Despite the fact that it was wintertime, the garden through which Sarah and Seefan walked was relatively warm, protected from the weather by stout stone and brick walls, creating an artificial environment in which roses in particular, flourished.
After walking for a few minutes, Sarah finally broke the silence by asking, ‘Is he married?’
‘No, he has no wife.’
‘Not even one locked away in an attic somewhere?’
Seefan frowned. ‘I know not what you mean.’
‘You would if you were a Brontë fan.’ Sarah turned away. Hands on hips she studied the length of the stone wall while measuring its height, and its strength. She sighed. ‘And right now all this is beginning to take on the trappings of an excellent gothic horror story. What about you Seefan, why are you here?’
‘I asked to come ... begged to. You see, I was married in India to a man forty years older. I was but a child of fifteen when the marriage was arranged. My husband and Mr. Develin knew each the other in business ways. Five years I stayed in this marriage but my husband was cruel and would beat me for no reason. In hospital I miscarried of a child after such an evil beating and then I could conceive no more. His anger with me grew and I feared for my life. I poisoned him, then I ran. Hindu law, it is not kind to wives who murder their husbands. I waited, knowing that Mr. Develin would soon come to India on his business. He gave me money and travel papers so I could escape the country. That was now almost four years ago.’
Sarah stared open-mouthed.
‘Mr. Develin is, as I said, a most difficult man to understand. He saved my life so now I think it belongs to him yet awhile.’
Sarah tried to frame her question carefully, but Seefan anticipated her.
‘You will ask of me if I have slept with him, yes? He is an accomplished lover, if that is what you wish to know, though in truth I am unschooled in such things.’
‘Jeez Seefan, how could you! I mean …’
‘You are too quick to judge others, my friend. I stand before you a murderess in confession yet if you had been told by another, would you have believed it of me?’
‘I’m sorry, Seefan.’
‘It is of no matter. Yours is a disease of youth and inexperience. You will find as you grow older and life plucks at you like a hungry bird, nothing is as it seems and we learn to recognize that even within the shadows found between the bright colours, truth is often hidden.’
Sarah frowned. ‘Yesterday you said something about me not being the first. What did you mean?’
‘There was a girl, some months ago since. She was somewhat younger, I think, than you. She came here as you have come and he was well pleased with her though he knew not then of her falseness.’
‘He likes them young?’ Sarah whispered, appalled.
‘She was but eighteen, yes.’
‘God’s breath,’ Sarah hissed. ‘What happened to her?’
‘Happy she seemed at the start when he initiated her in the ways of love. Her appetite, however, was but whetted and she craved more, but not from him. Her attraction grew for another more her own age and so she would have him, heedless of the dangerous path upon which she trod. He gave her freedom and she ill-used it and him, calling her lover to her side when he was distant and unknowing. But Mr. Carl, he knew. He came upon them fast in each other’s arms in the still of the night. He called one witness only to this, and it was I. Later I was required to say of all that I had seen before Mr. Develin. His rage was terrible; his justice swift.’ Seefan paused, suddenly frightened as she remembered.
‘Seefan, what did he do to her?’
Seefan looked away. ‘I think he would have beaten her to her death but that Mr. Carl, he intervened and asked for the girl. Quickly she was taken from the house to the one that stands at the old gate. Mr. Carl, he kept her there for a week then she was seen no more.’
‘Carl killed her?’
‘She was seen no more. That is all I know.’
They walked in silence for some time, until Seefan added, ‘You will not enjoy such freedom as she. Close will he keep you should the time come.’ She took Sarah’s hand tenderly. ‘He can be a very generous man and will indulge you in much, but he will not take kindly if you do not attend upon his wishes and his desires in all things. I would not have the same fate as befell this one called Sabrina to be yours also. Come, let us go in. It grows cold.’
Seefan stood just inside the Conservatory and watched, hands cupped in front of her, as Sarah wandered through the maze of tropical plants, stopping now and again to admire the profusion of delicate orchids ranging in colour from a pale green to a russet brown. The palms in particular seemed to delight her although her delight was tempered by sadness, and something deeper.
Seefan frowned. ‘Like a beautiful little bird, kept safe within a cage with all that can be desired, yet a cage nevertheless while just beyond the wolf waits, and watches.’
She settled on a stone bench beside a small fountain playing happily into a pond of water lilies. Just beneath the surface of the water tiny goldfish darted and then, as if in fright, they disappeared en masse into the safety of the depths, leaving nothing but the memory behind.
Through the heavy steel and glass doors which separated the Conservatory from the main hallway at the eastern end of the house, Seefan could clearly see Carl Emery engaged in conversation with Develin’s secretary, Paul. Frequently Carl would glance into the Conservatory, monitoring, never allowing Sarah out of his sight for a moment.
Sarah sat down beside her. ‘Seefan, what does he want?’
‘That is for him to say, but it would seem that you have been selected for a special task.’
‘Task? What do you mean?’
Seefan turned away, content for the moment to run her hand along the surface of the water. ‘I think he would have you bear for him a son.’
‘Never!’ Sarah exploded.
‘Then it is wise of me to give you such a truth now, here within this quiet place, for then you may prepare yourself for when the time comes and you learn this of him.’
Sarah’s mind whirled. That was why he was prepared to indulge her, why he insisted that she eat more, why he would punish others rather than … ‘Oh my God! Seefan, this can’t happen. I … Tell me that I have a choice, that maybe if I …’ But Seefan turned her face from her. ‘Please Seefan, help me!’
‘There is nothing I can do.’
Sarah leapt from the seat then backed away as Carl appeared.
‘I am afraid I must curtail your stroll this afternoon, ladies.
