‘I would hazard that their venom is diminished not one jot, though, ma’am.’

She smiled, and nodded.

She was extraordinarily beautiful, and the more so in her ‘helplessness’. She must have excited many jealousies and desires, and still. The gift of beauty was indeed perilous.

‘Did you find your day agreeable, Colonel Hervey?’

‘Very, ma’am. I went to see Colonel Bell.’

‘How did you find him? In good spirits, I trust?’

‘I did.’

She beckoned to her lady. ‘This is Colonel Bell’s wife.’

Hervey bowed. ‘Your servant, ma’am. It was pleasing to meet your husband again after so many years.’

‘He, I am sure, was pleased to see you, Colonel Hervey.’

He nodded, turning again to the Ranee. ‘I regret I was unable to persuade him to become the Company’s agent, however, though I pressed him to consider it further, and he has at least agreed to do that.’

He followed, as it seemed, a script, but not knowing precisely what would be the lines of the other actors.

Suneyla spoke no lines though. She let her eyes speak instead.

Georgiana shivered. She’d no knowledge, only of Eve, but every instinct told her.

Hervey knew, by instinct and experience. The hamadryads – they’d coiled and coupled, but then female had killed male, her purpose accomplished. He’d seen as much often enough. He’d never let temptation overcome him again.

‘Highness, you may always count on the protection of His Majesty’s East India Company – Honourable East India Company.’

‘I am no cipher of the dewan’s, whatever he believes, but I am not free to leave this place.’

‘I understand perfectly. And that it is necessary to gain leave of the dewan by force.’

‘Even if I were able to leave, somehow, I could not as long as the dewan remained. I could not leave my people to such as he.’

Hervey caught his breath. This was the first intimation of nobility he’d had. Did he believe her?

‘If, ma’am, you were to request the aid of the Company, how might the army answer?’

‘The bodyguard would answer to me, once the commandant is detained.’

Hervey glanced at the rissaldar, who bowed to say that it was so.

‘And the rest? There are a great many!’

‘They are the dewan’s creatures. I do not know.’

Hervey supposed that ultimately, like most mercenaries, they’d gauge the wind.

‘And the dacoits, the thugs, ma’am?’

She stiffened. ‘They do not answer to me. They never have!’

He wanted to believe her. He wanted very much to believe her.

That evening he kept to himself, thinking long on what he should do; and indeed what he could do. At length he went to consult with Fairbrother, finding him lying on his bed reading Southey’s Journal of a Tour in Scotland by the light of a stearin candle that he’d brought from England.

‘I commend your persistence,’ he said ruefully, minded that he’d promised once that they’d make a Highland tour together, ‘but I would have your opinion on a less agreeable prospect.’