Fragrant Flower Read Online Free PDF Page B

sterner attitude forcibly expressed by General Donovan.
    “Donovan has the right idea!” he said to his wife during one meal at which Azalea was present. “I shall follow his methods in trying to keep the criminals in check with the threat of what will happen to them if they do not behave themselves. The Governor’s ‘mercy’ programme has proved completely hopeless!”
    “In what way?” Lady Osmund asked, but in a voice which told Azalea she was not really interested.
    “Robbery, murder and arson are on the increase since the Governor showed the populace that he was both weak and sentimental.”
    “What sort of crimes do they commit?” Azalea asked because she was so interested.
    “Robbery is of course the most lucrative crime,” her uncle answered. “The Chinese, having inventive minds, use the storm-water drains to creep under the town and tunnel their way through into the vaults of banks, jewellery stores, and what are known as the ‘go-downs’ of bigger merchants.”
    “Good Heavens!” Lady Osmund exclaimed, “they might tunnel their way into Flagstaff House!”
    “You are quite safe, my dear,” the General replied drily. “When the vaults of the Central Bank of Western India were broken into, the thieves got away with thousands of dollars in notes and eleven thousand pounds’ worth of gold ingots!”
    “That was clever!” Azalea exclaimed before she could prevent herself.
    Her uncle gave her his usual contemptuous glance.
    “Clever! That is hardly the word I would use to describe such criminals!” he said coldly. “Make no mistake, as soon as I arrive I shall advocate that public floggings and branding in the neck are re-introduced, and I shall make quite certain that the Governor’s ‘humane gaol’ is very uncomfortable for these felons!”
    “Do you really believe that such brutal methods will be an effective deterrent to crime?” Azalea enquired.
    “I will make sure they are!” the General replied menacingly.
    Lady Osmund did not appear to be interested. Her mind was too preoccupied with purchasing elegant dresses for the twins and being fitted for the evening gowns she would wear at Government House, however much her husband might disapprove of the Governor.
    The Government House in every British Colony was the focal point of social life, and Lady Osmund was, Azalea knew, quite certain that it was there that Violet and Daisy would meet the right sort of young men who would make them rich and commendable husbands.
    She was however somewhat perturbed when she returned to Battlesdon House one afternoon after taking tea with the widow of the previous Colonel.
    “Do you know what Lady Kennedy has told me, Frederick?” she asked the General as soon as he returned.
    “I have no idea,” he replied.
    “She tells me that there was an attempt made by the Chinese to murder all the British by adding poison to the bread they ate for breakfast! Is that true?”
    The General hesitated a moment before he answered.
    “It did happen – but a long time ago, in 1857 in fact.”
    “But I understand that Lady Bowring, whose husband was then governor of the Colony, became delirious and was forced to return to England, where she died.”
    “I believe it is very debatable whether Lady Bowring’s death was the effect of poison or not,” the General replied. “In fact the War Office reports affirm that no deaths were directly attributable to the plot, although some people believed their health to be permanently undermined.”
    “But Frederick, how can we go to a place with the girls when we might be murdered with every mouthful of food we eat?”
    “I assure you, Emily, that the whole story has been much exaggerated. What happened was that one bakery, which was considered by European housewives to make the best quality bread, was found to have used arsenic in considerable quantities in both their brown and white loaves.”
    “It is terrible! Horrible to think about!” Lady Osmund