The Captive (16 page)

“I am so glad. She longed to be chosen.”

“The little horror will be unbearable when she comes back. It is a great honour to be kept there in the Pasha’s apartments. She will be too important to speak to us … insufferable. You will see.”

I was slowly recovering from my sickness and Rani from her disappointment. But she was a little reconciled because Aida had found such favour.

After three days, Aida returned. She had become a very important personage. She swept into the harem, her manner completely changed;

she was languid and regarded us all with contempt. She had a pair of beautiful ruby earrings and a magnificent ruby necklace about her throat. Rani’s attitude towards her had changed. Little Aida had become one of the important ladies of the harem.

She was certain she was pregnant.

“Silly creature,” said Nicole.

“How could she know yet?”

All the same, Nicole was worried.

“It may be you are safe for a little while,” she comforted me.

“For if he liked her so much as to keep her for three days and nights he might send for her again. That was what happened to me in my day.

The most grateful woman in the harem must be Aida and that gratitude should be for you.”

“Perhaps he wouldn’t have chosen me. He might have liked her better.”

Nicole looked at me disbelievingly.

It was with great relief that I heard, through Nicole, who had it from the Chief Eunuch, that the Pasha had gone away for three weeks.

Three weeks! A great deal could happen in that time. Perhaps I should hear something from Simon. If it were possible to devise some means of getting out of this place . and if anyone could do it, surely he could.

A few days passed. Aida was making herself very unpopular. She wore her rubies all the time and would sit by the pool taking them in her hands and admiring them, reminding everyone of the favour she had found and how she pitied them all for not having the beauty and charm necessary to enslave the Pasha.

She appeared languid and assumed the ailments of pregnancy.

Nicole laughed at her. So did the others. One of them had quarrelled with her so violently that they fought and Aida’s face was maliciously scratched by the other.

That sent Aida into floods of tears. When the Pasha returned she could not go to him with a wound on her face.

Rani was angry and the two girls were shut away for three days. Rani would have liked to beat them, Nicole told me, but she was afraid of bruising their bodies, particularly Aida’s. One thing about a harem was that its inmates were not submitted to physical violence while they were part of it.

However, it was a relief, said Nicole, to be free of the arrogant little creature if only for three days.

Aida emerged not in the least repentant. She was as

12. languid as ever, even more sure that she was pregnant and carried a male child. She slept in the ruby necklace and kept the earrings in a jewelled case beside her bed. As soon as morning came she put them on.

In spite of myself, I was caught up in the intrigues of the harem. My friendship with Nicole had done that. She told me that violent quarrels blew up now and then, and that there was great jealousy between the girls. Aida, like Fatima, was one who created trouble.

They had been chosen and they could not forget it. If Aida were pregnant and bore a male child, that would add greatly to the rivalries.

“But Samir is the eldest,” said Nicole.

“He must remain first favourite son.”

I said I was sure he would.

I sensed that Nicole was less confident. She was going to work all the time on Samir’s behalf, but she knew the matter was one which she must constantly bear in mind.

At this time Nicole’s thoughts seemed to be fixed entirely on Aida.

She was not the only one. Fatima’s were too. They had been the main rivals, both possessing sons with a claim on the Pasha’s wealth. Now they both watched Aida.

It was unusual for one girl to satisfy the Pasha for three nights in succession also for her to be kept in his apartments. So there could be no doubt that Aida had made a certain impression on him.

Moreover, she had been long enough with him to become pregnant and there was a good possibility that she might have achieved this happy state. Therefore she was an object of concern to all, but especially to Nicole and Fatima.

It was in the early hours of the morning and I was half asleep. I was just aware of a sliver of a waning moon shining into the dormitory.

Through half-closed eyes, I thought I saw a movement in the room. An outline of a figure bending over one of the divans in the corner.

Sleep claimed me and I thought no more of the incident at the time.

The next day there was consternation. Aida’s ruby earrings had disappeared. She wore the necklace all the time, she reminded us, but the earrings had been kept in the jewelled box beside her divan.

Rani came into the dormitory, demanding to know what all the fuss was about. Aida was shrieking in her fury, accusing everyone. Someone had stolen her earrings. She would tell the Pasha. He would not have thieves in his harem. We should all be whipped and sent away. Her beautiful earrings must be restored to her. If they were not returned this day she would ask the Pasha to punish us all.

Rani was angry.

“Little fool,” said Nicole.

“Doesn’t she know yet that she must not anger important people? I suppose she thinks she is so important she can do without their support.”

The dormitory was searched, but the earrings were not found.

Fatima said it was a terrible thing and even the children should be searched. There were some children who were born thieves and if her Feisal were proved to be such, she would see that he was severely punished.

Rani said the earrings would no doubt soon be found. They could not be far off. There would be no point in anyone stealing someone else’s jewellery. When would the thief be able to wear it?

I was with Nicole in the gardens.

She said: “Serve her right. The arrogant little idiot. She will not get very far.”

“Someone must have taken the earrings.”

“As a joke perhaps?”

I said slowly: “I remember something now. I was only half awake. It was someone standing in the room … yes … and it was by Aida’s divan.”

“When?”

“Last night. I thought I was dreaming. I was in that state when I was not sure whether I was awake or asleep. I

have had strange dreams . since I’ve been here . and particularly after taking that stuff you gave me to drink. Half sleeping . half waking . hallucinations almost. I am not really sure whether I dreamed this. “

“Well, if you saw someone at Aida’s bedside and in the morning her earrings have gone … the chances are that you were not dreaming.”

Just at that moment Samir came up. He was holding something bright in his hands.

“Look,” he said.

“Maman, pretty things …”

She took the jewelled box from his hands and opened it. There lay the ruby earrings.

