‘Really? How so? The aide-de-camp appeared to me to be a little earnest.’

‘Oh, Colonel, do you know that in the Third Madras Light Cavalry, the lieutenant-colonel is not called the commanding officer but the commandant; and that the officer’s sword has one half of one inch less curvature than the sowar’s; and the peak of the officer’s shako is made of sealskin whereas that of the sowar is made of goatskin; and a lieutenant’s sleeve braid has four ounces more silver bullion thread than a cornet’s; and—’

Hervey began to laugh; and then Georgiana – and Annie.

PART THREE

CHINTAL

XVI

A Nine-Gun State

Ten days later

They’d passed through the customs post at Kothapore two days earlier without hindrance. The papers had been sent to Chintalpore a month ago, and in any case there was little that a few customs officers could do to bar the way to a half-troop of cavalry. But since then they’d hardly seen a smiling face, even a child’s. Sullen, wary, or else resigned (whatever it was), the face of the Chintalee ryot was not that of his cousin in the Circars.

Whether they themselves – his dragoons – were the reason, Hervey couldn’t tell. No doubt the unexpected appearance of soldiers from the Company – or elsewhere for that matter – didn’t bode well for a ryot. If he were, say, in some manner connected with thuggee, it might mean his livelihood was about to be taken away; and if he were an honest man he could scarcely expect to profit from war, for both sides would trample his crops without remorse and take his livestock, such as it was, and probably his womenfolk too.

But it was hardly his, Hervey’s, business. Fort William had decided that Chintal must be annexed, and he therefore must make a plan of campaign; and as the Duke of Marlborough said, no war could ever be conducted without good and early intelligence.

‘I’m intrigued to see what the palace has become, how the Ranee’s spent her rubies. It was a rather delightful affair, as I recall, a jumble of styles, Hindoo and Mogul, all domes and pyramids jostling along side by side – rather like the people. Much marble and alabaster, too, with a vein of red I hadn’t seen before, nor since. Most attractive. But that was the late rajah’s time. I fancy the Ranee has her own tastes; and, rather more to the point, the means to indulge them.’

Annie didn’t think she’d ever seen a ruby, but thought to keep that to herself. Besides, it was the least of her concerns. If this Ranee, who was clearly a woman of intrigue, were to receive them, she’d be at pains to flatter, and probably therefore to pay Georgiana great attention, which would mean she’d probably keep her – Annie – at a distance. Yet Georgiana was her charge. How could she exercise it if this Ranee thought she was just a servant? A princess was surely going to know she’d risen from nowhere; women had instincts about these things, Hindoo women especially, for ‘caste’ seemed to be everything in this country, or so they said. And, in truth, Colonel Hervey had spoken of her with evident admiration – ‘she has much intelligence, and her English is quite excellent’ – and he’d thought her, then, perhaps eighteen or nineteen; so now, she reckoned, this admirable princess would be grown to the full attraction of womanhood. It made her uneasy, for no matter how much she herself observed and imitated, and read, she knew it could never be the same …