by Isobel Chace
“I can manage very well on my own,” I said to Joseph.
He wasn’t in the least put out.
“Nonsense. You’re going to need all the help you can get! Friends on these occasions are half the battle. Didn’t you know that?”
“I’ve heard it,” I admitted cautiously. “But how can we be sure of our friends?”
He was hurt. I watched helplessly as he struggled with his feelings. First he was angry and then became more chagrined. “What have I done to offend you?” he asked at last.
I shook my head, searching for some way of easing the wound I had inflicted.
“I wasn’t thinking of you in particular,” I assured him. “It’s just that I never realized how personalities come into this kind of work.”
Joseph flashed a look of inquiry at me.
“You can’t expect to live in your shell forever,” he said quite gently.
“I suppose not,” I agreed abruptly. “But it would be a great deal more comfortable!”
Joseph laughed. He had fully recovered his good humor and was determined to cheer me up.
“Have you forgotten that we set a seal on our friendship?” he reminded me.
I blushed a little, remembering his kiss.
“No,” I said uncertainly. “No, I hadn’t forgotten.”
“Well, then,” he began reasonably, “how could you even suppose that I would desert you in your hour of need?”
I thought about it seriously, wondering at my own lack of confidence. “I’ll tell you what it is,” I confided in him on a note of sudden levity, “I have the feeling you’re a friend to every girl!” His mock indignation amused me.
“I might flirt a little, but I never hurt anyone, do I?”
I wriggled my feet in the sun. The mud had baked hard around my toes and it was a pleasant sensation breaking out of the cocoon of sandy clay.
“There’s Camilla.”
Joseph started guiltily. “You ask an awful lot of a guy!” he expostulated. “Camilla is a pretty little thing!”
“Very pretty!” I agreed lazily.
“But too young for me, of course!”
“Oh yes?” I prompted him.
He put his hand on his heart. “What do you want, Suki? A full-blown confession about how I cast a glance in her direction?”
I shook my head. “Camilla isn’t my business. You’re not, either, come to that!”
“But supposing she were?” he prompted me. He rolled over onto his side and gazed at me with innocent eyes. “Supposing we both were, what then?”
I smiled lazily at him.
“I’d warn you off, I suppose.”
“Because Camilla is only seventeen?”
“I suppose so.”
He plucked an ear of corn and tickled my nose with it. “And would that be your only reason?” he asked me.
I sneezed. I had never played this sort of game before and I was surprised to find that I was enjoying it.
“I don’t know. It might be.”
He reached over and kissed my cheek. “I consider myself duly warned off.” He kissed me again. “Especially when there’s such tempting bait so close to hand!”
“Joseph Groton.”
He looked very innocent, young and all-American.
“Are you warning me off again?” he asked with an injured air. He was terribly attractive and! didn’t think of Timothy at all. “I’m not warning you at all,” I said.
“Lakshmi!”
The Indian girl came running. She wore a new sari of peacock blue edged with white and silver. She looked as bright and as quick as a kingfisher flashing through sunshine and water.
“My, my!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been, Miss Suki? I’ll set the fire and draw you a bath straight away!”
I brushed the red dust off my cheeks and laughed.
“I’ve been talking to the panchayat about building a dam—” Lakshmi gave me a bright-eyed look.
“Did Mr. Joseph help to persuade them?” she asked.
“He arrived when it was all over,” I replied repressively. “And very welcome, I’m sure,” she said in much the same tones that I could remember my mother using.
I met her teasing, feminine eyes as calmly as I could. “Perhaps,” I admitted.
I was just drying myself when the telephone sounded shrilly in the hall. Annoyed, I waited for someone else to answer it. But Lakshmi was afraid of the telephone and she ignored the sharp ringing of the bell until I could bear it no longer. Pulling my towel around me, I rushed out into the corridor and picked up the receiver.
“Yes, what is it?” I asked testily.
There was a gulping noise at the other end.
“What’s the matter?” I demanded.
“There’s been an accident!”
I pulled myself together and clasped my towel more tightly around me.
“Where? Who is this?”
“This is Julie speaking—”
“Oh, really?” Despite myself my voice was tinged with ice. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no! It isn’t me. Though I must say I was very nearly hurt as well. It was so careless and unnecessary. Gideon ought to have known better!”
At the mention of his name I went cold.
“Julie, has anything happened to Gideon?”
She gave a quick, nervous laugh.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Gideon would insist on playing polo and I told him that the horses were wild—and—and it slipped.”
I had a terrible vision of Gideon lying, twisted, on the ground while Julie wrung her fingers on the sidelines.
“The pony slipped?” I prompted her hollowly.
“Yes,” she gulped. “It was awful! I cried and cried.”
That I could imagine.
