Chapter 12-

The Room with a View

" THIS is a wonderful room,' said Sudden appreciatively.

'I've just had it done up.' Henry told him.

Where did you get the curtains?"

'Bought them in Calcutta. Handloom stuff.

'Damn good; oh, damn good! I wish some of the other managers were as particular about keeping up the company's houses.

"I am very glad you like it, sir."

'Like it? It's wonderful! I must remember to tell Kitty about it. Possibly bring her here, for thenext inspection. What do you think?"

'It would be a very good idea, sir."

They had finished dinner, and Henry had come into the spare room to ask Sudden if he wanted anything.

It was a wonderful room, as Sudden had said, this rooni at the end of the bungalow with its breath-taking view of the immense Koyna valley; the spare-room, cosy and private and made to order for romance; the spare-room with its corner fire-place and its cheer- ful handloom curtains and its pale-green Kalimpong rug, its narrow bachelor bed with the sponge-rubber mattress specially installed for Ruby Miranda's visits.

Sudden was sitting on the bed, smoking a cigar. He was already in his pyjamas, and he wore a gorgeous yellow dressing-gown made of Hyderabad brocade. He looked more like a Roman Emperor than ever, Nero in an expansive mood, thought Henry, Wonderful mattress, this. I never knew these rubber mattresses could be so comfortable."

Oh, yes, they're very comfortable,' said Henry. 'Is there any- thing else you would like?"

What I should like is a night-cap; just whisky-and-water. Why don't you join me?" The boy brought the bottle of the specially stocked Black Dog whisky and a jug of water and some glasses on a tray, and Henry poured out the drinks.

'Draw up a chair,' invited Sudden. With the ending of the crisis their relationship seemed to have automatically slipped back into the old groove. Sudden had once again assumed command. Try a cigar,' said Sudden, holding out his pigskin case.

Thank you, sir,' said Henry, taking one of Sudden's Coronas, They're rather special. The Army and Navy Stores import them for me ." They certainly look special; and they smell awfully good."

That dog of yours: is he any good as a bird dog? or just put ting up women?" asked Sudden, but there was a glint in his eyes and a suggestion of a smile on his face.

'He's a first-class retriever; absolutely first-class."

'Handome beast. I suppose he's one of the Banchory lot."

"That's right, sir."

I must congratulate you, Henry, on the way you handled those men to-day,' said Sudden, with the air of a man coming to the main item on the agenda.

"It was easy, sir, dead easy. I know those roohes, daumit. Ishould

know them. I know each one of them, almost, by name." 'I didn't know how it was all going to end up. No one likes... likes a bloody flare-up, you know, of any kind....

I had assured you there was going to be no flare-up, Sir Jeffrey," said Henry.

"Ah, but you were the only one who seemed to be so sure. I wasn't I'm sure the inspector wasn't. And Arkell had warned me to expect all hell to break loose if we didn't give his men the fullest freedoni of action....

"You saw how meekly the vent away, sir."

'Indeed I did. Do you think they'll behave from now on?"

'Yes: now that their leaders have been nabbed. The coolies, left to themselves, are no trouble at all."

Frankly, I had never expected anyone could get away with so much, er... firmness,' said Sudden, wagging his head. "The police, yes, but not one of the managers."

It was Sudden himself who had always insisted upon firmness. Was he being sarcastic? Henry wondered.

'But you yourelf have said, often enough, Sir Jeffrey, that that's the only way to deal with coolies. They're like animals. Once they begin their headlong stampede no one can stop them: before the stampede begins, you can whip them back."

"But one can never tell with a mob, Henry. I really thought you were taking far too much upon yourself... sticking out your neck, rather."

I just had to. Did you know the inspector's idea was a lathi- charge against the strikers-break some heads?" I expect the police here just have to depend upon a certain amount of violence. It was wonderful, of course, the way it went off; but if it had gone wrong... Well, the people at home would have raised God's own trouble. One has to be extremely careful in the present political climate; with all these Gandhis and Nehrus preaching sedition all over the bloody country." Would you care for another of these?' asked Henry.

"Only if you're having one,' said Sudden, holding out his glass. Henry poured out two more drinks.

'Chin chin,' said Sudden.

"Chin chin, sir."

'I say, I've been meaning to ask you. Do you think it would be ...er, advisable, in view of what has happened, if I were to trans fer this chap Trevor to one of the other gardens, say, a month or two from now?'

'No, sir! Oh, no! That would at once be taken as an admission of... Well, it wouldn't do at all to move Trevor."

