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Perhaps Nesbit will find out why they ve come here rather than visit Jaipur
or any of the usual places. Thanks to your quick eyes, I had just enough time
to tell him who it was.
I do wish there were some way to disguise spectacles, I grumbled. It was a
complaint I had made before.
We shall have to see about getting you a pair of those on-the-eye lenses the
Germans are working on, he said thoughtfully, and I shuddered; the very
thought of wearing paper-thin slivers of curved glass pressed up against my
corneas made me queasy.
Thanks, but I prefer to walk into things, I said. How will we get back
into touch with Nesbit?
Look in the cup.
Among the small coins in the tin mug Holmes had set out lay a twist of fine
paper. I reached for it, then paused. If I tried to pick it up, it might well
be lost to my clumsiness.
Perhaps we might go back to the hotel for a while? I pleaded. My fingers
are numb to the elbow.
We were greetedat the hostelry door by young Bindra, who crowed Look! Look!
and set four balls into the air. Holmes patted his head by way of approval, I
told him Good job around my chattering teeth, and we requested much hot tea
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and made for the nearest fireplace.
The note Nesbit had dropped into Holmes cup bore the words Viceregal Lodge,
10:00P.M. I hoped the formal venue did not indicate that we were to dress,
but decided that the hour was not that of a dinner invitation. It scarcely
mattered: I had nothing suitable to wear anyway.
Chapter Thirteen
At nine-thirty of a winter s evening in the Himalayan foothills,few
pedestrians picked their way over the ice-slick roads. Those who did were so
thoroughly bundled that only the breathy clouds rising from their swathed
heads showed that they were animate. The thin air here smelled of wood smoke
instead of dung fires, and the sharp green aroma of deodar was intoxicating.
I had decided, given time to think over the matter, that considering the time
of year, the Viceroy himself was not likely to be in residence, and so it
proved. The ornate stone fortress two miles from the Mall, which even in the
moonless black resembled a Scottish castle, had lights in few of its windows,
and those behind drawn curtains. We were not even required to decide which
door to approach, since as we drew near, a shadow detached itself from a tree
and intercepted us, speaking the single English word Come.
We went around the back and entered Viceregal Lodge through a scullery, empty
but warm, and followed our guide up a narrow and uncarpeted stairway to an
upper room, warm and well lit, with armchairs, sofas, and low tables gathered
in front of a great stone fireplace. Our guide closed the door behind us, and
we all three peeled, unwrapped, and tugged ourselves free from the
multiplicity of coats and shawls we wore.
Once free of his wrappings, our guide proved to be, not thechowkidar,but
Geoffrey Nesbit. He heaped logs onto the coals in the grate, then pulled open
a capacious and well-stocked cupboard. Brandy? G and T?
It was peculiarly exotic, to be seated on a high-backed sofa with the taste
of brandy on the tongue, speaking English. There was a sort of echo in the
first minutes of speech, almost as if my mind was translating the words into
themselves.
Have you had a successful week? he asked.
A valuable one, Holmes replied.
Nesbit nodded as if he understood the value in a week on the road, but I
thought he had not really heard the reply. My suspicion was confirmed when he
said abruptly, I don t know how much you have heard of the world s news while
you were travelling here.
Not a great deal. There was a rumour that Lenin is dead although it came to
us as the king of Russia.
No rumour. He died the day you left Delhi, or the day before, it is far from
certain. It appears the country will be governed by a triumvirate, never a
good omen for stability.
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But our own Parliament, that transfer of power has gone ahead?
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