Page 2 of The Secrets of the Tea Garden
‘Miss Anderson wants to be married in the Himalayas – she loves the snow – so I’ve suggested Murree in the Punjab.’
‘Would Darjeeling not be closer?’ James suggested.
‘Aye, it would, but Jessie’s wretched older sister is insisting on travelling out with her and seeing her wed. I’m not letting the witch anywhere near the Oxford. Amy Anderson is one of these unnatural women who talk about politics and think lassies should earn their own keep. A bad influence on Jessie. No, Murree will suit us well. Besides, they have some church connection there. A week or so in the hills and then I’ll despatch Amy Anderson back to Bombay and bring Jessie here to the Oxford.’
‘I’m very pleased for you, sir.’ James knocked back his drink, keen to be gone. ‘Is there any business you wish to discuss before I go?’
Logan seemed nonplussed by the sudden change of subject. ‘Business?’
‘I must get back to the factory ...’
‘Ah yes, there is a matter of business I want you to attend to.’
Logan drained off his large whisky, went to the balustrade and bawled out, ‘Come here, Brat!’
Moments later, a squeal from the direction of the servants’ compound was followed by the scamper of feet and a small boy came bowling round the corner pursued by a native woman who was trying to catch him.
Logan’s mistress and child. The boy scrambled up the steps and reached Logan before his mother could scoop him to her. He flung himself at the manager’s knees with a giggle of delight. Logan ruffled his pale-brown hair.
‘Little scamp!’
James slid the tea picker an embarrassed glance but the girl had pulled her shawl over her head and was staring at the floor.
‘Go to your mother,’ Logan told the boy, pushing him off his legs. ‘Aruna, take the Brat.’
Aruna snatched at her son. The three-year-old squealed in protest but she held on firmly and soothed him with quiet words.
Logan turned to James. ‘Do you like children, Robson?’
James shrugged. ‘Not particularly.’
‘Pity,’ said Logan. ‘I was hoping you would take on the Brat.’
James gaped at him in disbelief.
‘Well, I can hardly keep him,’ said his boss, ‘when I’m to be a married man. How on earth would I explain him to Miss Anderson?’ He flicked a look at the girl and child. ‘I’ll make you a gift of Aruna, though. Someone to keep your bed warm up at Cheviot View. She is very biddable.’ He clapped his hands. ‘Aruna, show your face to Robson sahib!’
James watched, appalled, as Logan stepped forward and pulled the veil from her head. James had never taken much notice of her looks – she had the round, rosy-cheeked face of a hillswoman – and she stared up at him now with fierce, tear-filled brown eyes. James felt a wave of revulsion at his superior’s suggestion that he should take this hapless woman as his own plaything.
‘I’m sure you are joking, sir,’ James said, keen to defuse the situation as quickly as possible and spare this woman’s dignity. ‘I couldn’t possibly take this woman or her boy into my household. She’s a tea worker. It would cause resentment among my own servants.’
‘What a prig you are, Robson,’ Logan scoffed. ‘Your father was far more full-blooded.’
James kept his temper. ‘I’m sure she would be much happier going back to live in the lines with her own kind.’
James did not know if the girl understood his words; she looked at each of them anxiously. The grey-eyed boy watched with interest, his thumb jammed in his mouth. James squirmed. He wished to be anywhere but here. Why had his boss chosen him and not Reggie or Bradley? Then it struck James that Logan disliked him more because he was the son of the great James Robson Senior, whom everyone on the Oxford plantations and beyond admired. Even though James’s father was now back in England, Logan could not contain his jealousy and spitefulness.
James waited tensely while the older man considered his words.
‘Well, if you won’t have her, Robson,’ Logan said, ‘Aruna must go back to the lines.’
James was overcome with unexpected relief. Aruna would be safer back in the workers’ compound and away from his boss.
‘You will take her there at once,’ ordered Logan.
‘Now, sir?’ James asked in surprise.
‘Yes, now.’ Logan gave him a steely look, the bonhomie of moments before vanished. ‘And then you will get rid of the Brat.’
