Page 37 of The Girl from the Tea Garden (The India Tea #3)

‘Nice, yes,’ agreed Fluffy, ‘but a weak one. Prince Sanjay was trying to stiffen his resolve to deal with the Mandalist protestors.’

Adela jumped to Jay’s defence. ‘But he said nothing about using violence.’

Pollock scrutinised her. ‘But you can confirm that Prince Sanjay was staying at Nerikot at the time of the shootings?’

Adela felt cold sweat prickle her brow. ‘He could have been out on shikar up in the hills.’

‘Well, it’s a mess. Someone fired on unarmed men. We have to be seen to be doing something if we’re to keep a lid on all this unrest. The Raja will have to explain himself to the British authorities.’

‘So might the Raja be prosecuted?’ asked Fluffy.

‘It’s possible,’ said Pollock, giving Adela a hard look, ‘and anyone else who was involved.’

Soon afterwards Sanjay’s name began to be bandied about by the gossipmongers in the Mall shops and club rooms.

‘They say it was Prince Sanjay who gave the order to fire– thought the Raja was being too weak.’

‘I heard he was the one who fired the first shot, as if the natives were fair game.’

Adela was furious at their attempt to sully Jay’s name and chided Fluffy for putting the idea into the inspector’s head.

‘We shouldn’t have gone to see him– and you shouldn’t have dragged Jay’s name into it, Auntie.’

‘And perhaps you are being a bit blinkered about the prince,’ Fluffy snapped. ‘If he’s got nothing to hide, why isn’t he back here in Simla paying you some attention?’

Unable to talk about it with Fluffy, Adela went to seek out Fatima and talk about the trouble in Nerikot.

They were both relieved to hear that Ghulam’s name was not among those of the casualties.

But there was rumour of further lawlessness as a result of the shootings, and the police in Simla were on alert for trouble spreading.

The atmosphere was tense. Sundar, attempting to raise their spirits, treated Adela and Fatima to tea at Davico’s, but Adela was sure people were whispering about her behind her back. A tipsy Bracknall confronted her.

‘Ah, Miss Robson, you’ll be able to shed some light on the Nerikot affair. Did your native beau, Prince Sanjay, give the order to shoot or not?’

‘MrBracknall, I find your words offensive,’ she sparked back.

‘Well, he is your beau, isn’t he?’ Bracknall leered. ‘You’ve been holed up in his love nest for weeks. Everybody’s talking about it.’

Sundar rose. ‘Please, sir, leave Miss Robson alone.’

Adela shook with indignation. ‘Prince Sanjay would never fire on unarmed civilians, never .’

‘Oh, I think he’s quite capable of it,’ slurred Bracknall. ‘They don’t have the same scruples about fair play that we do.’ He threw Sundar a contemptuous look and moved on.

When he’d gone, Adela asked, ‘Have people really been talking about me and Jay like this– in such an unkind way?’

Fatima and Sundar exchanged uncomfortable looks. ‘What did you expect?’ Fatima said bluntly. ‘Unmarried memsahibs and Indians, even princes, are not supposed to fraternise, beyond the occasional cocktail party.’

Adela blushed deeply to think how much further she had gone.

‘Still,’ said Sundar with bleak humour, ‘it’s nothing to the gossip that Sam’s caused with buying the girl.’

‘Oh, the silly man,’ Fatima said with impatient affection. ‘What on earth possessed him?’

Adela’s heart twisted at the memory. She glanced around and dropped her voice. ‘I think it might have had something to do with your brother.’

Fatima gave her a sharp look. ‘Meaning?’

‘He was there too. I think he was going to make a song and dance about the confrontation. Sam pushed him out of the way and intervened instead.’

Only as Adela spoke her thoughts aloud for the first time did she believe that might be the reason for Sam’s actions.

She had been so angry, believing that what he had done that day was a deliberate rejection of her.

But perhaps it was something else entirely.

Had Sam just acted on the spur of the moment to protect not only Pema but Ghulam too?

The idea threw her emotions into turmoil.

Whatever the reason– even if it had just been gut instinct– Sam was saddled with his rash actions.

And she was too. Adela felt a wave of panic.

She had thrown herself at Jay and revelled in their romantic affair. But where was he now?

A week later, with no sign of Jay in Simla, Fluffy ordered a listless Adela out of the house.

‘Go and see your friends at the theatre,’ she ordered. ‘They’ll be casting for Charley’s Aunt . It’s your last chance to perform before your trip to England.’

Adela steeled herself to go that afternoon. The town was pearly grey under heavy clouds, the air sultry. Another storm was brewing.

In the auditorium Tommy was handing out scripts and trying to herd a chattering crowd of players out of the wings and into seats. He was taken aback to see her. An awkward silence fell as Adela mounted the steps.

