The Rape Of Venice

Chapter 20

With Death at the Post

Clarissa was lying on her back, covered to the chin. Her eyes were closed, her long pale gold hair, of which she took such care, was tangled on the pillow; but her cheeks had the warm flush of life. Suddenly she groaned.

Calling her name, Roger flung himself down beside her. She did not answer but began to turn her head uneasily from side to side. He saw now that there were little beads of perspiration on her forehead, and that the flush in her cheeks was too hectic to be natural. Her small imperious aquiline nose stood out white, sharp and bony from between them. Each faint breath she drew came with a little rasp. Gently he put his lips to hers, and found them burning. That light caress confirmed the fact that had already dawned upon him. She was in the grip of a high fever.

'Oh, Clarissa!' he cried. 'My sweet, my darling! What have they done to you?'

His anguished cry aroused her from her torpor. The long lashes that made fans on her cheeks fluttered and her eyes opened. As he bent over her, she looked straight up at him but showed no sign of recognition. Then, turning her head from side to side again, she began to babble incoherently.

After a moment, he realised that there was nothing he could immediately do for her. A stool, a bowl of rose-​water, and a square of damp linen beside the bed showed that up till a few minutes ago she was being nursed by one of the other women.

The nurse must be found as soon as possible, and a doctor.

But there was no chance of that until the Rajah's troops had been overcome and order in the palace restored. Meanwhile

Malderini, the fiend who had brought his fair love to this sorry pass, might get away.

Coming to his feet he cried to McCloud. 'Stay with her. Bathe her face with that rose-​water. I'll be back as quickly as I can. Two of the men I'll leave with you. The rest I'll take, I've a man to kill.'

Urged on by fierce cold hatred, he began his hunt. Even Malderini, he felt certain, would not have been permitted to enter the women's part of the palace; so he wasted no time looking into the other rooms of the seraglio. Coming on another garden entrance beyond the favourites' corridor, he ran out through it. No. 1 troop had followed his squad through the blown-​in door and were hotly engaged in the middle of the garden with a body of about sixty of the Rajah's soldiers. The natives had the advantage of numbers and that, owing to the trees, lily pools and beds of shrubs, the mounted men could not form up to charge. But as Roger came on the scene some fifty yards behind the phalanx of Indians, it suddenly broke. The white-​robed figures scattered and ran towards him. Putting spurs to their horses, the hussars came in swift pursuit, crashing across the flower-​beds and cutting down the yelling brown men with their sabres.

Suddenly Roger realised that he was still wearing a turban and white robe himself, so he might be mistaken for one of the flying enemy. Wrenching them off, he shouted to his men to do the same, and cried out 'Clarissa! Clarissa! He was only just in time. A burly sergeant was charging down upon them, his sabre raised high to cleave a head. With a shout of recognition he swerved off towards another group.

Damaji led the way to a door in a building at right angles to the harem quarters. With blows and kicks they forced it and entered a wide corridor. The rooms that gave off it were store rooms and workshops. In some of them servants and slaves were in the act of trying to hide themselves; in many instances they fell to their knees, banged their heads on the ground and cried out for mercy. Hurrying through the building, Roger and his band crossed a small courtyard, smashed open another door and found themselves in a pillared hall. There, more servants flung themselves down before them, or scattered and fled. Two minutes later Roger was dashing in and out of another row of rooms, all of which had divans and appeared to be the apartments of some of the courtiers; but none of them had things in them which might have belonged to Malderini.

A shout from his corporal brought him back into the passage. From its far end a body of about twenty of the Rajah's guards were running towards them. Although they were outnumbered, they stood their ground, for the passage was only some eight feet wide and, on so narrow a front, not more than three couples could engage one another at a time. The guards were wearing shining brass helmets and corselets of chain-​mail, but the hussars were better swordsmen. In the furious cut and thrust that ensued during the next few minutes, they more than held their own for the loss of one man, killing or grievously wounding five of their attackers. Then, as Roger wrenched his sword point back from out of the muscle of an Indian's neck, he glimpsed another group of guards at the far end of the passage running up to reinforce their comrades.

Knowing that the odds were now too great for them to force their way through, he gave the order to retreat. Still cutting and thrusting furiously as they went, they backed away step by step towards the pillared hall. Next moment he was seized with anxiety as to how they would manage when they reached it, since the greater number of guards would be able to spread out and surround them.