Nicole exchanged a glance with me, fearful and full of meaning.

“Where did you find this, Samir?” she asked in a voice which trembled.

“In my boat.”

His toy boat, the pride of his life. He was hardly ever without it. He used to sail it in the pools.

Nicole looked at me and said: “I must take it to Rani immediately.”

I put out a hand to stop her. I looked at Samir hesitantly. She knew what I meant.

She said to him: “Go away and play. Don’t tell anyone what you found.

It’s not important. But don’t say a word. Promise, Samir. “

He nodded his head and darted off.

I said: “It’s coming back. It could have been Fatima whom I saw last night. What if she stole the earrings? The more I think of it, the more I believe that this is what it is all about. Didn’t she say we should all be searched … and she mentioned the children. Fatima is foolish sometimes. She has no subtlety. It is easy to read her mind.

She wants to damage you . and Samir. So she stole the earrings, put them in the boat and wants it to be believed that Samir stole them.

”

“Why?”

“To make a thief of him.”

“But he is a child.”

“Then perhaps I am wrong. What would have happened if the earrings had been found in his boat? He would have said he did not know how they got there, but would he have been believed? It might be reported to the Pasha. Aida would have reported it, if she went back to him … as she well might. Perhaps the boy would be punished. The Pasha would be displeased with him. Do you see what I mean? But perhaps I am wrong.”

“No … no. I do not believe that you are wrong.”

“I think she may say that Samir stole them and when the theft was discovered, he was afraid and gave them up.”

Then what. ? “

“Let’s get rid of them … at once. Drop them … anywhere. It would not do for them to be found with you. What explanation could you give?

How did they come to be in Samir’s boat? they would ask. Samir must have put them there, they would say. It would be an unpleasant business. Leave them . near the pool. The case will be conspicuous and soon found, then Samir will not come into it. I feel sure it is better that he does not. “

“You are right,” she said.

“Then the sooner it is out of your possession the better.”

She nodded. Cautiously she put the case down by the pool and we walked away.

I said: “I feel sure it was Fatima. I am trying to remember what I saw in the night. It would have been so easy for her to slip off her divan when everyone was asleep … and take the case.”

“It was Fatima. I know it. She was the one. Oh, how I hate that woman.

One day I will kill her. “

The case was found. Aida said she could not understand it. She had left it beside her divan. Someone must have taken it, and then become frightened and thrown it away.

Rani said the earrings were found and that was an end of the matter.

But it was not really so. The enmity between Fatima and Nicole grew alarmingly. It was almost certain that Aida was not pregnant and that deepened the rivalry between the mothers of Samir and Feisal. Aida was sullen. Someone said she had pretended her earrings were stolen to call attention to the fact that the Pasha had once liked her enough to present them to her. There was a great deal of wrangling and petty spite in the harem. Perhaps because there was so little for them to do.

Nicole was undoubtedly grateful to me. She could clearly see the danger through which she and Samir had passed, for if the boy could have been branded as a thief, his favour might have been tarnished with the Pasha, if not lost forever. It was a mean act and worthy of Fatima, Nicole was sure.

She became more open with me. I had always known that there was a special friendship between her and the Chief Eunuch, but now she told me that they had been on the ship together and there had been a friendship between them then. She did not say that they had been in love, but the seeds of it might have been sown. When she had been taken into the harem he had been sold to the Pasha at the same time.

They had then been in urgent need of eunuchs and that had been his fate. He was tall, handsome and clever so he had risen quickly to his present rank. Nicole passed on information to him from the harem and he gave her news of what was happening outside. They had both made the most of the life into which they had been thrust.

Now I knew how close they had been before they had been taken into captivity, I understood their relationship much better. It had taken

some time for them to become resigned to this life; but he had become Chief Eunuch and she planned to be First Lady of the Harem in due course.

The relationship between myself and Nicole had deepened.

It was I who had saved her son from a situation which could have been damning to their chances. It was clear to me that I was accepted as her friend, and she wanted to repay me for what I had done for her.

I tried to make her understand that there should be no thought of payment between friends. She replied that she realized that, but if she could do anything for me, she would;

and she knew that what I wanted more than anything was to escape from my present position. Once, long ago, she had felt exactly the same, and that gave her a special understanding of my case.

The first thing she did was, to bring me a note. I think she had told her friend the Chief Eunuch the story of the earrings and enlisted his help; and for her sake he helped to bring this about.

The note was smuggled to me as before, and when I was quite alone I read it.

Don’t give up hope. Through a friend of mine I have heard what is happening on the other side of the wall. If an opportunity comes, I’ll be ready. So must you be. Don’t despair. We have friends. I do not forget you. We shall succeed.

What a comfort it was to read that.

Sometimes in a pessimistic mood, I asked myself what he could do. Then I assured myself that he would do something. I must go on hoping.

Nicole was watchful of Samir. I found myself watching him, too. He and I had become friends. He knew that I was with his mother a good deal and that there was a special understanding between us; it seemed to me that he wanted a share in it.

He was an enchanting child, and good-looking, healthy;

and loving all people, he believed they loved him, too.

When I was sitting by the pool alone he came up to me and showed me his boat. We floated it on the pool and he watched its progress with dreamy eyes.

“It’s come from a long, long way,” he said.

“From where?” I asked.

“From Mar … Mart…”

I said on sudden inspiration: “Martinique.”

He nodded happily.

“It’s going to a place in France,” he said.

“It’s Lyons. There’s a school there.”

I guessed his mother had told him her story, for he went on:

“Pirates.” He began to shout.

“They are trying to take us but we won’t let them, will we? Bang, bang. Go away, you horrid pirate. We don’t like you.” He waved his hand at imaginary vessels. He turned to smile at me.