A gentle tap on the door preceded Mrs Ogilvy’s dramatic entrance. ‘Miss Kate, there’s a gentleman to see you.’ She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her generous bosom, disapproval written all over her face.

‘Who is it, Mrs Ogilvy?’ Kate was suddenly breathless.

‘Colonel Lambert, miss. He’s the person who brought you home yesterday afternoon. Shall I tell him that you are otherwise engaged?’

Kate jumped to her feet, sending her starched white napkin falling to the floor. ‘No, I’ll see him now. Where is he?’

‘I put him in the front parlour, miss.’

‘Thank you, Mrs Ogilvy. I’ll go and see him right away.’

‘Your breakfast will get cold, miss.’

‘It doesn’t matter – I’ll have it when I’ve found out what the colonel has to say. It might be important.’ Kate hurried from the room and ran down the wide corridor to the spacious parlour overlooking the neat-kept front garden.

‘Colonel Lambert, how good of you to come so early in the morning.’

He rose to his feet, smiling. ‘Good morning, Miss Martin.’

‘Have you news of Harry’s whereabouts?’

‘Yes and no. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific, but my aide went through the records and found that your friend Subedar-Major Patel was born in Thana and he lived there until he joined the East India Company Army. I imagine that is what your friend Lyndon discovered.’

‘So you think that’s where Harry might have gone?’

‘It seems likely. I couldn’t find any record of the subedar-major having been wounded in battle and he was not amongst the lists of the deceased.’

Kate sank down on the sofa. ‘Thank goodness. But Thana is only some twenty miles or so distant, so if Harry did go there, why hasn’t he returned? Do you think something awful might have happened to him?’

‘That is what we need to find out. I have sent word to the ticket office in Thana and they will telegraph my adjutant if Harry Lyndon purchases a ticket for Bori Bunder station.’

‘But I could travel to Thana,’ Kate said eagerly. ‘If you have Ashok’s home address I could visit his family and find out if Harry had been there?’

Colonel Lambert shook his head. ‘That would be most unseemly and it would embarrass his people as well as the subedar-major. You ought to know that.’

‘Yes, I suppose so. I wasn’t thinking. Our cultures are so different.’

‘Which is probably why you came up against such opposition from your parents. In time I believe things will change, but that is for the future. I can only suggest that you sit back and wait.’

‘You’re right, Colonel Lambert. I was never very patient, but I take your point.’ Kate rose to her feet, holding out her hand. ‘Thank you so much for taking the trouble to help me.’