The sharp-eyed boatman who’d saved the dog kept a watchful eye on Lady Palmer, following close on her heels, accompanied by a group of his fellow boatmen who congratulated him on his good luck with open envy.
Lady Palmer kept her eyes averted, her hands clutching her purse with a tight grip despite the man’s pleas for his reward.
“All in good time, all in good time,” she murmured while the man followed behind, all the while grinning and nodding around at the crowd who’d gathered in increasing numbers, sensing a chance for the British ladies to appease the Gods by paying generous baksheesh. The people crushed closer, hands out, grasping and desperate, begging and pleading for coins, fighting each other in the scramble to be noticed.
“Memsahib! Dear and good memsahib! Baksheesh! Baksheesh!”
Sara bit her lip as she began to feel a rising panic.
“Perhaps, Lady Palmer, you could pay the man and the crowd would go away.”
“Well, I would if I had any money,” the woman snapped in return. “It’s just that I don’t have any on me at this particular moment. Indeed, I never carry it. Perhaps you could pay the fellow.”
“Me? I don’t have any money … at least no Indian money, only English pounds and I don’t think that would do.”
“Well, give the fellow what you have,” Lady Palmer replied, dismissing the matter and considering her part in the business now over.
Sara opened her purse and the man moved closer, his eyes fixed upon the contents. She held out a pound note and in an instant the man snatched it out of her hand and at first stared at it with disgust before throwing it down in the dust with a cry of anger. Then, in a flash, a gnarled brown hand darted out through the crowd of dusty bare feet, picked up the note, and someone more knowing quickly disappeared with it.
The boatman then turned all his attention to Sara. Lady Palmer had been forgotten. “Give me!”
Sara was angry now, and wondered how it came to be that she was bearing the brunt of Cynthia’s selfishness and her mother’s stupidity.
The crowd surrounding the besieged women stared with curious fixated eyes made wild with hunger. They crammed more tightly against each other in a tight rancid mass of unwashed bodies, allowing small ragged, almost naked children to scamper like mice over their heads, while the women stood clutching each other for protection in the ever-decreasing circle. The over-excited children, leaping in a grotesque dance on the heads and shoulders of the people, called out in halting English, “Give me money! I have no mother! I have no father!” thrusting their fingers in open empty mouths, while dodging angry snatches at their hard, thin legs from the furious onlookers.
Sara felt a furtive hand touch her thigh, then, as though being assured she was real after all, felt it again, this time with an added hard pinch.
She let out a faint scream of fear as she felt something hard hit the brim of her hat. Her first thought was that they were trying to kill her, then she looked up, astonished to see a glittering shower of coins fly high over her head, followed quickly by another, then another.
The children let out animal-like cries and flew after the path of the coins, followed by most of the crowd and leaving Sara standing alone in a cleared space. Though a number of the onlookers were so overwhelmed by the unfolding scene they froze on the spot, then fell to prostrate themselves at the feet of the man who stood before them, his legs sturdily apart and his commanding arms crossed over his chest.
It was clear the blood of two races flowed through his veins, uniting to produce a man of such dramatic appearance Sara found herself staring at him in awe. He had the air of a person who was used to attention, so much so that he’d mastered the art of appearing to be unaware of the impression he was making.
He was taller than the average native Indian, and of a bulkier build, being broad-shouldered and thickset. His heavy masculinity was an odd contrast to his clothing, as he wore an almost transparent muslin kurta, through which could easily be seen the powerful contours of his chest straining against the fine fabric where it met his folded arms. A long white muslin dhoti hemmed with a wide band of gold thread hung around his waist and down to the ground in the manner of a Brahmin priest.
Standing out amongst the almost black servants, the unusual pale gold of his skin revealed at least one of his parents had European blood, though his hair was as blue-black as a leopard’s pelt. He wore it combed straight back off his forehead, falling almost to his shoulders in the style of a Mogul prince.
His European ancestry showed too in the colour of his clear light grey eyes, making the irises appear more intensely dark and hypnotic. Though there was nothing dreamlike about his expression and, despite his prophet-like clothing, he glared out at the world with ferocity from under his black winged eyebrows, and an expression that seemed to say, I defy you all!
There was something there too in the corners of his full, sharply defined mouth that hinted at contempt, but at whom or what Sara couldn’t tell.
Lady Palmer sniffed and turned away in an elaborate display of disapproval, even placing herself between him and her daughter as though his presence alone could be contaminating. Her behaviour did not escape the stranger’s notice, though, instead of being shaken by her obvious dislike, he seemed to struggle to hide his laughter.
Sara gave a slight bow of her head in his direction, hoping to initiate an introduction, but Lady Palmer didn’t attempt to even acknowledge the man.
He took a step closer and bowed. When he finally spoke, it was with a heavy accent as though English was his second language, though there was no sing-song note to his voice as with other Indian people. He spoke French with the accent of a Parisian.
“Pardonnez moi, mesdames. I apologise for the crudeness of my tactics, but, as you see, it is effective.”
Lady Palmer turned her face away from him without a word, and Sara, feeling the shame that should’ve been Lady Palmer’s, thanked him again with genuine gratitude.
A group of women in saris of gorgeous colours and wearing huge gold nose rings sat clumped together nearby, giggling behind their hands and pointing at Sara, their heads swaying like snakes as they came together to whisper their secrets. Little snatches of remembered Hindi came back to her. They were saying something about her hair and wondering if she used henna. The stranger heard them too and glanced in Sara’s direction, his eyes focused on her hair. She flushed bright pink, without knowing why, and stared down at her feet, as was her habit as a child when she was in trouble. He sensed her discomfort and smiled to himself in an unpleasant way, as though wondering how he could exploit the situation.
He appeared to reject the thought at once, feeling it was beneath him, and he raised his eyes heavenwards, as though the whole episode was nothing more than an unpleasant interlude he must endure. Then he turned to face the crowd, his palms held outwards like a prophet. “What is the problem here?”
No one seemed willing to answer now they had the chance, and after an impatient few moments he chose a quiet old man with the face of a saint and commanded him to speak.
The stranger’s face changed with the telling of the events, first showing only a raised eyebrow at the fate of the drowned man, then a sharp exhale from his rather strongly shaped Gallic nose. A slow scornful smile spread over his face as his eyes flickered towards the group of British women.
Lady Palmer held her face averted while Cynthia stood aloof, an image of picturesque innocence as she held Fanny in her arms. Only Sara seemed connected to the scene, with her purse ajar and her face flushed with guilt, showing she’d been responsible for the entire debacle. By now the crowd had turned resentful and some even shouted angry words in the direction of Cynthia, who held her dog closer to her chest.
The