You personally have no objection to the chap?

'None at ail.

'Oh! Somehow I rather got the impression that you hated his guts."

'No, sir. He seems perfectly all right, and very eager to learn,

from what little I have seen of him." I'm glad. But I don't want to keep him here if there's going to be any repetition of this kind of thing; just on account of him."

There's no possibility of that now."

I'm very glad, Henry. As it was. I was feeling, at least, er... partially responsible for this trouble. After all, it was I who insisted that you should take on this chap...." "You must have had your own reasons, sir."

What's that?" asked Sudden, leaning forward.

'Well, sometimes one doesn't quite know the full reason for any higher-level decision; and then one tries to oppose that decision. Only till it is finalized, of course. Once the decision is final, it is equally the decision of the subordinate as well as of his chief. From then on it's everyone's business to see that it is carried through."

'That's true enough. Still, I don't like being somehow connected with this sort of trouble, you know.... There can be no question of that. The responsibility, initially, is Wallach's, for encouraging this sort of nonsense. More directly, it's Jugal Kishore's."

"If you ask me, it is just a sign of the times,' pronounced Sudden. Just a sign of the times: what with the damage done at home by the labour movement....

Sudden must have got back to normal at last, thought Henry, now that he had begun to talk like an oracle. It was time to finish his drink and say good night.

But it was clear that Sudden himself hadn't finished. He was still being expansive, gracious, generous with praise.

Is there anything special you'd like to ask, Henry?" said Sudden a few minutes later. I mean, now that I'm here, is there anything you have in mind wanting to put up to me officially?"

'As a matter of fact, there is, Sir Jeffrey

'And what is it. Henry?"

"When I was in Chennar for the Week, you asked me if I would like to go home on leave this year, although I'm not due to go until 1940. You said that six months in England would do me a lot of good."

"Oh, did I? I couldn't have meant it terribly seriously, you know; there was no question at any time of casting aspersions on your efficiency. It is just one of those things. At that time. I had not seen you breaking up a serious labour agitation single-handed. what?

'Hardly single-handed, sir. You were there too, which helped, and of course the police. But as I was saying: you asked me then if I wanted to go on leave now instead of 1940. Well I do."

"What?"

"Want to go on leave; if it is at all possible.

"When?"

"Right away, sir, the sooner the better."

Sudden looked at Henry with narrowed eyes Then he said, 'Give me another drink, Henry."

He sipped the drink for a while in silence, looking intently into the fire. Then he said, 'I suppose it is a small thing to ask, really. All right. I shall be sending you the orders as soon as I get back to Chinnar, well, as soon as I can find someone to relieve you. But on your part, when the situation here is perfectly normal, you can consider yourself to be on home leave."

Thank you, sir.' said Henry. Thank you very much."'

RETURN FROM LEAVE

Good-bye Miss Chips

THE Silent Hill tea estate was bathed in the autumn sunlight, clean and rain-washed: the tea bushes, bright-green and disciplined, pro vided the perfect background for the colourful crawling lines of women plucking; the tin-roofed factory building was freshly painted and humming with activity. Even from the bungalow, you could see the way things were going: there was an air of prosperity, of vigorous growth, even of serene contentment.

It was Cockburn sahib's hand,' the coolies had been saying to each other, for it was Cockburn who had heen managing the estate during Henry's absence on leave: Cockburn who was due to retire in March and who had agreed to stay on and look after the Silent Ilill estate so that Henry Winton could take home leave a whole year before he was due for it. Everything had fallen under a smooth. easy routine under Cockburn's guardianship; slipshod, easy-going. hard drinking Cockburn: he must have tea running in his veins instead of blood, Henry reflected-rich, hot, sweet tea laced with

And now, with the war on, it looked as though Cockburn's retire- ment would have to be postponed indefinitely. No new college boys could be expected to come out from England to work in the tea- gardens until the war was over. Instead of being sent into retire ment as soon as Henry came back from leave, Cockburn had been asked by Sudden to remain in India as manager at Lamlung. It had taken a world war to give Cockburn the chance of achieving his modest heart's desire to go on being manager at Lamlung until he died. At least, the way things were going, it looked very much as though he would.

From the verandah of the bungalow, Henry Winton surveyed his sparkling domain snuggled against the stark immensity of the Himalayas. He flared his nostrils and s..iffed the pine-scented air, bracing his body on his strong, footballer's legs as though on a ship's swaying deck, feeling the mellow breeze against his face. He was looking down at the garden, once again his garden, and he was enjoying the process immensely. It was like coming home.

