The Karma of Love (Bantam Series No. 14) Read Online Free PDF

good mind to prevent Orissa leaving. Her father is her Guardian, not you, and if he tells her to stay, she’ll have to obey him.”
    “I can assure you of one thing,” Charles said, “that I would not permit Orissa to remain under this roof any longer whatever you might say or do.”
    He had walked away from the Countess to find his father in the small Sitting-Room at the back of the house where he sat and drank.
    For once the Earl was comparatively sober and when he said good-bye Orissa felt he was genuinely sorry to lose her.
    Because he felt generous, or perhaps because he was ashamed of his wife’s behaviour, he gave Orissa five pounds. This she accepted gratefully.
    Charles had sent her twenty pounds the day before with his note and she had, although she felt it was wrong to do so, expended a few pounds in buying materials to make herself some dresses.
    They were pretty muslins and they had been very cheap. She had felt she could not arrive in India almost in rags, and she certainly did not wish her Uncle to feel embarrassed at her shabby appearance.
    Colonel Hobart was well off and Orissa was certain that he would, in his usual generous manner, provide her with enough money to buy herself clothes once she was living in his house. But in the meantime, she was ashamed of her wardrobe.
    Everything in it she had made herself and apart from one evening gown which was only six months old she had bought nothing new for two or three years.
    It was amazing however, she thought, what one could do with a few yards of ribbon and some lengths of tulle, combined with the fact that she was extremely skilful with her needle.
    When she received her father’s gift, she was thankful that she had been a little extravagant in buying the few things she had!
    It would give her something to do aboard ship, and the brightly coloured muslins were eminently suitable for the heat of India.
    Her travelling outfit, a woollen dress of deep blue with a cloak to match, was old. Orissa thought it was almost threadbare and did not realise that anyone looking at her would see only the brightness of her eyes, the happiness of her smile and the perfect magnolia whiteness of her skin.
    “Take care of yourself,” Charles said.
    Standing in the Station she gave him a last wave of her hand as she turned and followed a porter who had put her baggage on a truck.
    Then to the cab-driver he said:
    “Take me to Wellington Barracks.”
    As the cab drove away his thoughts were of himself and the journey he in his turn would be undertaking within a few days.
    It was only when she had gone on board that Orissa remembered she had not reminded Charles to send a telegram to her Uncle after the ship sailed.
    They had agreed that it would be a mistake to dispatch one before she had actually left England, in case Colonel Hobart made objections or tried to postpone her visit.
    “Once you are on the high seas he can do nothing,” Charles said confidently.
    “You really think he will want me?” Orissa asked nervously.
    She was suddenly afraid that she was being presumptuous in assuming that her Uncle would welcome her company.
    “I know he will!” Charles answered. “At the same time we will take no chances. I will send him a telegram after you have left.”
    They had not spoken of it again and Orissa had meant to remind him, but she was sure there was no need.
    Charles, despite his proverbial bad memory, could not forget anything so important!
    Then she forgot her worries, anxieties and everything else in the joy of knowing that the great adventure had begun.
    She took care to look demure, and she hoped, very respectable when the General and Lady Critchley came on board, and a Steward was sent to bring her to their cabin.
    The black-hulled Dorunda, a full-rigged, four-masted, screw-propelled ship was one of the latest vessels on the run to India.
    Orissa had hardly been on board for ten minutes before a Steward explained with pride that the engines were of a