“And Gideon?” I asked dryly.
“He’s broken a leg. And, really it’s most peculiar, he wants you to come out immediately and drive him home.”
“Me or Joseph?” I asked.
“He said you,” Julie answered in the same bewildered tones. “It isn’t at all necessary. I told him I would drive him and Camilla home and stay on and nurse him, but he said I would be more useful calming my parents. They’re terribly upset, naturally.”
“Naturally,” I agreed. “I’ll come straight away.”
I could imagine the scene as I put down the receiver, Camilla sulky and unresponsive, Julie’s parents annoyed that such a thing should have happened in their perfectly run Indian retreat, and Gideon, impatient with pain, shouting orders at everyone.
I had only the vaguest idea of my destination, but I was reasonably sure that I could find the way if I started off right, and as there were only two roads leading out of the village, I could hardly go wrong.
The road went through trees full of chattering monkeys. It was difficult to get away from animal life in India. People, monkeys, cattle, birds and insects jostled one another for existence. Snakes came and went, seeking peace and solitude and sometimes food, and terrifying everyone they met. Normally I rather liked to see this teeming life all around me, but today the monkeys became almost intolerable, throwing twigs and stones at the jeep and swinging toward me out of the trees until I really began to believe they were going to leap in with me.
I took the most used track when I came to the first fork. The jeep crashed over a half-concealed stone and the engine faltered. So concerned was I to keep the thing on the road that I failed to catch the faltering spark and the engine died completely. The monkeys came closer and closer, inquisitively watching my every movement. One of them, braver than the rest, jumped down on the hood and made a face at me. I was really scared then. They were so incredibly human in their movements.
It was a great relief when the engine suddenly sprang into life. I blew the horn and started off down the road again, scattering the monkeys as I went. It was farther than I had thought and I was beginning to wonder if I had come the right way. I came to a small village and made inquiries from the
only inhabitant I could find. The directions he gave me were vague, but I gathered I was on the right road.
When I finally reached the entrance there was no mistaking it. Two enormous, concrete lions marked the gates, towering over the sign that said this was the Burnett residence. Beyond this imposing beginning was an avenue of trees, now badly neglected but nevertheless still handsome. I steered the jeep up the rough drive and rumbled over the pitted surface toward what had once been a quietly tasteful and spacious house. Now it was painted violent pink. The roof was overgrown with ivy and a general air of neglect hung over the place.
Halfway up the drive a man leaped out from behind a tree and waved me down. I came to a halt beside him and he jumped into the jeep beside me with a flurry of words.
“Sahib Wait very sick man. Better you take him home. This house not welcome to a sick man. One sick man more than enough, don’t you say? Miss Julie waits for you on the verandah. The memsahib gone to bed.”
“Oh?” I said weakly. “Really?”
“Not a good day for anyone,” the Indian went on with complete satisfaction. “Very sad!”
“Do you know where Dr. Wait is?” I asked him.
“But of course. That is why I wait for you to come, to show you the way. I am the most completely reliable servant. You will see.” He directed me to drive around the house and park in the shade of a large tree.
“I take you straight away to Sahib Wait,” he told me.
He led the way, his bare feet completely silent on the stone floor of the verandah, and took me through a door that was swathed with mosquito netting. It was dark inside and very cool and I stood still for an instant enjoying the contrast. The Indian beckoned me onward and opened a door into a darkened bedroom.
“The Sahib is in here,” he said.
It was a minute or so before I could see much beyond the general shapes of the furniture. I went toward the bed as quietly as possible in case Gideon was sleeping.
“Hello, Suki.”
I jumped, terribly relieved that he should sound so very much himself.
“Oh, Gideon!” I gulped.
He chuckled, and I was very conscious that I had used his Christian name and not his title.
“Why did you come?” he asked. “I thought it would be Joseph.” I hesitated.
“I answered the telephone. Julie said you wanted me to come.” I couldn’t have sounded very sure of myself because he hastened to reassure me.
“A much prettier chauffeur, anyway.”
I could see him more clearly now. He looked as hale and hearty as ever and not in the least in need of my sympathy.
“Julie said you were hurt!” I exclaimed.
He made a face at me. “So I am! I rather think I’ve broken my leg. Damned pony rolled on it.”
I tried to look sympathetic, but my curiosity overcame me. “What on earth were you doing playing polo?” I asked.
He grinned. “I do play, you know,” he said. “And anyway, the old man likes a game. I’d forgotten all the same,” he went on dryly, “that he couldn’t bear to lose. I shot the second goal for my side and then bang, wallop, and this!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that he tripped up my mount!” he said bitterly.
“But that’s dreadful!” I exclaimed, shocked. “And where’s Camilla?”
