But Hussein reassured him, secretly pointing out his men, who had followed him cunningly, and sat about the coffee house. The former soldiers were armed, and the youth was a subtle youth, so Hussein felt himself secure against mischance. Then Hussein, after he had answered a great many questions, asked the old man to get a message to Sashiya. He wrote it there, asking her to be on the roof garden that night.
Awaiting that time he went to see the red-bearded fakir. As he walked through Haiderabad he was conscious of a slight annoyance that it had not changed at all; it seemed that the city had not remarked his absence. He found the fakir sitting where he always sat, looking as unpleasant as ever.
‘Well, mahout,’ said the fakir, as Hussein sat before him, ‘so you have come back.’
‘That is plain,’ replied Hussein, who no longer felt in such awe of the holy man — he had seen so many of them in his walking up and down.
‘You have become rich,’ said the fakir, after a pause. Hussein did not reply. He had come to make sure that there was no curse on the rubies, or to have one removed, if it existed, but he did not desire to pay a rich man’s price for it.
‘And you wish me to remove the potent curse upon Kali’s necklace.’
The talk ceased for several minutes.
‘It is of no use to endeavour to deceive me: I am aware of all things. Give me five hundred rupees. Come; hastily.’
Hussein hesitated. ‘But surely the amulet you gave me will cover all curses?’ he said.
‘But if there were a certain curse on the rubies your woman would die in childbirth after she had put them on.’
‘Here are a hundred and fifty.’
The fakir gazed at Hussein steadily, but did not speak.
‘Now see, here are two hundred and fifteen — a lordly sum, is it not?’
There was no reply. Hussein got up to go, and the fakir laughed. Hussein sat again, and put five hundred in the fakir’s hand.
‘There is no curse upon them; a priest stole them. There will be no curse,’ said the fakir, counting the notes and folding them. Then he turned his back, and Hussein walked away with a meditative air.
The evening came, and the night came. There was a brilliant moon. In the courtyard of the house next to Sashiya’s the fig tree stood as it had stood before for Hussein. There was a strange constriction in his throat as he climbed, his knees felt weak, and he trembled. He was an hour too early, but Sashiya was there.
For half an hour they said but little, holding one another very closely, and talking with no words. And for a long while they said and did nothing that has not been said and done by half the world when it was young.
When this was over, Hussein said, ‘Heart’s ease, we have waited long enough. Will you come away with me to-night?’
‘Yes, best-beloved, I will come with you.’
Then Hussein knew that the tale that he had told for himself had come true, and he breathed deeply. In the moonlight he brought out the rubies, and hung them about her neck; they flamed on her honey skin.
The moon moved half across the sky while he explained all things. It was as though they floated on a sea of immeasurable happiness.
They crept down the tree to the place where Jehangir and his men awaited him; Hussein bade the men go before him to Laghat.
Three shooting stars blazed across the sky, and Hussein and Sashiya went away upon Jehangir.
About the Author
HUSSEIN
PATRICK O’BRIAN was the author of the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin tales and the biographer of Joseph Banks and Picasso. His first novel, Testimonies, and his Collected Short Stories have recently been reprinted by HarperCollins. He translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and the first volume of Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle. In 1995 he was the first recipient of the Heywood Hill Prize for a lifetime’s contribution to literature. In the same year he was awarded the CBE. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Trinity College, Dublin. He died in January 2000 at the age of 85.
The Works of Patrick O’Brian
The Aubrey/Maturin Novels
in order of publication
MASTER AND COMMANDER
POST CAPTAIN
HMS SURPRISE
THE MAURITIUS COMMAND
DESOLATION ISLAND
THE FORTUNE OF WAR
THE SURGEON’S MATE
THE IONIAN MISSION
TREASON’S HARBOUR
THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
THE LETTER OF MARQUE
THE THIRTEEN–GUN SALUTE
THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION
CLARISSA OAKES
THE WINE–DARK SEA
THE COMMODORE
THE YELLOW ADMIRAL
THE HUNDRED DAYS
BLUE AT THE MIZZEN
Novels
TESTIMONIES
THE CATALANS
THE GOLDEN OCEAN
THE UNKNOWN SHORE
RICHARD TEMPLE
CAESAR
HUSSEIN
Tales
THE LAST POOL
THE WALKER
LYING IN THE SUN
THE CHIAN WINE
COLLECTED SHORT STORIES
Biography
PICASSO
JOSEPH BANKS
Anthology
A BOOK OF VOYAGES
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2000
First published by Oxford University Press in 1938
Second edition published by the British Library in 1999
Copyright © Patrick O’Brian 1938, 1999
Patrick O’Brian asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Epub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780007466436
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