Swiftly he saw that they must again stand and fight until help came. The No. 1 troop had had orders to remain in the garden and hold it; so that should Laker fail in his attempt on the main gate. Roger and his squad, having rescued Clarissa, could be certain of getting out that way. Parrying a pike thrust he shouted to the corporal.

'We must stand here, or we'll be cut up in the hall. Get back to the garden. Bring up half the troop! Tell the rest to keep by the door in the wall. Off now, and quickly. Waste not a minute.'

As the corporal backed out of the scrimmage, another hussar went down beside him. That left only Roger, Damaji and seven of them against at least thirty of the Rajah's guard. Only the narrowness of the passage saved them from being overwhelmed in the next few minutes.

During them, while the sweat poured down Roger's face on account of his exertions, his mind sought frantically for a way out of the desperate situation in which he now found himself as a result of having agreed to the Begum's plot. Had he stuck to his original plan, they might by this time, ill as Clarissa was, have wrapped her in a cocoon of blankets and carried her off on some sort of emergency stretcher.

No sign or sound suggested that Laker had yet forced the main gate, so Roger had good reason to believe that he might have on his hands the majority of the palace troops. Even with the help for which he had sent the corporal, the struggle must now become a fighting retreat. How if they had to defend themselves all the way back to the garden door, could they possibly manage to construct a rough litter for Clarissa, collect her, and get her away?

Two more of the guards went down and another hussar. Then Roger heard the sound of running feet behind him. Flickering his sword point at a brown moustached face, he suddenly jabbed it into a fierce dark eye then, with a gasp of thankfulness, threw a glance over his shoulder. The gasp turned to one of dismay, it was not the corporal returning with help, but another crowd of veiling natives. He and his men were trapped in the narrow passage.

There was only one thing for it. 'Quick!' he shouted. 'Into the room on the left. We'll barricade the door!'

As the men behind him backed into the room, there suddenly came a cry from the crowd of white-​clad figures that had just appeared on the scene. It seemed to him at that moment like angels' music. Above the swift pattering of sandaled feet as they rushed forward, their voices chanted 'Cla-​rissa! Cla-​rissa!' He knew then that they must be some of Rai-​ul-​daula's men.

Near exhaustion from ten minutes' unceasing cut and thrust, he backed after his remaining hussars into the room at the side of the passage. The furious onrush of the newcomers swept back the guards. For another ten minutes a frightful struggle raged. The passage was now half blocked by dead and dying the floor slippery with new spilt blood. Then the dozen guards who were left standing suddenly panicked, turned and ran pursued by Rai-​ul-​daula's yelling men.

Still panting, Roger led his little band out again. They followed the victors at a run. After traversing another long echoing corridor and an empty hall they burst out into the great forecourt of the palace. Dawn had now come. By its light, Roger saw that the main gate was hanging broken from its hinges. Laker's troopers were inside, sabring little groups of the palace guard that, here and there, were still putting up a resistance. For another ten minutes sporadic fighting continued with its sounds of shots, screams and curses; then they died away.

Laker caught sight of Roger, waved his long curved sword rode up to him and cried: 'I met with no serious opposition in the city, and the palace is now ours. We have only to round up the prisoners. What of Mrs. Brook?*

'I found her,' Roger replied hoarsely. 'She is ill desperately ill: but safe. I've been searching for that fiend Malderini.'

At that moment a big palanquin with red curtains came through the gate. Roger ran towards it expecting that it carried Rai-​ul-​daula’; but, as the bearers halted, one of the curtains was drawn aside and the Begum looked down on him.

'I have come,' she said, 'to do what I can for your poor wife.'

He frowned up at her. 'You knew, then, how ill she was?'

The old lady nodded. 'I knew; but it would have been no kindness to tell you. It would have disturbed your mind while all your thoughts should have been on our plan to seize the palace. But be sure that from now on she could not be in better care than mine.'

'I am most grateful to Your Highness.' he murmured. Then he added, "I pray you excuse me now. I am seeking the man who is responsible for her state.'

She leaned forward and shook her head. 'You will not find him. He is gone from here.'

'Gone!' he repeated, then suppressed a blasphemy that had risen to his lips. I understood he had got himself made Wazier in your son's place.'

"He did, two mornings since. But perhaps in some way he got wind of your intended attack. I learned only half an hour ago from a eunuch who is in my pay that the Venetian left the city last night.'

Roger could have wept with fury: but there was nothing he could do about it. Even if the direction that Malderini had taken was known, he must now have six or eight hours' start, and to set off in pursuit of him with Clarissa in her present state was out of the question.

