Page 57 of The Girl from the Tea Garden
‘What does MrsHogg say?’
‘She’s coming too. It’s all above board.’
Deb arched her eyebrows. ‘That’s not what they’ll be saying in the Simla drawing rooms.’
‘They can say what they like,’ Adela retorted.
Abruptly her friend laughed. ‘Quite right. I wish I had your brass neck. Tommy will be heartbroken at you missing the party though.’
‘Tommy’s heart may break one day,’ said Adela, ‘but it won’t be for me. I’m like his kid sister.’
Deborah pulled on her dress. ‘Zip me up then, and I’ll go and get rid of Horse Face out there.’
Adela went and helped her. ‘Thanks, Deb.’ Adela enveloped her in a hug. ‘I’ll do you any favour in return.’
‘Just find me a rich, handsome prince like your one.’ Deb winked as she sped out of the door.
Twenty minutes later, dressed in a red satin evening gown bought by Jay, Adela stepped into the yellow-and-blue Gulgat rickshaw sent for her and Fluffy and was pulled away into the dark. At the end of the Mall, they transferred into the Gulgat Bentley and were driven to the exclusive hotel Wildflower Hall, on the wooded hilltop outside the town.
The driveway through the trees was lit with lanterns, and light spilled out of the tall wooden mansion– which had once belonged to Lord Kitchener– on to the lawned gardens. Jay, who had gone straight there to bathe and change, appeared and greeted them. He was wearing an expensive cream dinner suit cut with a mandarin collar over a peacock blue silk shirt, which matched his turban. He was making a statement among the throng of British diners in their formal tails and bow ties, that for all his Westernised ways he was still an Indian prince in his own country and proud of it.
They mingled with others over cocktails. Colonel and MrsBaxter were entertaining three protégées up from Delhi and Lucknow for the hot season, along with polo-playing officer friends of Jay’s. They greeted Adela warmly.
‘You stole the show,’ said a young captain.
‘Wish I could sing like you, Miss Robson,’ gushed one of the girls.
‘Thank you.’ Adela blushed.
‘Don’t let her get too big-headed,’ Fluffy warned.
‘It’s no more praise than she deserves,’ Jay said, smiling and giving a light possessive touch to her elbow.
Adela drank her cocktail too quickly, aware of the looks of speculation passing among the others as they wondered at her relationship with Jay. Only Fluffy’s no-nonsense presence gave it respectability, but she doubted that would stop tongues wagging.
‘Oh, my dear,’ Colonel Baxter said, turning to her, ‘there’s an old friend of yours just arrived in Simla; I served with her father in Mesopotamia. You might remember him, Fluffy: Colonel Davidge. Sadly died a couple of years ago. Married late– pretty wife and one daughter.’
Adela felt the blood drain from her face. So it was true: Nina was back.
‘Davidge?’ Fluffy frowned and shook her head.
‘Yes, you must remember,’ MrsBaxter prompted. ‘Wife’s family were in jute– plenty of money. His widow and daughter are renting Sweet Pea Cottage for the season. Henrietta Davidge couldn’t settle back home– spent the winter in Bengal, now Simla. Nina recognised Adela in the play.’ MrsBaxter leant towards Adela and squeezed her arm. ‘Think she was a bit envious– rather sees herself as a bit of an actress. Henrietta, her mother, has promised to pay her through RADA.’
‘The Royal Academy in London?’ Fluffy raised an eyebrow. ‘She’ll need to be jolly good to get in first.’
Adela gulped. ‘I remember her enjoying acting at school. Lucky Nina.’
‘Yes, isn’t she?’ said Colonel Baxter. ‘We must get you two together soon, mustn’t we? It’ll be nice for the poor girl to have a friend here, show her some fun. She’s been stuck away in some dreary Bengali jute mill town with an uncle.’
Adela forced a smile, downing her second cocktail. Fluffy put a warning hand on her bare arm and gave her a look that asked,Are you all right?She nodded and let the waiter refill her glass. Perhaps Fluffy had guessed that this was the dreaded Nina she had run away from, though Adela had never told her the full story, because her guardian steered her away from the Baxters until drinks were over.
By the time they went into dinner, Adela’s head was spinning. In the vast teak-panelled dining room, hung with portraits of past viceroys and hunting scenes, she was glad to sit down. To her dismay Colonel Baxter insisted that the prince and his ladies should join their party, so Adela found herself sitting between the Colonel and one of the officers. In her befuddled state, she wondered if the Baxters were deliberately keeping her and Jay apart.
She felt exhausted trying to keep up with the conversation while all the time worrying about the appearance of Nina back in her life. How long before snide rumours about her parentage would surface around the Simla tea tables? And she wanted to avoid the awful Bracknall too. Jay’s offer of a few days at Eagle’s Nest was suddenly even more appealing. By the end of dinner all she could think of was getting away from Simla and out of the spotlight for a short while.
She observed Jay. He was enjoying himself with his sporty friends and revelling in the attention from the other young women. She saw how important it was for him to be liked; he started issuing invitations to visit Eagle’s Nest for shooting and dinner.
‘We should all go to the Sipi Fair together,’ he declared. ‘I’ll lay on a banquet afterwards.’
