Free The Devil in Clevely (Afternoon of an Autocrat) by Norah Lofts

me.' He leaned forward as much as his bulk and outstretched leg allowed and regarded her steadily for a moment. 'One thing,' he said, 'you are teaching me is from you to me alone. Other people may have told me what is turnpike, but this thing is from you to me alone. In history of India, here and there I am hearing of women, one or two, very few, Ranee or Begum with young son maybe, one or two with husband, very clever, come to great power and ruling most well: Always to hear this I am laughing. In my palace are many women, and always when a new one comes--now no longer, for me--but in past time always I am asking myself, Is this one to be like those of whom in history I am hearing? And it is not so. Not once. Never. And still I am laughing because of the stories. You are understanding me? I wish you to know that now I am not laughing. In days to come when I am hearing of women so clever I am saying to myself, Ah, there is woman with mind like Meesis Shel-ma-dine; with mind to understand and eye to see and tongue to say wisely. And for this reason, as well as for memory, I make you now this gift. Please to come with me.'
    Tales of the legendary, fabulous wealth of the Indian potentates were commonplace in Company circles; tales of chests full of gold, of rubies as large as pullets' eggs, of great diamonds that were blinding to look at. Such tales were lent substance by known facts; the state elephant of the Rajah of Bholobad, for instance, on really great occasions had worn four anklets, each four inches wide, crusted with emeralds and sapphires. As Surunda reached for the heavy gold-topped staff which he used for his rare essays in walking, Linda permitted herself to hope. It was just possible that he was now about to lead her to his treasure-room and give her a 'keepsake' that would make Richard laugh in quite another key.
    As Surunda took his first shuffling steps across the pavilion, she thought of something else; something she had often wanted to say to him but had never quite dared.
    'Your Highness, there are two doctors in Fort St George; one, Dr Adams, is very clever. He would come to see you, I am certain, and he might do something to make you less lame. May I ask when ...'
    'No, no,' he said testily. 'My doctors do well; I am living these many years.'
    Well, she thought, at least he is consistent; he will have no business with the English and asks no favours. India for Indians, and Indian doctors for Indian legs wounded by Indian spears.
    Outside the pavilion they turned sharply and stood before a gate in the marble wall. Surunda opened it and said: 'There are stairs; go with care.'
    She recognised the place; it was the vast courtyard in which he kept his menagerie and it joined, at one point, the even larger court in which his elephants were stabled. Why was he bringing her here this afternoon? Perhaps, she thought, only half-mockingly, he intended to give her an elephant! Such a grotesque keepsake would be, somehow, in character. And one could have worse gifts. An elephant could carry all their baggage down to the coast, and would fetch a good price at the fort.
    Surunda closed the gate and descended the stairs slowly, painfully. As he moved draggingly towards the first cage --the one which held the black-maned Nubian lion--she recalled that on the first occasion when he showed her his beasts he had been carried in a small litter, like a sedan chair. Thinking of this and the size of the yard, she said, as she would have said to any man, elderly or infirm: 'Would you like to take my arm? I'm really very strong.'
    'No, no,' he said in the same testy voice, but this time the refusal was accompanied by a glance of...could it be?...disgust. She remembered that never once had he touched her, never shaken her hand, never shared a couch. Probably there was some law against it. Memories of childhood flashed back again, all those things in Genesis --'he shall be unclean for forty days'.
    'I am managing.' Surunda said less