My Splendid Concubine (6 page)

Patridge stood and looked
at Robert. “How does this compare to Ningpo?”

“
You were right about everything. I’m grateful for your invitation.”

“
Take advantage of Willow,” Patridge said. “Although she doesn’t play musical instruments or dance, she’ll make your night pleasant. After you’ve finished with her, I’m sure you will sleep soundly.” He squeezed Robert’s shoulder. “Let me know at breakfast if you’re happy with her. I have others if she isn’t satisfactory.”

“
Thank you, Captain,” Robert said. He couldn’t look Patridge in the eye, and his ears burned from embarrassment. He was glad when Patridge went inside.

Willow
’s presence in the darkness behind Robert worked like a magnet arousing his sexual cravings. What was he to do? When the Sabbath came, there was no church and no minister to bolster his resolve not to stray from the path he had chosen. His heightened desire reminded him that he’d failed once with Me-ta-tae. He didn’t want to fail again. Every time he strayed, he paid a price. With Me-ta-tae, he’d made an enemy of Hollister. In Ireland, he’d embarrassed himself and his family. Why didn’t he have the strength to wait until he found a proper wife?

The lone glowing lantern hung from a rafter to his left. The breeze buffeted it about causing it to make creaking sounds and to cast strange shifting shadows over the table. The chair Robert sat on felt hard, and he squirmed
about attempting to find a comfortable position. Due to the silence, he heard Willow’s shallow breathing. He wanted to look at her but didn’t allow it. He cursed his libido.

The food and wine made him feel lazy. His eyes drifted shut. He thought of the large corner room that Captain Patridge had made available for him. The room at the consulate had been smothe
ring and cramped. The room here had a wide-open window facing the ocean and mosquito netting around the bed to keep him safe from the bloodsuckers. He wondered if that net protected him from Willow.

Patridge said there were other women implying that if Wi
llow did not please him, another would take her place. Just the idea caused his heart to palpitate as if it had a life of its own. The constant struggle was exhausting.

In an attempt to get his mind off the woman standing b
ehind him, Robert focused on the brig sitting at its anchorage in the small cove. Lights glowed from the aft windows. He heard a bell ringing from the ship marking the time. He counted eleven. It was late. He was tired, but he couldn’t move. Willow’s presence was like an anchor holding him in the chair. He wanted to take her with him, but his conscience said it was wrong. It was as if he were part of a painting. He didn’t know why, but it reminded him of Rembrandt’s
The Night Watch
. It was all so dark except for two people dressed in white and glowing as if they were lit from within like Willow and Robert on that veranda.

“
Do you need anything, Master?” It was Guan-jiah, who must have been in the shadows watching.

“
No.” Robert was drowsy and his tongue felt thick and heavy.

“
Master, in China we believe that we have found the true meaning of life and understand it. For us, the end of life lies not in life after death, for the idea that we live to die, as taught by Christianity, is baffling and makes no sense. The true end, as we Chinese believe it, is the enjoyment of a simple life and in harmonious social relationships while we are alive.”

“
Are you a philosopher too?” Robert asked, impressed. He knew what Guan-jiah was doing. He was telling Robert it was all right to spend the night with Willow. Was Guan-jiah reading his mind? Robert narrowed his eyes and studied his servant wondering if the eunuch was up to something.

“
No Master, but I have had much time to contemplate life and its mysteries. I have sought answers to my questions for many years.”

“
And this contemplation must have started when you were in that Buddhist monastery?”

He nodded.
“Have I offended you, Master?”

“
No. I value your advice. Thank you. You may go now.” Guan-jiah turned and walked into the darkness. With a sluggish effort, Robert stood to go inside. Willow blew out the last lantern and quietly followed.

Once in his room, Willow came to take off his shirt. Knee
ling, she slipped off his shoes, unbuckled his belt and pulled down his trousers. He stepped out of his pants and stood watching her undress. The sight of her naked body thrilled him. He found that he had trouble drawing in a full breath. Then she blew out the candles plunging the room into gloom. He listened to her climb onto the bed.

Robert was glad that the darkness hid his guilt and his ere
ction. A long moment passed while he listened to the only sounds in the room—the pounding of his heart and the breathing of two people. He decided to accept what Willow offered. After all, he was a traveler on a lonely journey, who occasionally embraced human affections the same way he took the sun and water.

It was as if there were two people inside him. The first
person was the man that arrived from Ireland running from his sins. The second man was the one from Ningpo. The Ningpo man felt lonely and tired, but there was no despair as there had been in the first man when he had reached Hong Kong a year ago. If Guan-jiah hadn’t stepped out of the darkness and talked to him, Robert was sure he would have slept alone. His servant had awakened the Ningpo man.

He was still nervous, so Robert turned away from the bed to the washbasin sitting on top the small three-legged table in the corner. A
fter rinsing his hands several times more than he needed, he searched in the darkness for a towel.

He sensed her presence
before she took his hands in hers. She hadn’t made a sound. She led him to the bed where the starlight coming through the window lit the sheets. When Willow stepped closer, the light reflected from her face and her bare shoulders.

The sight of her naked skin caused his breath to catch in his throat. He had trouble swallowing. There was no warmth in her eyes, but they
were not cold either. Robert took her face between his hands and bent to kiss her lips.

She slipped away, cra
wled under the thin sheet. He followed. She twisted around snuggling her face against his neck. Her thin chest pressed against him, and she molded her body to his. Her breasts were small and soft. Any doubts that this was something he shouldn’t be doing fled. He rolled over on top of her. She was wet inside and received him easily.

The sex
act was over in a few strokes.