He was still endeavouring to fight down his rage when Rai-​ul-​daula. surrounded by a little crowd of richly dressed nobles, emerged through an archway from an inner court. On seeing Roger, he hastened towards him, opened his arms, embraced him and cried:

This day is heaven sent. Last night I believed myself abandoned by gods and men. I was impious, for dawn finds me safe and free. I owe you my life, and vow eternal friendship to you.'

'Excellency,' Roger replied, 'you owe me nothing. Had you not saved my life ten nights ago, how could I have lifted even a finger to aid you. But I joyfully reciprocate your friendship; the more so as I have been appointed a political agent of the Company, and am charged with putting matters to rights in Bahna.'

Rai-​ul-​daula's eyes, with their awful squint, appeared to be fixed on opposite angles of the courtyard, but the white teeth under his fine upturned moustache flashed in a smile, as he cried, 'No news could be more welcome. Within an hour I will have sorted the sheep from the goats. We will then hold a diwan, and you shall make known the Company's pleasure.'

The Begum's palanquin had already moved on. Pointing after it, Roger said hurriedly, 'I thank you. Pray excuse me now; I wish to accompany Her Highness, your mother, to my sick wife.' Then, still followed by the remains of his squad, he ran to catch up the palanquin.

He found Clarissa much as he had left her. Angus McCloud was bathing her face but she was still delirious. The Begum forced a few drops of dark liquid between her teeth from a thin phial, and after a few minutes she ceased her low-​voiced babbling. To Roger, the old lady said:

'Her state is much worse than was reported to me. It is her chest. There is inflammation there. It is shown in the manner of her breathing. We must rub her with hot oils. But first we will move her.'

'Move her?' repeated Roger with a quick frown.

'Yes; she must have more light and air, more room for attendants to be with her, and be in a place where she will not be disturbed by the nearness and chatter of other women. It is not far, and she will take no harm. The divan can be lifted and carried without disturbing her.'

Damaji was still with them. The Begum turned and spoke to him. He salaamed then, pointing to the divan, looked at Roger. After only a moment's hesitation, Roger called in his men and told them to pick it up. Following the mute, they carried it down the corridor, through a hall and out into a smaller garden that Roger had not yet seen. On the far side of it there stood an ornate pavilion. On entering it, Roger guessed that it was here that the Rajah had slept, sending when he wished for whichever of his houris he favoured at the moment to be brought to him, for its central room contained a big elaborately carved bed, and there were other rooms off it for guards and servitors.

The Begum rejoined them, now accompanied by several other women who had come out of their hiding places on her calling aloud that they had nothing to fear. She sent Roger and his men outside, and for three-​quarters of an hour he paced the small garden, a prey to agonising suspense; then she came out to the porch of the pavilion and beckoned him inside.

Clarissa had been transferred to the big bed. Her long hair had been done up in plaits round her head and, although she was in a coma, her expression was much more relaxed. The Begum said to him: 'Poor child, she is ill; very ill. But I will remain to do all I can for her. There is an entrance behind this place by which you can come to it without passing through the harem. Damaji will show it to you. I have had the divan on which she was carried here placed in the next room. I know you will wish to be with her. You can sleep there if you wish.'

As Roger was thanking her, he heard McCloud calling him; so he went outside. Mahmud Ali was there. He had come with a message from his master that the diwan had assembled and awaited Roger's pleasure. No more could be done for Clarissa for the present, so he accompanied the Afghan through the rambling buildings of the palace to the spacious throne room.

In it were now assembled some hundred people. The throne was empty, but ranged round it stood Rai-​ul-​daula and his friends. Behind them were several eunuchs, fan bearers and a number of the Rajah's guards. To the right stood Laker, most of his officers and a troop of his hussars; to the left a group of a dozen nobles with their arms bound behind them and, two paces in front of the group, young Jawahir-​ul-​daula, also bound.

As Roger entered, Rai-​ul-​daula and his companions salaamed; Laker gave an order, the British drew their sabres and presented arms. Drawing himself erect, Roger walked with a firm tread towards the throne, but did not mount it. On the first step he halted, turned and, taking Sir John Shore's Commission from his pocket, read it in a loud voice in English; then he handed it to Rai-​ul-​daula and said in Persian:

'Be pleased to have a translation of this document read out.'

A eunuch was called forward and, in a piping falsetto, gave a rendering of the Commission in the dialect of Bahna.

