A Garland of Marigolds Read Online Free PDF Page B

yourself? ”
    “ Well, he certainly isn ’ t ten years older than I am! ” I reminded her.
    “ No-o, ” she admitted uncertainly. “ But you ’ re not old, and he is interested. In fact you might say you had a head start with him! ”
    I went into the small bathroom and began to dress, leaving the door open so that I could still hear Camilla.
    “ One could, if it were a race, ” I said mildly.
    She chuckled, a soft, very feminine noise in her throat.
    “ Not a race, ” she contradicted me, “ a fight to the finish! ”
    I hesitated in my dressing, wondering if she meant what she said. But Camilla was still very young and apt to wring the last bit of drama out of any remark. I finished dressing as quickly as I could and gathered up my night clothes to pack them away in my suitcase. Camilla was sitting on the end of my bed, her hair flowing free and a young and rather touching expression on her face. She looked up at me and her face fell into a genuine grin.
    “ I suppose you ’ re cross with me for challenging your interest? ” she said.
    It was my turn to laugh. “ Good heavens, no! Joe Groton is nothing to me! ”
    Camilla was satisfied.
    “ No, ” she said thoughtfully. “ I dare say Gideon is much more your cup of tea. The trouble is he never sees anyone as a woman. My sister is always complaining about it. You see the truth is that we ’ re all dying to marry him off! ”
    “ Oh, indeed! ” I retorted. “ Well, there ’ s not the slightest chance of your marrying him off to me, young lady! He ’ s a great deal too confident and full of himself to appeal to my sort of person. ” Camilla turned on me, angry at any breath of criticism of her brother.
    “ What a smug thing to say! ” she stormed.
    I sighed, acknowledging the truth of that. It was the way I had been brought up, I thought, sensibly and without much humor.
    “ Exactly! And your brother may be many things, but he certainly isn ’ t smug! ”
    Camilla giggled. “ He says he thinks you ’ re a very cautious young woman, ” she told me. Perhaps I was a bit tired, but I could have sat down and cried.
    It was a peculiar experience, having breakfast in the ornate and gigantic restaurant of the hotel. Two waiters in braided scarlet coats and with stif f ly starched turbans, served us an incongruously English breakfast of eggs and bacon followed by toast and marmalade. Both Joseph and Camilla ate with concentrated pleasure. I thought it was rather hot for such a large meal and was beginning to wonder what had happened to Gideon and the jeep.
    He arrived, hot and more than a little irritable, just as we were finishing the last of the coffee.
    “ Are you all ready? ” he asked.
    “ Of course we are! ” his sister answered. “ Where on earth have you been? ”
    He sat down at the table and nodded to a waiter.
    “ Getting the jeep, ” he said with tight displeasure. “ It was promised for over an hour ago, but owing to some death in the family I had to wait for the funeral party to come back. ”
    I realized that this was only the beginning of the story.
    “ And then? ” I prompted him.
    His face relaxed into a smile.
    “ And then the plugs needed cleaning, and they had to send for a mechanic. ”
    “ Didn ’ t they have one? ” Camilla asked, entering into the spirit of the story.
    “ It appears not. I did it myself in the end and it ’ s working, so as soon as we ’ re all ready, we should be going. ”
    It was, however, another hour before we were all settled in the jeep. Joe sat in the front beside Gideon and Camilla and I huddled in the back, both of us a trifle anxious that there seemed to be so very little to hold on to. We crawled out of Delhi, dodging the oxen carts and the weaving bicycles, going so slowly that we were almost used to our exposed position by the time we reached the outskirts and the open road.
    The sun grew hotter and hotter, until the sky was like burning pewter. The hot, dry wind blew the dust into