“In a state,” her brother replied. “I told her to go off by herself and calm down until the doctor came.”
I gave him a furious look.
“How could you?” I demanded hotly. “You know she didn’t want to come in the first place! I’ll go and look for her!”
A strong hand shot out from the bedclothes and grabbed me around the wrist.
“Oh no, you won’t! I know exactly how she’s feeling, but she has to learn to get on with the rough as well as the smooth. Julie spent all day being nice to her, but Camilla couldn’t see it!”
I tried to imagine Julie being nice to anyone.
“I don’t think she will ever like her much,” I put in.
“That’s beside the point!” Gideon snapped back. “She doesn’t like Julie’s parents either! Nor do I, for that matter, but Julie is the one who has to live with them day in and day out, and I admire the way she does it, without a word of complaint. She has courage, that girl!”
I felt quite as sulky as Camilla.
“And where is she?” I asked.
Gideon leaned back and closed his eyes. Accustomed now to the dim light, I could see the lines of pain etched around his eyes and the paleness of his cheeks.
“She’s getting a doctor.”
There seemed to be nothing to do but wait and so I sat down gingerly on the edge of a chair and looked around me. There was no mistaking the fact that the owners of the house had lived in India for a long time. The only table was mounted on an elephant’s foot and various trophies hung around the walls, trailing ribbons that were faded and dirty, relics of an era that had completely disappeared. A tiger’s skin lay on the floor, the head realistically growling in my direction.
“I suppose someone shot it?” I said with distaste.
Gideon laughed weakly.
“Mr. Burnett, no doubt! What an impossible girl you are!”
We sat in silence after that, waiting for someone to come and restore our spirits. Gideon was more and more obviously in pain and I getting more and more worried about him. But when Julie and the doctor came it was almost an anticlimax. Julie came running into the room, the tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes and her hair prettily ruffled by the wind.
“Gideon, he says you’ll have to go to the hospital for an X ray. What shall we do?”
Gideon opened his eyes and looked at her.
“Nonsense! Tell him to come and set it here and then I can go home.”
“You’re so terribly brave!” she sobbed.
I looked at the two of them with growing disgust.
“I suppose you want to limp for the rest of your life!” I said with some asperity. “Of course you’ll go to the hospital. Where is the doctor?”
A small Indian doctor approached.
“The gentleman is in much pain,” he said softly. “Perhaps it would be better if the ladies left until I have made him more comfortable.”
Gideon laughed shortly. “Perhaps you’d better!” he said.
Julie walked tearfully toward the door with me following, a pace or two behind.
“Poor Gideon!” I said with a sympathetic smile.
The tears came harder and she frowned at me.
“Yes,” she said. “But do you know that child actually said it was all our fault! As if it wasn’t bad enough for poor, darling papa. I shall never invite her here again!”
Which was just as well, I felt, as I doubted whether Camilla would have come.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Camilla was decidedly sulky, but she cheered up a little when she saw me.
“How’s Gideon?” she asked immediately.
“He’s all right!” I told her. “What did you imagine? He’s more impatient than hurt!”
“Really?” She took a deep breath of relief. “It was awful!” she added, and shivered at the memory.
Julie rounded on her savagely, her face pinched with temper.
“You keep quiet, miss!” she spat. “We’ve had enough trouble from you!”
I was startled out of the composure I had assumed for Camilla’s benefit.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You weren’t there!” Julie said nastily.
Camilla went scarlet with rage and I cut in quickly.
“Of course I wasn’t there and I’m very glad. It was obviously a great shock to you all. May Camilla and I go out into the garden while we wait to hear what the doctor has to say? And then I’ll be taking her home—and Gideon, too, if he’s well enough.”
Julie recovered herself with difficulty. Her face was still pinched and white around the mouth and her eyes blazed with temper as she l
ooked at me, but her voice was as soft as honey as she answered.
“Of course you want to have a look around,” she agreed. “I’ll go back to Gideon and see if he wants anything.”
I nodded my head and she went tripping out of the room. Camilla contained herself with difficulty until she had gone and then she burst into tears.
“It was awful!” she said again. “Suki, they tripped him because he scored a goal. I saw them!”
“But it was only a game,” I said easily. “Who was playing?”
“That’s what was so ridiculous!” she exclaimed tearfully. “There weren’t enough people to play a proper game of polo and so they were really just playing about. Mr. Burnett was on one side, with two of the servants to help him, and Gideon and the other two were playing against them. They set up a couple of makeshift goals, and it was terrific fun at first—all the time Mr. Burnett was winning. He shot a goal almost immediately and we all clapped and he was terribly pleased. But then Gideon whacked two into the other goal almost before he could turn around and he deliberately pushed his stick between Gideon’s pony’s legs. Of course the pony tripped!”
