wriggling in his arms.
”No one saw us,” he added as he lowered Saboor to the carpet. He tipped his head carelessly at the two ladies. ”They had already seen him, had they not, last evening?”
”An-nah, An-nah.” Saboor danced, chirping, to her. Gripping her skirts, he tried, panting with effort, to climb onto her lap. She felt herself fiush with pleasure as she reached for him.
His clothes were starched, his cheeks ruddy. He sat straight on her lap, his thumb in his mouth, gazing at the two English faces before him.
”These are Angrezi ladies,” Mariana said instructively, kissing the top of his head.
”Rezi,” he echoed seriously, then slipped down and marched, not to Miss f.a.n.n.y who was already holding out her arms, but straight to Miss Emily, who sat quite still, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
He leaned against her skirts and peered into her face, his head tilted backward, his little red coat bunched up, a small, familiar fist resting on her knee.
”Well,” she said at last, looking down, her thin lips beginning to turn up, ”well, well, well.”
”He must,” declared Miss f.a.n.n.y, as Miss Emily took Saboor under his arms and lifted him, still sucking his thumb, to her lap, ”come to my tent and stroke the spotted deer.”
MARIANA lay in her own tent at midnight, enjoying her solitude, relieved that her bed had been returned to her own tent, that she was safe at last from the scrutiny of the Eden ladies, their ladies' maids, and a.s.sistant ladies' maids.
Her head felt heavy, but her body felt as light as air. The sisters had not sympathized, but they had been fair.
”We shall not, for the moment,” Miss Emily had said later, ”-and I emphasize for the moment for the moment-mention to anyone the whereabouts of Saboor or the events of last night.”