Willow quietly cl
eaned him with a damp cloth then left the room. He waited for her to return, but she didn’t. She hadn’t said one word. Robert wished she had spoken—like where she was from, what was her favorite food, or if she’d had a good time. He wanted to make her smile or laugh. It disappointed him that there wasn’t more to it.

Then he heard the sound of breathing at the op
en window. Robert saw the figure of a man there—about Guan-jiah’s size. When the shape left, Robert hurried to the window and watched his servant merge with the night.

Robert returned to the bed and struggled with the disco
mfort of Guan-jiah watching him have intercourse with Willow. He was sure his servant had also spied on him when he’d made love to Me-ta-tae in Ningpo.

He
had been with several women since going off to college at fifteen. The idea of going through life and never knowing such pleasure was horrible to contemplate. He had no idea how Catholic priests survived and was glad he wasn’t one.

Maybe the only way Guan-jiah came close to experience what it was like to be with a woman was to stand in the shadows and watch. Robert decided that if he could somehow make up for Guan-jiah
’s loss by not complaining, he would keep quiet. However, that was not going to be easy.

His
encounter with Willow was an extension of the meal as if Patridge had planned for her to be the dessert. He no longer made an effort to kill the guilt, although it was lurking nearby. It was like a sleeping monster waiting to pounce on him as if it were a lion if he stumbled.

He was beginning to understand that, unlike Victorian En
gland, China with its Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist influences fit who he’d been while in College. Here he knew that if he took up his old Belfast ways, he’d not be condemned. Here, if Robert so desired, he could follow where his nature led instead of fighting it. However, he hadn’t sailed halfway around the world to indulge in women.

The concubines were not there for breakfast. Two male servants put the food and drinks on the table.

“
How was your night, gentlemen?” Patridge asked, as Robert leaned back in his chair with a full belly. “I hope it was satisfactory.”

Roundtree belched.
“You have splendid concubines, Patridge. Why do you think we didn’t sail straight to Shanghai to unload our cargo and take on a new one? It’s a long voyage to England, and your women are better than prostitutes.”

“
I want to keep my employees happy,” Patridge replied.

Robert wondered if he would return next summer if the captain invited him again.
After a night with Willow, Robert was not sure this was what he was looking for. He wanted to know the woman first. He considered taking his vacation next summer in Shanghai. He could stay with William Lay and his opinionated, grumpy brother Horatio. Shanghai held more people from England and Europe. If Robert spent his month there, he might meet someone.

By midmorning, a dozen men arrived from the
Sampson,
a schooner that dropped anchor near the brig sometime during the night. They arrived on the veranda armed with cutlasses and muskets. One man had a healing scab running down the right side of his face. The scab started above his eye and stopped at his jaw line. What with his tousled hair and leathery skin, he looked like a true pirate. Robert shuddered, because the sight reminded him of the narrow escape with the pirates while sailing on the
Iona
. It was shocking to be reminded that life was so fragile.

“
Why come here armed like this, Captain Bainbridge?” Patridge asked. “Has something happened?”

“
Aye,” Captain Bainbridge of the
Sampson
said in a rush. “Taiping rebels took the
Nancy
on the Woosung River about twenty miles above Shanghai. My ship had moved farther from shore after unloading our opium when they struck.”

“
Slow down, man,” Patridge said. He beckoned a servant to pour wine for Bainbridge and his men. “Take a drink to calm yourself before you continue. This is serious. I want to hear every word.”

Bainbridge gulped his wine.
“The rebels hit us by surprise early in the morning swarming from the shore in sampans. They overwhelmed the small boats surrounding the
Nancy
and captured the unarmed Chinese boat people that work for us.

“
Most of the brig’s crew managed to dive into the river and swim to the
Sampson
. If we hadn’t put up a hard fight, we would have fallen too. Though we managed to escape, the boat people, the brig and the opium were taken.”

Robert wondered when the man was going to find time to breathe.

“We saw old captain Tingle and a few of his crew that didn’t get overboard in time,” Bainbridge said. “They put up a stiff fight. I am sure he’s dead by now. The Taipings don’t take kindly to opium and want to see all foreigners beheaded anyway.”

Bainbridge held out a Chinese placard.
“I took this off a rebel I killed.”

Captain Patridge
interpreted it into English. “The Taipings are calling on the people to rise up and exterminate the Imps and Monkeys, which of course refers to us.”

“
The boat people may live a few more days,” Captain Bainbridge said. “If they can’t produce a ransom, they’ll be beheaded.”

Robert remembered what had happened to the Bengalis in Patridge
’s story. He questioned his decision to come to China. He wanted his family to be proud of him and forgive him for his sins, but to do that he had to become a success. However, if he did not survive, he would never achieve his goals.

“
We can’t allow the Taipings to get away with this,” Patridge said.

“
I agree,” Robert said, without thinking. “These Taipings sound like cowards. They are nothing but common thugs and thieves. I want to be part of whatever you do.” He felt himself wilting under the combined glare of everyone and regretted his outburst. He then remembered the moment he had spoken out during dinner last night. Everyone had stared at him then too. Why hadn’t he learned from that mistake and kept his mouth shut? He hated acting the fool.

“
It’ll be my pleasure to have you with us,” Patridge said, breaking the silence. Robert relaxed at the reprieve and started to breathe again. He was glad Patridge had agreed to take him along.

“
We’ll take both ships to the Lookong receiving station and pick up more men and weapons,” Patridge said. “We should reach the Taiping camp along the Woosung River in two days and hit them before the sun rises. If luck is with us, we’ll reclaim the opium before the Taipings burn it, and we will free the boat people.”