Cockburn had gone away, leaving him a cleaned-up, sweet smell. ing, happy tea-garden. He must take things up from there and clean up some of the clutter of his own personal life before Jean arrived. Owing to the onset of the war, her booking had had to be cancelled at the last minute, and she had been unable to come out with him. In a way. Henry had been thankful that the war and the consequent disruption of shipping schedules had provided him with a ready-made excuse to get to Silent Hill ahead of his bride and prepare the ground for her coming to get his private life running in tune with the smoothly running garden. It was Saturday, 30 September, and Henry had just finished breakfast. The number-one boy came out and announced, "The school Miss-sahib is here, sir."

The number-one houseboy was a new servant he had taken on, a trained Goanese boy who spoke English. Henry had not become used to a servant addressing him as 'str' instead of 'sahib".

'Show her into the gun-room, ordered Henry without turning his head. He filled his pipe, taking his time deliberately, taking his time so that he could once again run over what he was going to say to Ruby Miranda if she should choose to make a scene.

The cold formality of her reception did not altogether surprise Ruby Miranda, but it made her cheeks burn with anger. She fol lowed the boy into the gun-room. The boy drew up a chair for her in front of Henry's desk, salaamed, and went out, not cheeky or anything, but not polite and friendly like the old head boy either.

As Ruby Miranda stood by her chair, looking through the bars of the window into the valley below and following the red ribbon of the road going down to Tinapur, her mother's warning came back to her: "Don't go running after Englishmen; they don't marry our folk, Ma had warned her, 'Not the pucca ones.

It was her father who had felt more sure for her-bumbling, easy-going, rum-soaked, friend-of-the-world loco-shed sahib. He had always wanted everything of the best for his Roob-girl. 'No, fear, he had said to the others. 'It's chum who'll get the Englishman to marry her in the end. You can trust my Roob-girl to catch the Englishman!"

She had tried, his Roob-girl had tried terribly hard to catch the Englishman; she had even gone on her knees before ash-covered sadhus sitting naked under peepul trees. She had failed.

The bloody Englishmani will drop you in the muck! Eddie Trevor had warned her.

Henry Winton, the Englishman, had done just that. He had gone off to his country on eight months' leave and married an Fuglish girl. He had gone off on leave quite unexpectedly, without telling anyone of his plans. Now he was back, a married man. The wife was expected by the next P and O boat, though of course no one could say when the next P and O boat would be arriving: she might take a week, she might take six months, she might be sunk by Ger- man submannes Ruby almost hoped she would be sunk by al submarine.

So he was trying to get all his affairs shipshape before his wife arrived, just as he was getting his bungalow all spruced up to wel come her. Ruby looked inquiringly round the room. The brown. flowered Mirzapur carpet on the floor and the Peter Scott print on the wall had always been there. Then she happened to see the brand new chimning lock on the mantelpiece and, beside it, a large, silver- famed photograph.

So that was she: that was Jean Walters who had become Mrs. Henry Won. Ruby exammed the photograph carefully. The fate was a little too thin, perhaps, the nose a little too long to be really beautiful, but you could not escape the Englishness of her face. She had never thought he could manage to get hold of anyone quite so good-looking.

That was the woman for whom he was arranging his whole life, and his getting und ut Rby Muanda, was all a part of it. Just like getting an Inglish-speaking houseboy, and new furniture and curtains for the bungalow. At the same time, he was being con- siderate, doing his best to find a job fo er. and Ruby Miranda w grateful for all that he was dong. Goag back to Tinapur to her old life after all that had happened, to the squalor and poverty and shoddess, to the jibes of the blow vv, faded railway-colony matrons in their faded Mother-Hubbards, to the snuggers of the railway- colony gals who had always been jealous of her, would have been unthinkable.

Ruby Manda had never felt so mic-l-up in her life. She hated Henry with an all-consuming bitterness, as the man who had sturned her love, and she hated herself just as bitterly for her own complete dependence on him; having to look to him to provide hei with a job and save her from the humiliation of retuining to Tinapui.

