My Splendid Concubine (56 page)

That night, he was impotent. Ayaou did her best to arouse him. However, no matter how much he wanted to make love, he couldn’t make it happen. His mind was filled with worry for her.

Ayaou sounded desperate when she said,
“You do not find me attractive any more. You want to forget me.” She looked forlorn.

“
That’s not true, Ayaou. It’s the fighting. When we aren’t together, all I do is think about your safety. It consumes me.”

“
What is there to worry about? I am only a woman. If I die, you can replace me. If you die, my life is over.” She started to cry and he held her until she fell asleep.

When she did, s
he was curled against him with her legs twined with his. Her head was on his chest. He wanted to roll onto his side because his back ached but was afraid to wake her. Guan-jiah had told him she couldn’t sleep when he wasn’t there.

He listened to ev
ery noise inside and outside the house. He fell asleep hours later only to wake drenched in sweat with the blanket twisted between and around his legs.

Ayaou was still sleeping but
had moved to the far side of the mat with her knees against her chest and her arms around her legs.

He
’d had a terrible dream where Shao-mei was dressed as a French sailor and was being chased by Taipings. They caught her and beheaded her. In the nightmare, Guan-jiah brought Shao-mei’s head to him so he could bury it. Guan-jiah couldn’t find her body, and when Robert looked at the face on that severed head, it wasn’t Shao-mei. It was Ayaou.

He couldn
’t tell if Ayaou was breathing. Then he was afraid it wasn’t her. His heart started to pound. To make sure this was Ayaou, he propped himself on an elbow and put his face inches from hers trying to make out her features in the dark.

He admonished himself for thinking crazy. Who else could be on the sleeping mat with him?

That didn’t stop him from wanting to know if she were still alive. He stuck one of his fingers in his mouth to moisten it and placed it under her nose to feel the cool touch of her breath.

With caution, he straightened the blanket and spread it evenly over both of them. She still didn
’t move. Her body was warm and the room was chilly. He slid closer to her. She responded by throwing a leg across his and pressing against him. He held his breath afraid she’d wake. His member stood at attention, and he wanted to make love.

Then there was a sharp noise like someone trying to pry a shu
ttered window open. Robert untangled himself from Ayaou’s arms and legs and slipped naked from the blankets into the cold. He took an eight-inch knife and his revolver from the floor next to the sleeping mat. He stopped in the doorway and looked longingly at Ayaou. He wanted to stay, but it was his duty to protect the woman he loved. He’d failed once. He wasn’t going to fail again. He would die first.

Like a pale ghost, he slipped silently downstairs until he saw the sh
adowy shape of a man standing by the front door. Robert lifted the cocked pistol and started to squeeze the trigger when he heard a similar click from the shadow. He shivered in dread expecting a round to tear through him.

“
Master, is that you?” Guan-jiah said, just as Robert was going to squeeze the trigger.

“
Guan-jiah.” He relaxed and let the heavy Colt drop to his side until the barrel pointed at the floor. His neck was stiff, and he rotated his head in circles to relax it. “Did you find anything?” Good Lord, he’d almost shot his servant.

“
Nothing, Master.” There was a click as Guan-jiah released his weapon’s hammer.

“
I don’t think I can sleep after this.” Robert glanced longingly at the stairs and shivered. The cold was soaking through his skin.

“
Master, you are going to be sick standing here naked.” Guan-jiah hurried away and returned with a blanket that he draped over Robert’s shoulders.

“
Brew a pot of that famous chrysanthemum tea of yours, Guan-jiah.”If we aren’t going to sleep, we might as well find something to do.” He pulled the blanket tight around his body.

“
The tea will warm us,” his servant replied, and hurried to the kitchen to add twigs to the glowing embers inside the belly of the ceramic stove.

When it was time for Robert to leave, they were still sitting around the table drinking tea and eating dried Shan-tung red dates from a bowl. The only sound was the c
runch of the dates between their teeth.

It was nerve-racking as he made his way through the city to the commission that morning. He’d dallied too long and missed the cover of darkness. Maybe Ayaou should return to Ningpo.

No
, that wasn’t a good idea. In Ningpo, she would be too close to Ward. She should go to Macao and live with Cousin Weed on his junk along with her father and Uncle Bark. If Ayaou did that, life would be easier for both of them, and Robert could stop skulking about in the early morning darkness expecting to lose his head.

A few days later, Robert heard that the Yamen, the Bureau of Foreign Affairs for China, had sent armed English and French soldiers to the street where the French sailor had been taken. Under the Yamen’s orders, they shot fifty Chinese at random that lived or worked near the site.

He was with Parkes when he heard the news
“This is crazy! This kind of action will stir up more sentiment for the rebels. Aren’t things bad enough as they are? The ones who killed the French sailor are gone. Why should innocent people suffer for someone else’s deed? This is going to make things worse.”

“
Calm down, Robert,” Parkes said. “It’s their country, and the imperials know how to handle their people. Besides, the French were screaming for blood so the Chinese gave it to them.”

“
The Manchu overreacted. We should have stopped this.”

Parkes shook his head.
“I’m disappointed. This doesn’t sound like you at all. I thought you believed in letting the Chinese make their own decisions.”

“
This is not a productive conversation,” Robert said. “Besides, I have work to do.” He went to his desk unconcerned if Parkes was angry with him for his abrupt departure.

