‘Where am I?’ Kate murmured anxiously. ‘Where is Bikram?’

‘I don’t know, memsahib. He brought us here and he said you were to wait.’

Kate struggled to her feet, but the feeling of dizziness and nausea made her sink back onto the uncomfortable seat. ‘He might intend to keep us here until after the wedding ceremony, but I’m not here to make trouble for Ashok.’

Mira increased her efforts with the palm leaf fan. ‘Don’t upset yourself, memsahib. I know Bikram. He’s not a bad man. He won’t harm us.’

‘I’m not afraid of him, I just want to find Harry.’

‘Then you have come to the right place, memsahib.’ Bikram beckoned them from the doorway. ‘Harry will see you now, but I should warn you that he has been suffering from a severe bout of malaria, which overcame him soon after he arrived in Thana.’

‘Harry is here?’ Kate rose unsteadily to her feet. ‘Let me see him.’

Bikram led the way to a back room, which was also in semi-darkness. He moved a smoking oil lamp a little nearer to the charpoy where Harry was propped up on coloured cushions, their brightness at odds with his sallow skin and sunken cheeks. Kate kneeled at his bedside.

‘Harry.’ She reached out to brush a stray lock of hair back from his damp forehead. ‘Why didn’t you return to the hospital when you were taken ill? They would have taken care of you.’

‘I thought you were safe at home.’ He clutched her hand. ‘What are you doing here, Kate? Are you real, or has the fever returned?’

‘She is real, sahib,’ Bikram said, smiling.

‘I received a letter from Joseph, written by one of your nurses. It said that you were both very ill, so I decided to come to India and bring you home.’

‘You travelled across the globe on your own?’

‘No, Harry. Annie is with me. We’re staying with Papa’s old friend Sir Robert Audley.’

‘Joe was doing so well. I was going to book our voyage home when I went down with the first bout of malaria. Then Joe developed gangrene and had to have an amputation.’

‘I know, Harry,’ Kate said gently. ‘He told us about it. You’ve both had a terrible time.’

‘I was perfectly well until I arrived in Thana, and then I became ill again.’

‘You are much recovered from when you first went down with the fever,’ Bikram said firmly. ‘It is thanks to my mother’s medicines that you are still alive.’

‘I am most grateful to you and your family, Bikram.’ Kate rose to her feet. ‘When will Harry be well enough for me to take him home?’

‘I can speak for myself,’ Harry said irritably. ‘The fever has gone, although to be honest, it’s left me so weak that I can hardly stand.’