At the moment, there was the mortification of being made to wait in the gun-tom. Nine months earlier, she was just getting used to the idea of coming into the bungalow whenever she liked. The old head boy and the other spivants had already begun to treat has as the memsahib, and Herman, the dog, used to give her a wildly affectionate greeting every time it saw her. She had even occupied the spare-bedroom in the house, just once. before the Chistmas holidays. At that time. Hemy had given her no indication that he would be going on leave within a couple of weeks If anything, she had got the impression that the room had been fitted out specially for her, that she could go on using it whenever she liked, go on using it until, she had hoped the tune came for her to move mto the mam bedroom. That time too had seemed close at hand but something had happened Something within huu must have snapped during that strike He had gone to England soon after wards, without any warming and now, on his retin, she was being made to wait in the gun toom just as though she were some erring supervisor who had been sent for by the manager sahih She watched Henry come in, wearing klaki shorts and thick woollen stockings and heavy soled boots, blue shut and old school scarf and a loose fitting brown tweed jacket, a heavy-shouldered. medium tall man with pale blue eyes and pale, already thinning. straw-coloured hair. He came in. mumbled 'Good morning, and sat down behind his desk pulling at his cherry coloured pipe with ex- ressive concentration.

The swine the little tn god snob the white swine! Ruby kept saying to herself. It he thinks I am going to cry or make a Mene of anything like that, he is totalls mistaken the bloody white wine!

Hemy looked at her appicciatively, even with a touch of his old longing for her. He glanced at the portrait on the mantelpiece. comparing the lush, dark, tropical loveliness of his nustiess posi tively shricking with sex appeal with the fan, virginal, English- rose type of beauty of his bride.

I have managed to wangle the job for you, he told her brightly. Ruby looked at the square lace, the pafe, receding hair, the long, thin nose, the clumsy roundness of the shoulders, and for the first time she wondered how any girl as good-looking as herself could have fallen in love with anyone as conspicuously plain as Henry Winton, and quickly shrank away from the answer that sprang to her mind: it was the fact that he was an Englishman, a passport to the dream world of Eurasian womanhood; this man who had been her lover and was now throwing her aside without explanation or apology merely because he had found for himself an all-white girl from his own country; expecting her to be grateful for finding her a job; to grovel before him for the crumbs falling from English tables. She gripped the arm of her chair hard. noticing that her knuckles were showing white and bloodless against the dark wood.

'The committee, as usual, had no views," said Henry. They wanted a cue from the chairman. I had primed him before, of course, and his only objection seemed to be that you were far too good- looking to be in charge of a club-house where most of the members are bachelors.

What made him change his mud?" asked Ruby. Henry looked at her in surprise. Nine months ago, she would have pronounced the same words. Wuth maide in chainge is muind?" Now there was little anyone could find fault with in her speech. She didn't speak like an English girl, of course-she never would: but she spoke the language as any well-educated foreigner would speak it. "Oh, his wife," said Henry breezily Shot the old boy down, for once. Lady Dart came out and said that a good-looking housekeeper would improve the attendance. Outspoken old dame! You can join right away. To-day, if y like."

Thanks,' said Ruby. Thanks for everything." He noticed that she was fully at home with the repetitive 'th sound. It was astonish- ing how well she had overcome the almost insurmountable lin guistic handicaps of her race.

'Damn good job,' remarked Henry, two hundred a month. Twice as much as your present pay and all found. Ruby Miranda was perfectly aware that they were taking her on at the Club only because they could not get another woman out from England on account of the war; but she did not say anything about that.

'How much did they use to pay Mrs. Maitland?" she asked. About five hundred rupees. But, remember, she was a planter's widow. Her husband died in... in the company's service.

'Also, she was an Englishwoman,' Ruby could not help pointing out.

There is that, of course, You will be the first.. ei, Anglo Indian housekeeper.

Thank you,' said Ruby again, as she rose from the chan

Henry leaned back in his swivel-chan and looked at Ruby Muanda. She had filled out a little during his absence, but the roundness went well with her type of beauty. His lifted his eyes to her face and for the first time became aware of the emotional storm raging within het. the pallor of the honey-coloured cheeks with the patches of rouge standing out angrily on the slightly prominent cheekbones, the trembling of the full, upe lips, the unutmal bughtness of the eyes bumming with tears H thought she had never looked lovelier, and for a moment he was os erwhelmed by his uld longing for ht.