When it was done, Roger turned to Philip Laker. 'Captain, I desire an escort for His Highness the Rajah. A Lieutenant and six of your men. The two leading files will take him by the arms and bring him before me.'

Laker gave the order Jawahir-​ul-​daula's sensual mouth was loose and trembling; his eyes flickered wildly, and his face had a faintly bluish tinge under its bronze. When he had been thrust forward by the two leading troops, Roger said to them:

'Throw him on his knees.'

They did as they were bid, and with such a force that the aigrette in his turban touched the ground. Instead of striving to rise, he grovelled there, whining for mercy. Ignoring his pleas, Roger addressed him loudly in Persian.

'Jawahir-​ul-​daula. You have broken a solemn treaty made between your country and the Honourable the East India Company. You have repudiated a just debt owing to the Company and mustered your army with intent to wage war against the Company's forces. You have abetted the abduction of a subject of His Majesty King George III and held her prisoner here. In these things you have followed the advice of evil counsellors, and so shown yourself unfitted to rule. By the powers vested in me, I hereby depose you.'

After a moment's impressive pause, he went on, 'That is not all. On my first journey here you had me ambushed and captured. Two of my escort were killed during the fighting; the third surrendered and your men cut his throat in cold blood. A few hours later, you told me here in this chamber that your men had acted on your orders; so that no word of my capture should get back to Calcutta, and it would be believed that myself and my escort had fallen victims to a band of robbers. For that triple murder I mean justice to be done.' He paused again, then said in English to the Lieutenant:

'Take this man outside and hang him.'

When the ex-​Rajah had been dragged away, Roger turned to Rai-​ul-​daula and asked, 'Are you willing to pay out of the Bahna treasury the twelve lakhs of rupees owing to the Company, and a sum sufficient to reimburse the Company for having had to send an expedition to Bahna?'

The reply was a clear affirmative, accompanied by a low bow.

'Are you willing to enter into a new treaty with the Company, the provisions of which shall be similar to those in the treaty between it and the Rajah, your late brother, to reinstate the Company's officials for the administration of the finances of the state, and to rule with firmness, justice and mercy?'

Again, Rai-​ul-​daula pledged his word and made a solemn bow.

Roger waved a hand towards the row of a dozen captive courtiers and said, 'I leave it to Your Highness to dispense justice to these people.' Then he took his cross-​eyed friend by the hand, led him up to the throne of elephant tusks, seated him upon it, and cried:

'Let the fate of Jawahir-​ul-​daula be a warning to you all. I give you a new and wiser ruler, Rai-​ul-​daula. Long may he reign!'

Even those who could not understand Persian could see what was happening from the ex-​Wazier's having seated himself on the throne. The natives all paid homage by prostrating themselves, while Laker again ordered his officers and men to present arms and give three cheers.

Thankful to have got through the ceremony, Roger had a brief talk with Laker, then hurried back to Clarissa. McCloud and his squad were still on guard outside the pavilion, Having told the men that he would see to it that they were specially rewarded for their yeoman services, he thanked them and told them to rejoin their troops; then he said to the Cornet:

'For the part you played I'll see to it that you are promoted to Lieutenant, even if I have to buy the rank for you, But first, there is one other important service you can render me. I must secure a British doctor for Mrs. Brook, with a minimum of delay. A number of our men have wounds, too, so would fare better in the hands of a qualified man than those of the squadron's barber. There must be a surgeon with Colonel Gunston's force, and it can as yet be only one night's march through the mountains. I wish you to snatch a few hours' sleep, then set out after them and bring their surgeon back here with you.'

The stalwart young man shrugged. 'I slept all through yesterday afternoon, Sir, and had three hours last night; so I need no sleep as yet. I'll take two good men and set off at once.'

Roger did not seek to deter him, but twenty minutes later saw him, well mounted and provisioned, set off on his mission. After that he could only hang about the pavilion in miserable suspense.

It was not until late that night that Clarissa had a short interval of consciousness. At first, she believed the sight of Roger, seated beside her, to be a dream; but, once she was persuaded that it really was him, her joy was unbounded. Yet, as soon as she began to talk, she was seized with such a terrible paroxysm of coughing that he feared she would have a fit.

The Begum hurried in, upbraided him and made her swallow some more of the potent black drug, which sent her off again into a coma.

Next morning, she had another period of lucidity, but Roger ' feared to question her in case by talking she brought on herself another attack; so, after they had exchanged whispered endearments, he kept her quiet by telling her about his two attempts to rescue her.

