Torrance, amused at himself, raised an eyebrow.
'You are averse to women? You dislike dear Brick? Or you've taken an oath of celibacy, perhaps?'
Sharpe blushed.
'I'm spoken for, sir.'
'You mean you're engaged? How very touching. Is she an heiress, perhaps?'
Sharpe shrugged.
'She's in Seringapatam, ' he said lamely.
'And we're not engaged.'
'But you have an understanding, ' Torrance said, 'with this ravishing creature in Seringapatam. Is she black, Sharpe? A black bibbi? I'm sure Clare wouldn't mind, would you? A white man in India needs a bibbi or two as well as a wife. Don't you agree, Brick?' He turned to the woman, who ignored him.
'The late Mister Wall died of the fever, ' Torrance said to Sharpe, 'and in the Christian kindness of my heart I continue to employ his widow. Does that not speak well of my character?'
'If you say so, sir, ' Sharpe said.
'I see my attempt to play Cupid is not meeting with success, ' Torrance said.
'So, Sharpe, to business. Tomorrow morning I suggest you go to Deogaum, wherever the hell that is.'
'With the bullocks, sir?'
Torrance raised his eyebrows in exasperation.
'You are an officer, Sharpe, not a bullock driver. You don't prod rumps, you leave that to the natives. Go early. Ride there at dawn, and your first duty will be to find me quarters.'
'I don't have a horse, ' Sharpe said.
'You don't have a horse? Don't have a horse? Good God alive, man, what bloody use are you? You'll just have to bloody well walk then. I shall find you in Deogaum tomorrow afternoon and God help you if you haven't found me decent quarters. A front room, Sharpe, where Dilip can conduct business. A large room for me, and a hole for Brick. I would also like to have a walled garden with adequate shade trees and a small pool.'
'Where is Deogaum?' Sharpe asked.
'Northwards, sahib, ' Dilip answered.
'Close to the hills.'
'Beneath Gawilghur?' Sharpe guessed.
'Yes, sahib.'
Sharpe looked back to Torrance.
'Can I ask a favour of you, sir?'
Torrance sighed.
'If you insist.'
'At Gawilghur, sir, I'd like permission to join the assault party.'
Torrance stared at Sharpe for a long time.
'You want what?' he finally asked.
'I want to be with the attack, sir. There's a fellow inside, see, who killed a friend of mine. I want to see him dead.'
Torrance blinked at Sharpe.
'Don't tell me you're enthusiastic! Good God! ' A sudden look of terror came to the Captain's face.
'You're not a Methodist, are you?'
'No, sir.'
Torrance pointed the hookah's mouthpiece towards a corner of the room.
'There is a linen press, Sharpe, d'you see it? Inside it are my clothes. Amidst my clothes you will find a pistol. Take the pistol, remove yourself from my presence, apply the muzzle to your head and pull the trigger. It is a much quicker and less painful way of dying.'
'But you won't mind if I join the attack?'
'Mind? You're not, surely, labouring under the misapprehension that I care about your existence? You think I might mourn you, even after such a short acquaintance? My dear Sharpe, I fear I shall not miss you at all. I doubt I'll even remember your name once you're dead. Of course you can join the assaulting party. Do what you like! Now I suggest you get some sleep. Not here, though, I like my privacy.
Find a tree, perhaps, and slumber beneath its sheltering branches.
Good night to you, Sharpe.'
'Good night, sir.'
'And don't let any moths in!»
Sharpe negotiated the muslin and slipped out of the door. Torrance listened to the footsteps go away, then sighed.
'A tedious man, Dilip.'
'Yes, sahib.'
'I wonder why he was made an officer?' Torrance frowned as he sucked on his hookah, then shook his head.
'Poor Naig! Sacrificed to a mere ensign's ambition. How did that wretched Sharpe even know to look in Naig's tent? Did he talk to you?'
'Yes, sahib, ' Dilip admitted.
Torrance stared at him.
'Did you let him look at the ledgers?'
'He insisted, sahib.'
'You're a bloody fool, Dilip! A bloody, bloody fool. I should thrash you if I wasn't so tired. Maybe tomorrow.'
'No, sahib, please.'
'Oh, just bugger away off, Dilip, ' Torrance snarled.
'And you can go too, Brick.'
The girl fled to the kitchen door. Dilip collected his ink bottle and sand-sprinkler.
'Shall I take the chitties now, sahib, for the morning?'
«Go!» Torrance roared.
'You bore me! Go! ' Dilip fled to the front room, and Torrance lay back in the hammock. He was indeed bored.
He had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Most nights he would go to Naig's tents and there drink, gamble and whore, but he could hardly visit the green pavilion this night, not after stringing Naig up by the neck.
Damn it, he thought. He glanced at the table where a book, a gift from his father, lay unopened. The first volume of Some Reflections on Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians by the Reverend Courtney Mallison, and it would be a frigid day in the devil's house before Torrance read that turgid tome. The Reverend Mallison had been Torrance's childhood tutor, and a vicious beast he had been. A whipper, that was Mallison.
Loved to whip his pupils. Torrance stared at the ceiling. Money. It was all down to money. Everything in the damned world was down to money. Make money, he thought, and he could go home and make Courtney Mallison's life a misery. Have the bastard on his knees. And Mallison's daughter. Have that prim bitch on her back.
There was a knock on the door.
'I said I didn't want to be disturbed!»
Torrance shouted, but despite his protest the door opened and the muslin billowed inward, letting in a flutter of moths.
'For Christ's sake, ' Torrance cursed, then fell abruptly silent.
He fell silent, for the first man through the door was ajetti, his bare torso gleaming with oil, and behind him came the tall man with a limp, the same man who had pleaded for Naig's life. His name was Jama, and he was Naig's brother, and his presence made Torrance acutely aware of his nudity. He swung off the hammock and reached for his dressing gown, but Jama twitched the silk garment off the chair back.
'Captain Torrance, ' he said with a bow.
'Who let you in?' Torrance demanded.
