A Spear of Summer Grass - By Deanna Raybourn Page 0,31
sweet and heavy.
I clapped my hands and the old man peered at me, struggling to focus through a cloud of dense and familiar smoke.
“What’s the matter, Grandpa? Ganja got your tongue?”
I grabbed up a broom and advanced. He got to his feet and started gabbling away in one of the native tongues. I brandished the broom.
“No wonder the food is so disgusting. You’ve probably kept the best of it for yourself. Get up!” He had prostrated himself at my feet but rather spoiled the effect by giggling. I poked him lightly with the broom. “Get up, I said. Now get out.” I fumbled in the pocket of my dress, rather surprised to find anything there. “Here’s a pound. Take it in lieu of wages and don’t come back.”
He took the money and started jabbering again, rubbing his fingers together as if he wanted more.
“Not likely,” I told him roundly. “You’re lucky you got anything. You could have poisoned us with the trash you served. Now get out.” I lifted the broom and he scurried away, so quickly he left his smouldering cigarette behind.
I lifted it and sniffed. Then I took a deep drag and held it.
“Delilah!”
Dora stood in the doorway, her tone heavy with disapproval.
I exhaled slowly. “I found the cook.” I held up the cigarette. “This is why he wasn’t up to par. Quite good stuff actually. I haven’t had any with this much kick since Harlem.”
She reached out and took the cigarette and ground it out on a hearthstone, scattering the remains of the butt over the rock. “Honestly, Delilah. This isn’t a party.”
“I’m celebrating getting rid of that foul cook. I gave him a pound in lieu of wages.”
She choked. “Do you have any idea how much money that is to these people? He’ll be robbed and killed before he even gets home.”
“Serve him right for keeping that meat,” I said, pointing to a slab of mutton that was heaving with maggots.
Dora picked it up with a pair of tongs and threw it out the door. She returned and surveyed the rest of the kitchen. “It’s completely foul. The entire place will have to be turned out and scrubbed before we can eat anything.”
“You sound defeated.”
“No, I’m just wishing I hadn’t ground out that cigarette,” she told me.
I laughed. “That’s the spirit. It really was good. I wonder where he got it.”
She gave me a reproachful glance. “That’s quite enough of that. I was only joking, you know. Such things are sinful and wrong. Besides, Aunt Mossy expects me to keep an eye on you.”
I lifted a brow at her and she went on. “She took me to luncheon in Paris and we had a lovely chat. I didn’t think I ought to tell you before, but I suppose it’s time. She’s quite keen that you really settle down, Delilah. She thinks you need purpose, direction. And she thinks that this may be the best opportunity for you to find it.”
“The best or the last?”
“Both.”
We stared at each other a long moment, then I gave her a small smile. “Not yet, Dodo. Not just yet. Now make a list of what you want done and Pierre will organise some boys to do it.”
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk. Africa beckons.”
* * *
I changed my clothes, leaving off my printed silk frock for a pair of riding breeches and tall boots and a man’s silk shirt. It had been Misha’s. After his death I had taken more than the Volkonsky jewels. Misha always had gorgeous taste in clothes and he had been slender as a Grecian faun. I had hauled armfuls of his shirts to the tailor to have them taken in, and I wore them carelessly, open at the throat with the sleeves rolled to the elbow. They reminded me of the soft cotton shirts I had worn during the hottest dog days in Louisiana. Of course, Misha would never have worn anything as pedestrian as cotton. He had dressed with flair, buying only the very best materials. I wasn’t surprised his shirts had outlived him.
I started off down the path Pierre had pointed out, heading towards the savannah. The air was cool, touched with the faintest tang of woodsmoke and dung, but the sun was warming the earth, sending up the fragrance of fresh soil. The farm had once thrived growing pyrethrum, I remembered, a crop related to chrysanthemums. The flowers were pressed for their oil, a pungent substance used in pesticides. Only a few of