It was a waste of time and effort trying to educate people like Parkes about China. They didn
’t listen. He had almost mentioned how the foreign powers like Britain had been dictating policy to China for years while forcing China to swallow opium. The Chinese government did not have a choice. When they refused to cooperate, the result was war.

It was like a robber holding a gun to the victim
’s head, but at the same time helping the victim stay in business by supporting ruthless tactics that harmed innocent people. It made no sense.

That night, he visited Ayaou again. His feelings and fears leaked out of him against his wishes. He was worried more than ever for her safety.

“
What if you or Guan-jiah had been in that part of city when the fifty innocent victims had been randomly rounded up and shot?” he said. “There wasn’t even a trial. You could be dead.”

“
You miss the point, Robert,” she replied. “The imperial government knows that such an action makes a statement. When the people see the caged heads of those fifty Chinese hanging above the city’s gates, they will know they have to take the government’s orders seriously. The Longhaired Bandits will not gain the support they have been getting. The people will think twice before they offer again. I thought you understood China better than that.”

To make matters worse, Parkes discovered he had been going out every night. “Why have you been sneaking away from your quarters like a common thief?” Parkes asked.

Robert stood before Parkes desk and avoided the commissio
ner’s eyes. He felt like a student called in front of the headmaster for a prank he’d committed. His face heated. His breakfast curdled in his stomach, and he wanted to vomit.

“
Come on, Hart, speak.”

He didn
’t want to tell Parkes he’d been sneaking away to be with his Chinese concubine. What would Parkes think? Robert continued to stare at the floor and resented the fact that he felt this way.

“
Hart, if you don’t tell me, I’ll have to order you to be confined to your quarters. When you were recommended to me, there were rumors saying you were unreliable. I heard you were a liar and a coward and couldn’t be trusted.”

Robert
’s head jerked up as hot anger flooded his face. “Who’s spreading such lies?” He immediately regretted the tone in his voice.

“
Does it matter?”

“
Yes, it does.” His voice was firm, not as angry.

“
Tell me where you have been going, and I’ll give you a name.” Parkes pounded the surface of his desk with a closed fist. “Damn it, Hart, you are a good man. I don’t want to believe what I’ve heard.”

“
It’s a woman,” he said, and the words tasted bitter. “I’ve been going out to spend my nights with a Chinese woman. Please don’t tell anyone.” His face burned with embarrassment.

“
What’s wrong with you? Men need women and women are easy to find here. If you want a woman, why are you sneaking around about it?”

“
I didn’t want anyone to know. It’s personal.”

“
I see. Well, if you have to go out to be lusty with a whore, you will have a corporal and five men accompany you. Of course, the corporal will report to me, so I will know where you are going and whom you are seeing. I don’t like my men sneaking around. It would be better if we just brought the whore here.”

“
Who was spreading lies about me?” Robert asked.

Parkes blinked.
“Yes, I did say I’d trade information. Don’t do anything rash. I’ve never met the man. They told me he works out of Hong Kong and Macao and has three small sloops. He is an opium merchant. A small one—nothing big.”

“
His name, sir.”

“
Let’s see.” Looking uncomfortable, Parkes stared at the ceiling. Robert felt as if he had taken control of the moment. “Payne Hollister. Yes, that was the name.”

Hearing Hollister
’s name was like a heavy blow between the shoulder blades. Hollister was still in China! The man hadn’t returned to England after all. “You said he was an opium merchant?”

“
That’s what I was told, and the reason why I didn’t take what I heard seriously. Do you know this man?”

Good Lord, if Hollister was spreading vile lies in an attempt to r
uin Robert’s life, the man still harbored a grudge for what happened with Me-ta-tae. If that was true, maybe Hollister was behind the attacks on Ayaou and Robert in Ningpo. It was bad enough that he had Ward to worry about in Northern China. Now he had to worry about Hollister in the South.

“
I asked a question,” Parkes said.

“
I worked with Hollister in Ningpo before he quit the consular service. I thought he returned to England.”

“
If he is generating gossip like this, he must dislike you. If something happened between you two, I don’t want to know about it. That’s not my concern.” Parkes came around the desk. “Robert,” he said, “you have proven that you are an honest, courageous, hardworking man—someone I depend on. Forget about this Hollister fellow. His type always comes to a bad end anyway.

“
And stop whoring around. If you want a woman, we can have one brought here to take care of your needs. If you don’t like that, then you are going to have to give up women until Canton is safe.” Parkes looked tired when he shook his head. “We all have our vices. I just thought better of you. Whores!” He said the last word as if it were something repulsive.

“
Ayaou is not a whore,” Robert replied, as the blood rushed to his head again. “She’s my concubine.” He stopped talking—shocked at his admission.

“
I trust you will keep this conversation private,” he said, then held his breath.

Parkes nodded.
“I will keep your secret,” he said.

It was as
if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “When I bought her, she was a virgin. We have been together for three years. I can’t go see her with an escort. An escort will draw attention to where I am going and the rebels will mark her and my servant for death. I trust you will keep this conversation private.”

Parkes did not look surprised.

“Have you had someone watching me?” Robert asked.

“
Of course. You were sneaking around like a common thief. Once I discovered what you were up to, I wanted to know if I could trust you. It didn’t take long for my man to discover you were seeing a woman. Until now, we didn’t know whom that Chinese man was that was staying with her. We thought it might be possible you were being blackmailed by someone to reveal information about our operations.”

“
You didn’t have to spy on me,” he said. “All you had to do was ask. I would have told you what I was doing.”