‘He really planned that?’ Lawford asked.
‘Him and Morris. In it together, they were. Bloody Hakeswill told me as much, the night he got me to hit him. And Morris was there with that little bastard Hicks, just waiting for me to do it. I was a bloody fool to fall for it, but there it is.’
‘Can you prove it?’
‘Prove it!’ Sharpe asked derisively. ‘Of course I can’t prove it, but it’s true.’ He blew out a rueful breath. ‘Just what am I going to do with Mary?’
‘Take her with you, of course,’ Lawford said sternly.
‘Might not have a chance,’ Sharpe said.
Lawford stared at him for a few seconds. ‘God, you’re ruthless,’ he finally said.
‘I’m a soldier. It fits.’ Sharpe said it proudly, but he was not proud, merely defiant. What was he to do with Mary? And where was she? He drank the rest of his arrack and clapped his hands for more. ‘You want to find a bibbi tonight?’ he asked Lawford.
‘A whore?’ Lawford asked in horror.
‘I don’t suppose a respectable woman will help us out much. Not unless you want a spot of polite conversation.’
Lawford stared aghast at Sharpe. ‘What we should do,’ the Lieutenant said softly, ‘is find this man Ravi Shekhar. He may have a way of getting news out of the city.’
‘And how the hell are we supposed to find him?’ Sharpe asked defiantly. ‘We can’t wander the bloody streets asking for this fellow in English. No one will know what the heck we’re doing! I’ll ask Mary to find him when we see her.’ He grinned. ‘Bugger Shekhar. How about a bibbi instead?’
‘Maybe I’II read.’
‘Your choice,’ Sharpe said carelessly.
Lawford hesitated, his face reddening. ‘It’s just that I’ve seen men with the pox,’ he explained.
‘Christ! You’ve seen men vomit, but it don’t stop you drinking. Besides, don’t worry about the pox. That’s why God gave us mercury. The
stuff worked for bloody Hakeswill, didn’t it? Though God knows why. Besides, Harry Hickson says he knows some clean girls, but of
course they always say that. Still, if you want to ruin your eyes reading the Bible, go ahead, but there ain’t no mercury that will give you your sight back.’
Lawford said nothing for a few seconds. ‘Maybe I will come with you,’ he finally said shyly, staring down at the table.
‘Learning how the other half lives?’ Sharpe asked with a grin.
‘Something like that,’ Lawford mumbled.
“Well enough, I tell you. Give us some cash and a willing couple of frows and we can live like kings. We’ll make this the last drink, eh? Don’t want to lower the flag, do we?’
Lawford was now deep red. ‘You won’t, of course, tell anyone about this when we’re back?’
‘Me?’ Sharpe pretended to be astonished at the very idea. ‘My lips are gummed together. Not a word, promise.’
Lawford worried that he was letting his dignity slide, but he did not want to lose Sharpe’s approval. The Lieutenant was becoming fascinated by the younger man’s confidence, and envied the way in which Sharpe so instinctively negotiated a wicked world and he wished he could find the same easy ability in himself. He thought briefly of the Bible waiting back in the barracks, and of his mother’s advice to read it diligently, but then he decided to hell with them both. He drained his arrack, picked up his musket and followed Sharpe into the dusk.
Every house in the city was prepared for the siege. Storehouses were filled with food and valuables were being hastily concealed in case the enemy armies broke through the wall. Holes were dug in gardens and filled with coins and jewellery, and in some of the wealthier houses whole rooms were concealed by false walls so that the women could be hidden away when the invaders rampaged through the streets.
Mary helped General Appah Rao’s household prepare for that ordeal. She felt guilty, not because she came from the army that was imposing this threatened misery on the city, but because she had unexpectedly found herself happy in Rao’s sprawling home.
When General Appah Rao had first taken her away from