Late that afternoon, reeling in his saddle from weariness, Angus McCloud returned with Surgeon Pomfrett. After making a thorough examination of Clarissa, the Doctor pronounced her chances far from good. He declared that she was suffering from congestion of the lungs and, producing leeches from a bottle, set the horrid creatures on her back. The treatment appeared to ease her for a time, but the following morning she was weaker.

It was on that day, the Thursday, that Roger was informed that Gunston's force was approaching the city. At the time Clarissa was sleeping; so Roger left her and held a short conference with the new Rajah.

During the past half-​century, there had been numerous instances of revolutions in the native states, in which the Company had played a part in deposing an ill-​disposed Prince and substituting one whom they hoped would prove more cooperative. In every case, following Eastern custom, the new occupant of the throne had showered gifts upon all those who had helped to set him on it, and British officers and agents had come in for a handsome share in these gratuities. Rai-​ul-​daula had needed no prompting to follow the practice.

He had not only paid in Indian coin the equivalent of the thousand guineas promised by Roger to the men of the squadron, but doubled that sum. Each of the officers had received a small sack of gold, bales of silk and beautifully chased weapons. Philip Laker was better off by a year's pay, two splendid horses, a jewelled sword, and numerous rich garments. Roger had received special treatment. The cross-​eyed Rajah had taken him to the treasury, spread out his hands, and said, 'All this I owe to you. Take of it what you will, my friend, and be welcome.'

Roger had politely demurred; but Rai-​ul-​daula had thrust upon him rings, strings of pearls and uncut stones that he knew must be worth several thousand pounds. He knew too, that, if Gunston's forces entered the city, the new Rajah "would feel obliged to make him and his officers considerable presents, and he saw no reason at all why they should share in these benefits.

As a result of Roger's talk with Rai-​ul-​daula, an order was given for the city's gates to be closed, and he went up to the roof of one of the towers that flanked the main gateway.

Gunston, accompanied by a small staff, was riding at the head of his force. When he had come to within fifty yards of the gate, he looked up. saw Roger, and shouted, with a frown:

'What's the meaning of this, Brook? Why are the gates closed against us?'

'Because your presence here is no longer necessary,' Roger shouted back.

'What the devil d'you mean?' cried Gunston, angrily. 'I'll give it you that capturing the place with only a squadron was a fine piece of work. But you can't hold a city this size permanently with two hundred men.'

'I'll not have to,' Roger told him. 'I had Jawahir-​ul-​daula hanged on Monday, and made my good friend, Rai-​ul-​daula, Rajah in his place.'

'So I heard. But though you think him your friend, you can't rely on these fellows.'

Roger leaned over the parapet and gave full vent to his bitter, feelings. 'I did better by relying on him than on yourself. Had I left matters to you, Clarissa would have been dead before I got here. You and your men played no part in taking Bahna, and shall derive no benefit from it. Did I let you in, I know well enough what would happen. Your sepoys would treat the place like a captured city. They'd start to loot it and rape the women. I couldn't stop them and you would not try. The new Rajah is my friend and I mean to protect his people. It is I who now command four thousand troops, and you eight hundred. Should you attempt to force this gate, I'll lead them out against you. Now get back to your camp at Bamanghati and skulk there in it as long as you like.'

Turning away, he left Gunston purple with rage and mortification, and with no alternative other than beating a shamefaced retreat. But this triumph over his old enemy gave him no pleasure. He would a thousand times rather that Gunston had placed him eternally in his debt by using as an excuse to ignore Sir John Shore's orders, the fact that an Englishwoman had been kidnapped; for Clarissa might have been rescued while still in full health had he marched his force on Bahna when first implored to do so.

As it was, her state continued to cause Roger such terrible anxiety that he hardly left the pavilion, from fear that at any moment one of her frightful paroxysms of coughing might end in a fatal convulsion. Being so constantly at her bedside enabled him to exchange a sentence or two with her at times when she became conscious; while, at others, he was perforce harrowed by her ravings during periods of delirium. It was largely from those ravings, confirmed by occasional sentences whispered when she was lucid, that he learned what had happened to her.

It was the news brought in by Jawahir-​ul-​daua's scouts on the previous Saturday, that Gunston's force was approaching through the mountains, that had evidently caused Malderini to act without waiting for any particular phase of the moon. That night he had had Clarissa and himself carried in a palanquin some two or three miles outside the city, and into a jungle where they had halted at a ruined temple.

