The Far Pavilions - Mary Margaret Kaye [286]
They neither spoke nor touched each other. They only looked, long and hungrily, and as though looking were enough and there was no one else in the tent, or in the world. And there was that in their faces that made speech unnecessary, for no words and no actions – not even the most passionate of embraces – could have conveyed love so clearly.
Kaka-ji caught his breath and attempted to rise, moved by some hazy notion of throwing himself between them and breaking the spell. But his legs refused to obey him and he was forced to stay where he was, cold with dismay and unable to do anything but stare in stunned disbelief; and when at last the Sahib spoke, to listen with horror.
Ash said softly: ‘It's no good, my dear love. You cannot marry him. Even if it were safe for you to do so after so much delay; and that is something you have not told me yet. Would it have been safe?’
Anjuli did not pretend to misunderstand him. She nodded wordlessly: but the small gesture of negation was so desolate that he was ashamed of his own involuntary spasm of relief. He said: ‘I'm sorry' – the words caught on a tightness in his throat and sounded dry and inadequate.
‘I too,’ whispered Anjuli. ‘More than I can ever say.’ Her lips quivered and she controlled them with a visible effort and bent her head so that her mouth and chin were in shadow: ‘Is – is that why you wished to see me?’
‘Partly. But there is something else. He does not want you, my Heart. He only agreed to take you because he could not get Shushila on any other terms, and because your brother bribed him to do so with a large sum of money, and asked no bride-price for you.’
‘I know’ – Anjuli's voice was as quiet as his own. ‘I have known it from the first. There are few things that can be kept secret from the Women's Quarter.’
‘And you did not mind?’
She raised her head and looked at him dry-eyed, but her lovely mouth was pinched and drawn. ‘A little. But what difference does that make? You must know that I was given no choice – and that even if I had been, I should still have come.’
‘For Shu-shu's sake. Yes, I know. But now the Rana says that the bribe he accepted from your brother was insufficient, and that unless nearly three times more is paid he will not wed you.’
Her eyes dilated and she put a hand up to her throat, but she did not speak, and Ash said harshly: ‘Well, we have not that sum to spare, and even if we had, I could not authorize such payment without instructions from your brother, who from all I hear would never agree to pay it – and rightly. Yet I do not think that he will demand the return of both his sisters. The cost of this journey has been so great that I am very much afraid that when he has thought it over he will decide that it will be wiser in the long run to swallow the affront, and let the Rana's marriage with Shushila take place.’
‘And… what of me?’ asked Juli in a whisper.
‘You would be sent back to Karidkote. But without your dowry, which the Rana is certain to claim as compensation for the loss of a bride that he does not want. That is, unless we are prepared to risk bloodshed to prevent him getting his hands on it.’
‘But – but he cannot do that,’ breathed Anjuli. ‘It is against our law.’
‘What law? The only law here in Bhithor is the Rana's.’
‘I speak of Manu's law, which even he, as a Hindu, must obey. In that law it is laid down that a bride's jewels serve as her istri-dhan (inheritance) and may not be taken away from her. It was written by Manu that “The ornaments which may be worn by women during their husband's life time, his heir shall not divide. Those who divide them shall be outcasts.” ’
‘But you are not his wife, so he need not regard that law. Nor will he do so,’ said Ash grimly.
‘But… I cannot go back. You know I cannot… I could not leave Shu-shu.’
‘You will have no choice.’
‘That is not true.’ Her voice rose and she stepped back from him, and said breathlessly: