The Sapphire Child (The Raj Hotel #2) - Janet MacLeod Trotter Page 0,11
took nearly an hour to catch up with Andrew. She’d known where he would go: the high marg where the Gujjar shepherds kept their flocks of sheep and herds of cows and buffaloes. Trotting through the pine forest she was nervous of encountering a bear, but pressed on towards the grassy meadow that was dotted with the Gujjars’ makeshift log cabins. She skirted the settlement, not wanting to encounter any of the fierce dogs that helped guard the flocks.
Eventually, she found Andrew sitting by a wild indigo bush on the edge of the wide meadow where pines gave way to juniper and birch. He was smoking again, but hurriedly stubbed out his cigarette as Stella approached. She made no comment as she dismounted and sank onto the grass beside him.
‘What a view,’ she gasped, gazing across at the majestic wall of Himalayan mountains to the north with its highest snow-clad peak, Nanga Parbat, towering king-like over them all. Far below, to the east, she could see distant Srinagar nestling in its green valley and Dal Lake glinting in the sunshine.
‘What took you so long?’ he asked, his look guarded.
‘Gave you a good head start.’ She nudged him. ‘I wanted to give you time to calm down after your little tantrum.’ Stella winked.
‘I suppose Meemee’s sent you to do her dirty work and drag me back.’ He gave her a mutinous look. ‘Well, I’d rather spend the night in a Gujjar’s hut than do any more of her silly sums.’
Stella sat back and eyed him. ‘Would you rather be at Nicholson’s? Are you regretting what you’ve done? Esmie thinks it’s not too late. If you wrote an apology you could still go back – if that’s what you want.’
‘Never!’ Andrew said hotly. ‘Meemee doesn’t understand.’
‘She knows you’re upset but she doesn’t understand why you’re taking it out on her.’
‘I’m not taking it out on her,’ Andrew protested.
Stella put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Andy, you haven’t been nice to her since they picked you up from Murree. What’s she done to upset you?’
Andrew hung his head and said nothing. Stella withdrew her hand. Idly, she began to pick wild flowers, twisting a long grass around them to create a small posy. She waited.
Quietly, Andrew said, ‘I can’t get Gotley’s stinking words out of my head. They keep buzzing round and round . . .’
‘Oh, Andy,’ Stella said gently, ‘you know they aren’t true. Your dad’s never been a coward about anything. Soldiers like Major Gotley don’t like him because he turned his back on the army for a peaceful occupation – they look down their noses at box-wallahs like my father and yours. But our dads couldn’t care less what snobs like Gotley think.’
Andrew gave her a look of despair. ‘It’s not just that,’ he mumbled.
‘Then what?’
He shook his head.
‘Andy, you can tell me. I won’t repeat anything to your parents that you don’t want me to.’
He eyed her. ‘You promise?’
‘Of course.’
He dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘George Gotley said terrible things about Meemee – disgusting things.’
‘About Esmie?’ Stella was baffled. ‘What things?’
Andrew’s head drooped further, his cheeks turning puce. ‘He called her a . . . a . . . whore.’
Stella gasped. ‘Why on earth would he say that?’
‘Said she wasn’t properly married to my dad – that she’s just his mistress – and not even a pretty one ’cause she has pancakes instead of breasts. He went on and on saying these vile things in front of the other boys—’
‘How dare he! No wonder you thumped him. I’d have done the same.’
Andrew looked back at her with tears welling in his large blue eyes. ‘But why would he say that? I can’t help worrying that he knows something I don’t know . . .’
‘Oh, Andy!’ Stella threw an arm around him. ‘Of course he doesn’t. He was just being cruel.’
‘I feel horrible for thinking badly of Meemee, but I couldn’t stop hearing those words—’ Abruptly he dissolved into tears.
Stella pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him, stroking his tangled hair as he cried into her shoulder.
‘I’m glad you’ve told me,’ she said softly. ‘It must have been terrible keeping that bottled up. But they’re just spiteful words from an unkind boy. None of it’s true.’
Andrew drew back and wiped his tears on the back of his hand. ‘I hate George for what he said – and the other boys too. They didn’t stand up for me, so I’ll never go back.’