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escort. I gathered that he would have preferred us to have been in England where I could have been launched into society in the conventional manner. He was eager for me to enjoy life and he regretted that he did not have more time to spend with me.
     
    Aubrey was charming. He had a wonderful personality that could change and be different according to the people he was with.
    With my father he was serious and talked about the problems of India;
    he told me about his travels round the world; he had been in Arabia;
    he had met people of many races; he found exploring different cultures fascinating and he had a vivid way of expressing himself; yet with Mrs. Freeling he could be extremely frivolous, being exactly the sort of man whom I was sure she would find attractive. It was a great gift.
    He was becoming my constant companion. My father was ready to let me go into the bazaars with him, although I should not have been allowed to go by myself. Things were not quite what they had been when I was a child here, he told me. There were undercurrents of unrest. The regiment was on the alert.
    Oh, nothing serious, he insisted. But the natives were unpredictable.
    They did not reason in quite the same way as we did. Therefore he liked me to go where I wanted but in the company of a strong man.
    They were pleasant days.
    I saw my ayah several times, but she was always uneasy about my going to the Freeling bungalow. I suggested that she come to us. She did once or twice, but it was difficult for her to get away. I knew something was bothering her but I could not guess what; and to tell the truth I was so caught up in all that was going on, particularly with my new friend, that I did not pay as much attention to her as I would otherwise have done.
    One day when we were in the garden under the apricot trees, one of the boys brought us a cooling drink and Aubrey said to me: “I shall have to be thinking of going home soon.”
    I was dismayed. I had never thought of his leaving and I suddenly realized how much I had begun to depend on his companionship. I felt vaguely depressed.
    “I have had grave news from home,” he went on.
    “I am sorry.”
    “So am I. It’s my brother my elder brother. He’s ill. In fact I believe he cannot live very long. It will make a great deal of difference to me.”
    “You are very fond of him.”
     
    “We have never been great friends. There are only two of us and we are so different. He inherited everything … quite a large estate.
    Since he has no children I shall take over everything if he dies, which it now seems certain that he will before very long. I doubt he can last another year. “
    “How distressing for you.”
    “So … I should be there. Soon I shall have to be making plans to leave.”
    “We shall miss you.”
    He leaned towards me and, taking my hand, pressed it.
    “I shall miss everyone … everything here … and particularly you.”
    I felt excited. He had always implied that he admired me and I was aware of an attraction between us; but I felt myself to be such a novice in these matters and I was very uncertain of myself. All I knew was that I should be very sad when he went away.
    He talked to me about his home. The estate was in Buckinghamshire. It had been in the family for centuries.
    “My brother is very proud of it,” he said.
    “I never had the same feeling for houses. I wanted to travel, to see the world. He wanted to absorb himself in squiral duties. If he dies it will fall on my shoulders. I am rather hoping my sister-in-law, Amelia, will have a son before he dies.”
    “Is that likely now that he is so ill?”
    “One never knows.”
    “When shall you be going?”
    “Rest assured I shall stay as long as I possibly can.”
    When I was dining alone with my father that evening I mentioned to him that Aubrey would be leaving us soon.
    “I’m sorry about that. You’ll miss him, won’t you?”
    He was watching me intently, and I said with faint hesitation:
    “Oh