Deborah came forward and greeted her. ‘Look who the cat’s brought in.’ She brushed Adela’s cheek with a kiss. ‘You’re brave,’ she whispered.

Adela’s insides tightened.

‘Take a seat in the stalls, girl,’ Tommy said, smiling briefly, but avoiding her look. ‘You can listen in if you want.’

‘Listen in?’ Adela laughed. ‘I’ve come to audition.’

To her left someone moved out of the shadows, and a familiar voice said, ‘What a shame you’ve missed the auditions. All the parts are taken, aren’t they, Tommy?’

‘Nina?’ Adela gasped.

‘Hello.’ Nina smiled. She missed her cheek with a loud kiss. ‘We meet again at last. I’ve been telling everyone all about our school days together and what a little terror you were.’ She gave a brittle laugh.

Adela’s heart began to thud in dread. Even before anything was said, she knew that Nina had been spreading her poison. All she could do was to try and counter it with courtesy.

‘I was sorry to hear about your father’s death. It must have been such a shock for you and your mother.’

For a moment Nina seemed thrown; then just for an instant her top lipped curled in that familiar gesture of contempt Adela remembered so well, before it changed to a smile of regret.

‘No need to be sorry. You never really knew him. We received so many letters of condolence; that was a great comfort. It’s a shame you and your parents never thought to write, even though your father had been a close friend of my mother’s.

I can’t deny that was a little hurtful.’

Adela stuttered, ‘I’m s-sorry, but I’m sure—’

‘I accept that,’ Nina said with a sad expression. ‘It’s not your fault you don’t know what it’s like to lose a dear father. Shall we just get on with the rehearsal? I’d rather not talk about upsetting things.’

‘Of course,’ Tommy said hastily. ‘Where were we?’

Adela’s frustration swelled. Her mother had insisted on writing a note of condolence despite the smears by MrsDavidge against the family. She threw a look of appeal at Deborah to stick up for her, but her friend was looking intently at her script.

Adela retreated and sat in the stalls. At first the read-through was stiff and the atmosphere awkward– was that because she was there?

– but soon Tommy was putting them at their ease and they began laughing at the comedy and making suggestions.

Adela stayed on, stubbornly determined not to be hounded out of the group by Nina’s spitefulness, sugar-coated though it was.

All the old feelings of inferiority and nervousness that the bullying girl had instilled in her five years ago came flooding back.

But she had stood up to her then, and she wasn’t going to back down now.

They were grown women; it was ridiculous to harbour resentments from when they were thirteen.

Yet Nina had power over her; in her head Adela could hear the taunt ‘two annas’ as if it were yesterday.

At the end of rehearsal she waited for Deborah, but her friend was hanging back with a group of girls clustered around Nina. Was her friend deliberately avoiding her? Adela steeled herself to walk forward and join them.

‘Are you going to Davico’s?’ she asked brightly.

Nina half turned and spoke over her shoulder. ‘No, I’m having the girls back to our bungalow for tennis and afternoon tea.’

‘Adela can come too, can’t she?’ Deborah asked. ‘She’s great at tennis.’

‘So sorry,’ Nina said. ‘I don’t mind a bit, but Mother might be awkward– all that past history with Adela’s father.’

Adela rose to the bait. ‘I don’t know what you’ve been saying, but my father did not jilt your mother. That’s just nonsense.’

‘Well, how would you possibly know?’ Nina asked with that sad smile that Adela was growing to hate. ‘Your father would never admit it, would he? But it’s a devastating thing for a woman to experience. Surely you can see that.’

‘Only if it were true!’

‘Mother would never lie.’ Nina put her hand to her mouth as if to stifle a sob.

‘Adela!’ Deborah remonstrated. ‘Don’t be so unkind.’

‘Okay, ladies,’ Tommy intervened, ‘time to clear off and let me lock up. See you at rehearsal tomorrow.’

They scattered off with calls of goodbye and disappeared, leaving Adela and Tommy alone.

‘It’s been just three weeks since the last show, yet somehow I’ve gone from everyone’s best friend to the girl no one wants around.’ Adela fixed Tommy with troubled eyes. ‘What’s happened in three weeks?’

Tommy met her look. ‘For starters, you and Prince Sanjay are what’s happened. They were jealous– I was jealous– you chose to go with him rather than with us to the after-show party. Should never turn your back on the pack, my girl.’

‘I regret that now ...’

‘But they would have got over that,’ Tommy went on. ‘You were providing some juicy gossip going off to his country retreat– we love all that stuff, don’t we?’

‘It’s Nina, isn’t it?’ Adela guessed. ‘She’s changed people towards me.’