Page 146 of The Secrets of the Tea Garden
‘He’s coming here,’ said Flowers.
‘He’s taking you out this evening?’ Libby exclaimed.
‘Yes.’ She smiled shyly. ‘To Firpo’s. Come with us.’
‘And be your wallflower?’ Libby said with a dry smile.
‘There will be others too,’ said Flowers. ‘Eddy and the gang.’
‘I’ve nothing to wear.’
‘That dress will be fine,’ Flowers replied. ‘I insist. Looks like you could do with a good night out before you head off into themofussil. Stop you pining over that troublesome lover of yours. Then you can stay the night here. I don’t like to think of you being on your own, rattling around that big flat in Alipore.’
Libby gave her a grateful smile. ‘Thanks, I’d like that.’
‘Good, that’s settled then. You can borrow anything of mine tonight and go and fetch your belongings tomorrow.’
Libby watched Flowers continue to prepare for the evening out.
‘Doesn’t the situation in Calcutta worry you?’ Libby asked. ‘You’re right in the heart of it here in Grey Town.’
‘We just have to be careful to be chaperoned after dark,’ said Flowers. ‘But we Anglo-Indians are okay. It’s not our fight, is it?’
Libby was struck again by the phrasenot our fight. It was the one Ghulam had used when he’d lost his patience with her. She shivered with foreboding. As the British raced towards a hasty handover and exit from India, she wondered just how much division and violence they would leave in their wake.
