The Hand that Trembles

THIRTEEN

He cursed himself. How could he have been so stupid as to return to the garden? He should have left town. He knew that Jan Svensk came from an unusually stubborn family. He was probably like his father.

It was only sheer luck that Svensk had not caught him. Sven-Arne had observed him entering the nursery and taken refuge in the little shop at the back of the garden, and there he had hidden himself away while Lester had detained Svensk.

He had watched him leave after a while, and in the Swede’s movements he read anger and frustration. It gave him no satisfaction. Instead, he just felt guilty. Jan Svensk was probably not a bad man, he was simply curious.

Lester immediately came into the shop. He was amused, that much was clear, but made an effort not to show it.

‘He has gone now.’

‘I saw that,’ Sven-Arne Persson said, with curiosity but at the same time unwilling to listen to what Svensk had said.

‘Do you know where Harsha hotel is?’

‘Of course,’ Sven-Arne said, ‘in Shivajinagar, not far from Russell Market.’

‘If you want to, you can find him there.’

Lester smiled, and Sven-Arne did not understand what was so funny.

‘Sven-Arne, is that your name?’

Lester had such a peculiar pronunciation of his name that at first Sven-Arne did not catch it.

‘No, my name is John Mailer. I am John Mailer. And what would I want with him?’

‘I don’t know,’ Lester said, ‘but he said that you had been a powerful man in your country. That you were a politician and in charge of many, like a governor. It confused me.’

‘A powerful man!’ Sven-Arne stared at his co-worker. For the first time in twelve years, Sven-Arne mistrusted his motives. What was he trying to say?

‘I am not powerful,’ he said. ‘I am just a human being like anyone else.’

‘You are an unusual person,’ Lester said slowly. ‘You may have a terrible past.’

Never before had he censured the Swede, never snooped in his background or his reasons for coming to India, never questioned his work as a day labourer in a botanical garden, and had never pressed him in this way. For that was what it was. In his words there was a criticism, Sven-Arne understood this.

‘You may be a murderer,’ Lester went on, unconcerned.

Sven-Arne stared at him, even more perplexed.

‘It is of no consequence to me.’

‘What do you mean? Do you think I-’

‘It does not matter who you were!’

A couple of shop clerks looked up.

‘Here in India we are equal,’ Lester said, now much more softly, ‘at least those of us who dig in the earth. Even if you had been the governor it doesn’t matter. You have no servants here. Here we are equals.’

Sven-Arne relaxed. He smiled at his friend and took hold of his left upper arm, squeezed it and felt the sinewy muscles under his shirt.

‘I won’t leave Bangalore immediately,’ Sven-Arne said abruptly. ‘I don’t think the Swede will come back. And it may be a while before he returns to Sweden and talks. He may go to the police, I don’t know, perhaps my… It doesn’t matter. I will stay here a few days, then we will see.’

‘Can’t you talk with this old neighbour? Perhaps convince him to keep quiet?’ Sven-Arne knew that Lester was testing him. If he had made himself guilty of ‘something horrible’ in his homeland, then chances were minimal that Jan Svensk would be willing to forget the whole thing.

‘I think he will tell his family and they will not be able to keep quiet.’

‘And if you ask him to?’

Sven-Arne smiled.

‘Shall we get back to work?’ he said, and felt a sudden surge of joy. He needed the exertion of digging, weeding, watering, and carrying pots in order to keep his thoughts from Sweden and his former life, from the threat of being exposed. This last day had been discombobulating. He had not been able to think clearly, but it was as if his talk with Lester made everything fall into place again. Perhaps he didn’t need to worry? If Jan Svensk was going to announce his ‘find’ in Bangalore when he returned home, who would believe him – the county commissioner as day labourer in an Indian garden? Would anyone take the trouble to travel all the way here in order to check it out?

Sven-Arne Persson decided not to let Svensk trouble him any longer. The humiliation he experienced when he left Lal Bagh need not awaken any need for revenge; instead Jan Svensk might prefer to forget the whole thing. Sven-Arne convinced himself that the Svensk affair was over.