She closed her eyes to shut out the unpleasant sights, casting her mind back to happier times when life seemed to be a round of parties and balls at the barracks. Kate turned her head away from her parents as tears seeped through her closed eyelids. She was transported back to the candlelit ballroom where she had first met Subedar-Major Ashok Patel, who had been assigned to ensure that she and her family had everything they needed during their time in Delhi. He had bowed over her hand, and when their eyes met she knew that she had found her destiny. Ash had held her hand as if he would never let her go, and at that moment she would have been prepared to follow him to the end of time. His dark eyes, lit by glints of pure gold, had kept her captive and his handsome face still haunted her dreams. They had danced every dance that magical evening, although it was against all the rules, and had caused heads to turn. A young lady of her class was not supposed to mix with the natives, which was something that her mother had drummed into her even before they had arrived in India. The divisions were there for a reason and must be obeyed. Despite the fact that Subedar-Major Patel had earned his promotion by his gallant actions in skirmishes on the North-West Frontier, he was, Sir Bartholomew had said at length, not a suitable companion for any daughter of his. Kate had been forbidden to see Ash again. However, the old saying ‘love laughs at locksmiths’ had proved true and they had managed to meet in secret. Ash told her later that his commanding officer had also warned him of the consequences of such a liaison, but the objections of their elders hardly seemed to matter.

Over a period of several months Kate had spent as much time with Ash as possible. She discovered that he was an Anglo-Indian. His mother, the daughter of an English employee of the East India Company, had died in childbirth. Ashok’s father, a captain in the cavalry, had been killed in action some years previously. His family were as much against mixed blood marriages as Ash’s maternal grandparents, and Ash had been sent to boarding school. Kate remembered comparing him to a cuckoo in the nest, and when she had explained the metaphor they had both laughed at the ridiculousness of the social mores that were affecting them even then.