Clarissa had only the vaguest impression of the place, as the starlight did not penetrate there and it was lit only by the flickering torches carried by some of Malderini's native servants. Moreover, Roger gathered, ever since the Venetian had kidnapped her he had kept her in a dreamlike state; so that although she was subconsciously unhappy, and occasionally feebly rebellious, she was neither fully aware of what had happened to her, nor of her surroundings. She knew only that the temple was small, partially ruined and overgrown with creepers; and that she had been taken down a broken flight of steps to its crypt.

At the far end of the crypt there sat, cross-​legged, a hideous, many-​limbed idol, that Roger guessed must have been one of the evil god Siva-​the Destroyer and. below it, a long flat stone altar slab. Down there it was reeking with damp and hideously cold, but Malderini had ordered her to strip. Being completely dominated by his will, she had obeyed.

He had made her stretch herself out flat on her back on the stone, then proceeded with his evil rites, muttering incantations while anointing various parts of her body with an unguent that stank abominably. How long she had lain there naked, she had no idea; only a memory of her teeth chattering violently as the creeping cold paralysed her limbs.

She thought that, for a time, she had fallen into a coma, but had been roused from it by a faint wailing, and the feel of something warm upon her chest. Suddenly, it had penetrated her bemused mind that the thing Malderini had laid upon her was a very young baby. She had attempted to sit up, but his will held her down as firmly as if she had been bound by a dozen cords. He had held the infant's head between her breasts, then cut its throat. Streams of warm blood had run down to her armpits and across the lower part of her neck. Next moment she had felt Malderini's mouth against her flesh as he guzzled up the blood. Then she had fainted.

She remembered nothing more until she had come round still shivering, as she was being put to bed on her divan in the harem. Malderini had been standing over her, his terrible eyes lit with excited triumph; and he had said to her:

'I have no more use for you, and release you now for the little time you have to live. You have served my purpose. I am confident that the sacrifice was accepted and that I shall become Doge of Venice.'

Utterly exhausted, she had fallen asleep. On waking on the Sunday morning, her mind was clear and, for the first time, she was fully conscious of all that had happened to her since she had been abducted. But her chest pained her she had begun to cough and, by the afternoon, she was in a fever.

Roger alternately shuddered and cursed silently as he gradually built up this terrible picture. If he could have got at Malderini during those days and nights, he would have torn him limb from limb with his bare hands. Yet, above all, he was tortured by the thought that he might lose Clarissa, and even went to the length of making a vow that he would forgo his vengeance if only the God he had long neglected would permit her to recover.

Surgeon Pomfrett and the Begum did everything they could but, by Friday, fever and the awful racking cough had worn Clarissa to a shadow of her former self. Early on Saturday morning she seemed to rally a little, and began to talk with greater ease than she had at any time during her illness. Roger tried to stop her but, with a weak gesture, she waved his remonstrance aside, and said:

'I must now. darling. It's my last chance. I'm going to die."

'No no!' his was agonised. 'You're not. Another day or two and you'll be round the corner.'

She shook her head… I am and you must grieve for me.

Oh, Roger, I've been so fortunate.'

'Fortunate!' he moaned. 'How can you say…'

'I have,' her words came low, but clear. 'I've had a wonderful life. Most women have to marry someone they don't like either for position, or just to get a home. Only later if they're lucky do they meet a man they really love. I've never had to let myself be loved by anyone but you. From the time I could think of love, you were my heart's desire and-​and you became mine.'

After a little pause she went on. 'No woman ever knew greater happiness. The Isle of Spices. It was paradise on earth. Then our long voyage to Calcutta… and there… the joy of living as your wife. Five… five months, darling. Five months of heaven.'

She closed her blue eyes and fell silent for several minutes. Then she spoke again. "But it couldn't have lasted. Such things never do. I always knew it couldn't. I made up my mind that… that sooner or later I'd have to… to lose you to some other woman.'

'No, no, Clarissa!' he protested, miserably. 'You're wrong in that. Since we set out from England, I've never given a thought to any woman but yourself.'

'I know,' she murmured. 'That's what's so lovely. You've been all mine. Now I'll never have to face the agony of watching you change. You were my paladin from the beginning. You are my paladin still. You faced death twice to come here for me. What other woman in the world has had her lover take a city for her with… with the aid of only a few score men?'

Again she paused then suddenly she half sat up and cried: 'I die happy! Oh, Roger, be happy for me, and happy too. Bless you… bless you for your love.'

She choked, fell back, twisted violently, then went still.

He bowed his head on her shoulder and wept.