Page 15 of The Girl from the Tea Garden (The India Tea #3)

A dela hurried out of the back of the Gaiety Theatre still caked in stage make-up and ran up the Mall.

The military band at the bandstand was packing up; she gave a wave as she dashed past, unable to keep the grin from her face.

It was her seventeenth birthday and tonight she was coming out in Simla society.

Fluffy Hogg, who had become her surrogate mother these past three years, was hosting a small supper party: DrFatima; Sundar Singh; Prue, who was back in Simla with her mother for the summer season; school rival Deborah Halliday, because she was good fun; and Boz, a lanky Scots friend of Sophie and Rafi’s from the Forest Service who was posted to Simla and was bringing along his young assistant, Guy Fellows, who was considered one of the best catches in Simla that season.

Guy had fair good looks, had rowed for Cambridge and was full of understated charm.

Both Prue and Deborah were amazed and excited that The Fluff had managed to secure such a guest for Adela’s birthday meal.

Afterwards they were joining a larger party under the wing of one of Fluffy’s retired friends, Colonel Baxter, and going dancing to the Full Moon Dance at Davico’s Ballroom.

Adela had been firm with her friends that she expected to get Guy’s name on her dance card before they did.

Fluffy had paid for a local tailor to copy a dress that the actress Vivien Leigh had been wearing in a magazine.

Adela and Deborah– they were always competing for the same parts in school plays and town shows– had sighed over it backstage.

Adela had torn out the page, taken it back to Briar Rose Cottage and pinned it to her bedroom wall.

She had been thrilled when her guardian had suggested having a copy made.

The photo was black and white, so they had no idea of the original colour, but Adela chose dusky pink.

It was full-skirted and made of crêpe de chine, with a pinched waist and a strappy bodice that showed off Adela’s trim, curvy figure.

She loved the way it swished from her hips when she moved.

‘Auntie, I’m back!’ she called as she ran up the veranda steps, throwing off her jacket and kicking off her shoes as she went. MrsHogg was dressed in an old-fashioned floor-length green gown with long sleeves that was already making her perspire in the warm June evening.

‘Quick sticks, young lady,’ Fluffy ordered. ‘Our guests will be here in twenty minutes. And you can’t be seen with your face painted like Columbine.’

‘You look gorgeous.’ Adela kissed her, leaving a smudge of red lipstick on the older woman’s warm cheek. ‘I’ll be ready in ten.’

She scrubbed herself down quickly in the bathroom, removing the make-up, and pulled on the new dress.

She squirted on perfume that her parents had sent.

Fluffy came in to help her pin up her hair.

On a whim Adela plucked a cream-coloured rose from the bowl of flowers by the window and stuck it in her dark hair.

‘What do you think, Auntie?’

Fluffy appeared lost for words. When she spoke, her voice was shaky.

‘You’re a beautiful young woman, and I’m very proud to be showing you off to the world tonight. I wish your parents could be here—’

Adela rushed and hugged her. ‘Stop it, you’ll make me cry. I’ll be seeing them soon enough– just two more weeks of school and then it’s all over, unless I can find a job here.’

Fluffy cleared her throat and pulled away. ‘Let’s just enjoy tonight and not think about that,’ she said firmly.

Prue and Deborah were the first to arrive as the mali was lighting the lamps that hung in the trees.

Adela could hear their excited chatter and giggling even before they appeared in the flickering light around the box hedges of the narrow garden.

Just as they did, the telephone rang in the sitting room.

‘Go and greet them,’ said Fluffy. ‘I’ll just be a minute.’

Prue, now eighteen, was wearing a sophisticated long dress of midnight blue, her brown hair permed into stylish waves.

Deborah’s straight blonde hair was swept off her high forehead with a hairband that matched her silk lilac dress.

Her father was high up in Burmah Oil and the Hallidays had plenty of money, but Deborah had no airs and graces; StMary’s discouraged boastfulness.

‘Adela, you look wonderful!’ Prue cried, clattering on to the veranda in her new high heels and hugging her friend.

‘Vivien Leigh will die of envy.’ Deborah winked, handing over a present. ‘Open it later.’

‘Have the others arrived yet?’ asked Prue.

‘She means, is Guy Fellows here?’ Deborah gave a roll of her large blue eyes.

‘No, you’re the first.’ Adela smiled. ‘Come inside. Auntie says we can drink sherry.’

Prue pulled a face. ‘I’ve been drinking gimlets in Jubbulpore.’

Deborah gave her a playful shove. ‘I hope you’re not going to be a bore about Jubbulpore all evening.’

‘That’s the first time I’ve mentioned it.’

‘Third. Bet you can’t have a conversation with Guy Fellows without saying the J word.’

‘Bet I can.’

The two girls spat on their palms and shook hands. Adela pulled them indoors.

‘Come on you two: no arguing on my birthday.’

Fluffy appeared and asked Noor, her bearer, to pour four sherries.