Wait, said Henry. He got up and walked to the ammunition cupboard in the corn He unlocked the cupboard and took out the large, sparkling, gitt-bottle of Ch nel No which he had bought for hus wife from the duty free shop on the ship Silently, Henty held out the bottle to Ruliv observing her fate to see her teattins and when she shrank away from him, he placed the bottle tempt ingly close to her on the table. Then he went up to her and pulled her into his arts roughly and with assistance and, bending her head back, kissed her heavily on the mouth

No, no Ruby spat out pushing herself away with all he strength, and suddenly losing all control of herself "No, you lute You whate swine I hate you I hate you! I don't have to take anything from you any more that or anything else You go and di that to that all white Inglish bitch you have married not to m

And teaching for the bottle she hurled with all torce on the floor, breaking it to a hundred sparkling fragments and flooding the room with its perfume. The scent soaked quickly into the hea pile of the carpet, making a dark patch round the broken glass

Henry Winton stood panting heavily, sull holding her in his arms, stunned by the look of cruelty and hatred on Ruby's face, the face which had been so strikingly beautiful only a moment earlies and which was now contorted with age for the first time he noticed the hard, sulky lines round her mouth, the bitterness of the downward curling mouth, the intense malignity of the black. pebble-sharp eyes Her face was drained of all its softness, it no longer looked a live face; it looked more like one of those Japanese masks made to representa single emotion: hatred. This was a woman who could kill.

"You half-caste slut hissed Henry, gripping her shoulders hard until his fingers could squeeze no further. "You dare to speak of my wife like that after being treated like a like a respectable woman. You don't deserve anything better than your colony and your half breed lovers-your Eddie Trevors and God knows who else-speaking your own brand of the English language. You dare to speak to me like that, vou chi chi street walker" And Henry pushed her away with all his force.

Ruby Miranda tell against the window m a crumpled heap, her shoulder hitting the window ledge and making her we with pam. But she steadied herself and stood up She was breathing heavily, and the lines round her face had deepened. She stared at Henry for a full munate standing in her high heels, exactly level with him.

I will kill you for ths Henry Winton, she sand very coldly, her face looking more like a bloodless papier macht mask than ever No matter how long it takes, I shall kill you, for what you have done and what you have sand And as for ads Freser he will always be mine my ow. You sende est and wornatt's infatuation for a man lile Eddie His is not pait bloodless love but hette and burning and unbridled No girl who has once been loved by a man like Eddie Treva can love any other min list of all Somicon like von Your who we fit to wipe his shoes. Henry Winton'

Rubs stamped out of the room to the damway she stopped and tarned. 'You" she said and spat in his direction just as lie had seen the cool women do in the streets

For a long time. Henry sat in the gur room recking of the exot expensis pertum poft.ng at a dead pipe quite taken aback by Ruby's sudden burst of hyster It was all going moothly just as he had planum ad then there as that uses seem Of course there would have been no rent at all it he hid not kissed her he selected Rither surprise that that last bi of lare up from anyone as matter-ol tat as Ruby Mnda but then one could never be sure of the this During the west before he wen on leave.

she had been docile as a thum e com un so deliciously wanton in the privacy of the bungalow, so prim and proper outside, calling him 'sir' and sending him little titbits she had cooked. She had fallen into the pattern neatly, just as he had wished, building up a well-defined relationship agiceable to them both; and now, when it was all over, she just did not seem to realize that it was all over.

Had she expected him to marry her? Henry asked himself for the first time, and shivered at the very thought. He had never given her any cause to think that he would propose marriage, though God knows he had begun to think of it seriously just before he had gone on leave. The stuke had saved him from that tolly, the strike and Eddie Trevor, and, of course, Sudden Dart with his talk of the thin line. On his part, he had always taken it for granted that Ruby had understood their relationship perfectly, understood it and accepted it. All bachelor planters had their mistresses, they had to have them. sometimes two or three at a time, mainly from among the coolie women, of course. Ruby knew that as well as anyone else. You couldn't live in the jungle for three year terms between home leaves without something like that to keep you satie Ar that, he had been far more discriminating than most planters choosing a woman who at least spoke his own language, after a fashion, and treating her with all possible consideration almost like a wife in fact And this was all the thanks he got, for treating her with kindness and find ing her a job in an all white club too He could have casily dis missed her and she would have had to go back to Tapur and mariy some railway clerk or fireman and serve het damn well night too.... That had been the mistake then, neing her like a gentle woman And, to be sure, he had been faithful to her while it had listed But it couldn t go on fon ever. Ruby knew the rules as well as anyone else.

You can never tell with chichis. Henry said to himself agam. He teht his pipe and yelled for his number one boy

The bottle of scent fell down and broke, he told the boy "Have the pieces swept up. And send for Sarkai babu, the schoolmaster."

He received Saikat in the verandah. I am promoting you to headmaster,' announced Henry. "Miss Miranda has found another job and is leaving us Sahib is bhery kind," said Sarkar, folding his hands and bowing low. "Bhery kind