‘Here in Juraipore.’
Not here. Not right under Jay’s nose! She fought to conceal her horror and, realizing that she had been twisting her hands in her lap, now stilled them. ‘So soon?’
‘We are not getting any younger and if we are to hear the patter of little feet … well, the sooner we start practising the better.’
He reddened and she tried to pretend she hadn’t seen it by closing her eyes. It was July, so that meant she only had three months. As she thought that, the vision of Jay grew in intensity.
‘I was hoping to be a photographer for a little longer. Before having children, I mean,’ she said in a calm voice, as if it was a perfectly ordinary thing to suggest.
‘Eliza, you are thirty now. We can’t realistically put it off. So no, I think not.’
Her eyes shot open. ‘But I was thinking of taking photographs all over the world. Paris or London at the very least.’
He reached out and grabbed her hand. ‘You are not listening. I said no. You will be a wife and mother, and an eminently capable one at that. Rest assured it will keep you fully occupied.’ He patted her hand and let it go. ‘Best keep the photography for a hobby, there’s a girl.’
Eliza got to her feet and feeling the steel inside her looked at him full on. ‘If I am to marry you, Clifford, we need to get one thing clear. I will not be ordered to do, or not to do, anything. And tomorrow I am going to the castle to retrieve my belongings. I trust you will allow me a car, or would you prefer if I went by a camel with a pull cart? It’s how I arrived, after all.’
She took a few steps away and heard him stand to come after her, but when she twisted back to look she saw that he had walked the other way and was leaving the garden.
When Chatur met her at the top of the long ramp leading to the main gate, all the words she had been practising flew from her mind. As he took a step towards her he waved a few sheets of blackened photographic paper, the type she used for her contact prints.
She frowned. ‘What’s this? Why is it black?’ He held up his darkened fingertips and passed her the paper.
She sniffed. ‘Why has it been burned?’
He displayed a sorrowful face. ‘I am desolate. There was a fire.’
It was fire she smelt, but more than that she smelt lies and deception too. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said. ‘Where?’
‘Darkroom went up in flames and so did your bedroom.’
‘You mean all my equipment and all my clothes?’ Eliza spoke in a thin, hard voice, as if all the air had been punched out of her.
‘Burned to a cinder.’ He shook his head. ‘Terrible pity.’
Eliza narrowed her eyes, tilting her head to one side so that he knew she doubted him, then wiped away the sweat beading at her hairline as the distress inside her worsened.
‘When was this?’ she asked.
Once again he gave her a sorrowful look. ‘Only last night, and here you are the following morning. So close and yet so far. Such a pity.’
There was nothing to be gained from further argument, but something calculating about his eyes hardened her resolve. Unable to think of an adequate reply, her jaw stiffened. She glanced up at the mighty castle, then she turned her back on Chatur and climbed back into the car without saying goodbye.
Back at Dottie’s house her resolve faded. It seemed that every time she climbed out of the well of despair something pushed her back down. She closed her eyes, picturing the depths of a real well. In Rajputana dark dank wells had been used for suicides as well as murders, and probably still were. It was enough to shake her out of the panicky moment, but still she felt shredded. Without her equipment and without her clothes, all she had was the remains of Oliver’s nest egg, the monthly sums she had saved and the small savings fund her mother had left in a secure post office in Cheltenham. Hardly a fortune.
She felt so angry and frustrated she swore and stamped about her bedroom at Dottie’s. Breathlessly hot and not knowing how to rid herself of such fury, she lay prostrate, face down on her bed, and thumped the pillow, wishing it was that devil Chatur.
Dottie must have heard her, because she came in and squatted down beside the bed. Eliza turned over to look at her and Dottie smiled encouragingly and asked what all the noise was about. Eliza flared at her. ‘The bastards have destroyed all my equipment.’
‘Who?’
‘Chatur and the castle. They burned everything. I didn’t believe it at first, but it is exactly the sort of thing they do. Well, Chatur would. I just don’t understand how they knew I’d be going up there today.’
‘My dear, maybe Clifford phoned to let them know you’d be going. You know … trying to help. Anyway, you can buy more equipment, can’t you?’
Eliza shook her head, then added, ‘My clothes have gone up in flames too. I only have these few things.’ She pointed at the wardrobe.
Dottie smiled conspiratorially. ‘No need for despair. Just get up and follow me.’
