part0010

A week later Ruth sat fretfully in a cane chair on the verandah, trying to concentrate on a magazine. It was 10 a.m. and John had gone in the jeep on his daily inspection of the estate. She gazed outside and blinked her eyes against the glare. Presently she heard the hum of an approaching car. For a moment, she thought it was her husband returning from work. Then she remembered that he would not be back before noon for lunch. Shortly later the car came into view and she recognised Robert's Buick. Ruth did not like Nicholson. He had always been polite, yet she realised he knew she did not quite fit into the picture of things correctly. “What could the old fool want”, she thought.

As the car came closer she discovered that the driver was Ted Baker. And what was more, he was alone. The automobile came to a standstill under the porch and Ruth went down the steps to welcome her visitor.

"Good morning, Ruth", greeted the police officer, "I do hope I'm not intruding on your time, but as I was passing I thought of dropping in for a few minutes".

"Of course, Ted; you're welcome. I'm so glad you came. Do come in and have tea", she invited. "I see you're beginning to feel the effects of tropical India". Ruth smiled teasingly as the new Superintendent sank into the cane chair she had vacated and wiped his sweating forehead.

"Bearer", she called, and to the servant who noiselessly presented himself, "please bring some tea and biscuits".

Chandra bowed and disappeared as silently as he had come.

"Why perch on that uncomfortable chair? Come, sit on this sofa. It's far more cosy", Ruth continued.

Ted rose and followed her to the settee a few feet away, where he sat down beside her.

"How do you like your job and India in general? Or should I not talk shop so soon?" she asked.

"Well, as things go, I like both. Life here is a great change. How about you?"

"Hmm", she replied, "I detest the country, its climate and the people. They get on my nerves. The servants particularly, appearing as if from nowhere".

As she uttered these words Ruth started visibly, for there beside her stood the bearer holding a tray with the biscuits and tea she had ordered. The sombre dark eyes of the Indian looked down upon her, and in that glance Ted thought he detected contempt and dislike. The man must have overheard her.

"Set the tray down on the table over here please", Ruth spoke sharply.

Chandra obeyed and left the room as silently as he had twice entered it, his bare feet making no noise on the stone floor. She busied herself mixing two cups of tea and offered the biscuits, to Ted.

"Thanks" he murmured, helping himself to one.

"Excuse my fingers" she interjected as she placed another biscuit on the side of his saucer.

"Why worry, it'll taste all the nicer". Ted uttered the words merely as a gesture to meet the occasion but caught the coy glance she gave him in answer to his remark.

They sipped their tea awhile quietly. Finally, Baker broke the silence.

"I'm sorry you have that opinion about India. I think it's a nice country. It's beautiful. And the people are interesting. I confess I feel the heat a lot. What would we not give back home for this sunshine, although over here I do admit it's a bit oppressive!"

"Well, at least you go about, but I'm stuck in this damned bungalow all day while John is out. It's awfully monotonous".

"I suppose it is", he commented, "but you'll get accustomed to it in time".

"Now you're talking like John. I've been worrying him to take me to Calcutta or Bombay, but he's wedded to his plantation and says he cannot leave till after the monsoons are over. God alone knows how I'm going to stick it till then". She sounded cross.

They had drained their cups by this time and Ruth refilled them.

"I wish you would call over more frequently. I cannot tell you how nice it is to have someone to chat to". The words were spoken huskily and Ruth gazed into the young man's eyes. He found he could not meet that look, and his own eyes dropped to the floor as he felt himself reddening. She moved a trifle closer and her left knee brushed lightly against his thigh. They chatted noncommittally about one thing and another. The clock struck ten. It would take another hour before John would be back. Ruth allowed her hand to rest on his fore-arm as she bent forward and asked,

"Please get me a cigarette, and take one yourself, Ted. The box is in the showcase over there. I feel too lazy to get up".

"Certainly", he responded, and arose to oblige her.

Ruth leaned towards him when he stooped to light her cigarette and the neck of her dress fell forward. His eyes travelled down the deep cleft clearly revealed and stayed there longingly. Ruth knew that he had seen. Her lower lip began to tremble a little.

The sound of a car broke in on them at that moment. Baker straightened himself as Ruth said testily,

"That's John; he's much earlier than usual today".

He changed his seat to one of the cane chairs, and a few seconds later Greystone brought the jeep to a halt behind his car.

"Hello, Ted", he greeted; and then, noticing his visitor was unaccompanied asked, "didn't you bring Robert along?"

"No, he's busy at headquarters writing his final reports. As a matter of fact, he asked me to tell you he expected to sail for home in a fortnight and said he would drop in to wish you and Ruth in a day or two".

"Care for a drink?" Greystone queried.

"No thanks", Ted answered, "I've been drinking tea with Ruth while comparing our impressions on India".

For a moment, there was silence. John seemed preoccupied. Then he said, "A Congress blighter came to my coolie lines last evening and has been setting my men up against me. I noticed a marked change in them this morning and wondered why they were so sullen till my maistry told me all about it. I expect you Police-wallahs must be experiencing this sort of thing, too. What are you going to do about it?" John asked the question with a note of anxiety. He knew only too well what labour trouble meant and where it would lead.

"Robert has been telling me quite a lot and giving me tips on how to deal with the situation. Personally, I don't see what there is to be so perturbed about. In any case, labour disputes are cropping up all over the world now-a-days. So, what's there to be unduly worried over if they occur in India, it’s inevitable." Ted's assertion sounded quite matter of fact.

Greystone sat up abruptly in his chair. He was aghast and showed it. No wonder the Empire was crumbling and the British losing control if this was the sort of officer sent out from England in these critical times to maintain order in a country where conditions were growing rapidly worse each day.

He leaned forward and began to speak earnestly. "I don't know what Robert told you, but I would like to offer a word of advice. You are young and just out from England. You don't understand the East, or the eastern way of thinking. I can assure you it's very different from Western ways and ideas. I should know; for I was born and bred here. What you don't realise is that all this is only part of a much bigger move to kick us out of India. Apart from Gandhi's congressmen, there's a large Communist element being instigated by the Bolshies. As it stands, the life of a white man in some of the more remote parts of the country is now in a state of perpetual danger. No doubt you get your Police reports. You can see for yourself conditions are getting pretty rotten up north. The Government has to do something about it and do it quickly, or the country will be in an uproar".

"That's more or less what Robert told me, but after all what is it that we can do?" asked Ted. "How long do you expect a small country like England to hold the millions of India under control? I think we should give them whatever it is they are asking for and be done with it".

The planter was about to retort when Ruth burst out "There we go again. Now it's this Mahatma Gandhi character and his Congress followers. Let's talk of something else".

"I'm sorry dear, but I wanted to tell Ted about this trouble-maker who came to the coolie-lines".

"How about the tiger?" Baker interjected changing the subject, "any news of the blighter? I should like to have a smack at him".

"No, he appears to have vanished, and I do hope his departure is permanent. The Congress wallah by himself is bad enough, without further killings by the man-eater. That would bring about a crisis. Labour is bloody hard to get nowadays without all these factors to drive it away".

"You have a problem there", admitted Ted. Then, rising to his feet, he went on, "Well, I must be going as I have to return to the office to sign some papers. Robert is bent upon putting me into harness as early as possible".