‘Who was that, Auntie?’ Adela asked.

Fluffy raised her glass and made a toast before answering. When they had all taken a sip, she said, ‘That was William Boswell.’

‘Boz?’ Adela queried. ‘He is still coming, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, but I’m afraid that MrFellows is not.’

There was a chorus of dismay from the three friends.

‘Why not?’

‘How disappointing!’

‘That’s very late in the day to cancel.’

‘He’s come down with a dose of hill fever,’ explained their hostess. ‘He’s very apologetic– was hoping he would rally in time for tonight.’

Adela tried to put on a brave face; she could see how disappointed her friends were.

‘Poor Guy,’ she said. ‘That’s very bad luck.’

‘Isn’t it?’ agreed Fluffy. ‘But all is not lost. Boz has managed to find a replacement for the party– someone he knows from up in the hills.The man just happened to be in Simla, and Boz has persuaded him to stay the night.’

‘Good for Boz.’ Adela brightened.

‘Ooh, who is this mystery man?’ Prue smiled.

‘Some Raja’s son I hope.’ Deborah gave a wicked grin.

‘Deb!’ Prue admonished.

‘Not exactly.’ Fluffy gave Adela an apologetic glance. ‘He’s a missionary from Narkanda.’

‘A missionary ?’ Deborah exclaimed.

‘Oh no.’ Prue pulled a face.

‘Better hide the sherry, Auntie,’ Adela said with a rueful look, trying to make light of it.

‘Now, girls,’ Fluffy said, ‘I’m sure he’ll be very pleasant.’

‘And boring,’ muttered Prue.

‘Well, he probably won’t want to stay beyond dinner, will he?’ Adela asked in hope.

‘That’s true. Missionaries don’t usually hang around Davico’s,’ agreed Prue.

‘Except to stop young innocents from entering,’ Deborah said in a dramatic voice, ‘and save their mortal souls!’

Prue and Adela snorted with laughter. Just then Sundar called out a greeting as he arrived with DrFatima.

‘The bet about the J word still stands,’ Deborah hissed to the others.

They came bearing more gifts, Sundar looking magnificent in the evening mess kit of the Lahore Horse with a ruby-red turban, and Fatima in a dark blue sari with gold brocade.

‘You really shouldn’t,’ Adela said, kissing Fatima’s cheek. ‘All I wanted was a party with my favourite people.’

‘Nonsense,’ Deborah declared. ‘Presents are the best part of birthdays.’

‘And it’s a good excuse to spoil a very special young lady.’ Sundar grinned. ‘Tonight, you look like a princess!’

‘Thank you.’ Adela beamed while her friends giggled. Fluffy welcomed them, and Noor handed fruit juice to the new arrivals. The noise level grew as they chatted and laughed. Prue told them about the gorgeous Guy being replaced by a missionary.

‘Some dry old stick that Boz has dragged in at the last minute– probably as old as the hills too.’

‘You’re going to have to be on your best behaviour, birthday girl,’ Deborah teased Adela.

‘As will you.’ Adela laughed.

‘No unsuitable jokes, ladies’ – Sundar wagged a finger in mock disapproval – ‘or bursting into barrack-room songs.’

‘The only ones we know are the ones you taught us,’ Adela teased back.

‘Not all the missionaries in the hills are ancient,’ Fatima said, ‘or lacking in humour. Most of the ones I’ve met are kind and well meaning.’

The girls groaned.

‘You never have a bad word to say about anyone, do you?’ Adela rolled her eyes.

‘Maybe we should practise some hymn singing before he arrives.’ Prue smirked.

‘What a friend we have in Jesus!’ Deborah began at once.

‘Honestly, you girls,’ Fluffy cried. ‘You would think you were seven, not seventeen.’

‘Some of us are eighteen,’ Prue corrected.

‘Because some of us,’ Deborah mimicked, ‘have had a year in ...’

‘ Jubbulpore! ’ Adela chimed in with Deborah.

The friends burst out laughing.

A deep Scottish voice called out of the dark: ‘Good evening! Glad to see the party’s already started.’

‘Boz!’ Adela cried, rushing forward to the veranda steps, while her friends stifled their giggles.

His tall, wiry frame loomed out of the shadows dressed in kilt and black jacket, his long craggy face scored by years in the sun and his red hair receding, making him look older than Rafi, his contemporary and friend.

‘Thank you for coming.’ Adela greeted him with a warm handshake, half hoping that he had decided against bringing the missionary with him.

‘Wouldna miss it for the world, lassie,’ Boz said with a grin. ‘And neither would ma friend here when he heard it was Miss Adela Robson’s birthday.’

‘Oh?’ Adela gave a quizzical smile. ‘I didn’t think I knew any missionaries from Narkanda.’

Boz stood aside as his companion leapt up the steps behind him. Adela’s instant impression was that the man was not old at all and that his shoulders were too broad for the suit that Boz had obviously lent him.