Veils of Silk (2 page)

Large portions of the subcontinent were never under direct British control. Over five hundred states, ranging from tiny to enormous, were ruled by native princes, a situation that continued right up until Independence in 1947. The princely states had varying degrees of independence, and in the strongest of them represented a real threat to British power.

The Sirkar had to be wary not only of powerful native princes and marauding frontier tribesmen, but also of Russia, for the tsars would have dearly loved to add India to the expanding Russian Empire. The covert conflict between Russian and British agents in Central Asia became known as "the Great Game," and it set the pattern for the twentieth century Cold War.

Until roughly the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, administrators and soldiers had close ties with natives and there was little of the appalling racism which blighted the later colonial period. In fact, since there were few European women in India, the Company encouraged its employees to take native wives or mistresses. Mixed blood was no great stigma, and many distinguished men, such as Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and Field Marshal Lord Roberts, had Indian ancestry.

A paradigm of the racial situation was the elite Indian Army cavalry unit known as Skinner's Horse. It was founded by James Skinner, the son of a British officer and a Rajput girl. By the end of the nineteenth century, James Skinner's mixed blood would have prevented him from serving in the regiment he had founded.

As transportation improved, more Europeans came out to India, and the influx of wives, missionaries, and moralists changed the atmosphere. British officers spent less time with their men, and the social lines hardened, contributing to the infamous Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The Mutiny sounded the death knell for John Company, for afterward Parliament decided that India was too important to leave in the hands of a private corporation. The British government took over direct rule, including Company institutions such as the much-respected Indian Civil Service and the Indian Army.

A note about language. Most of the languages of Pakistan and northern India are closely related, and are derived from the Persian spoken by earlier invaders. A form of Urdu was the lingua franca of the Army, and Persian was spoken by the elite. Today, Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language written in different scripts, and are sometimes referred to jointly as Hindustani.

Native princes, the First Afghan War, and early foresha-dowings of issues that helped precipitate the Mutiny sixteen years later: for an author, the material was a positive embarrassment of riches. Though the romance of Ian and Laura is the heart of
Veils of Silk
, I have tried to also do justice to the story's fascinating setting. I hope you enjoy your imaginary trip to India as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

To everything there is a season,

And a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;

A time to, keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war,

And a time of peace.

                      Ecclesiastes 3:1-3:8

Bombay Harbor

September 1841

Ian Cameron didn't need his one good eye to recognize Bombay; he could have identified India by scent alone. As the schooner slowly edged into the harbor, he was assailed by the aromas of spices and flowers and the faint, underlying odor of decay. He was equally assaulted by the vibrant colors. The brilliant scarlets and golds were a shock after the soft hues of the Arabian Sea.

The ship lurched in the trough of a wave and Ian caught the railing with his left hand. The abrasive sights and sounds of the docks made him yearn for the stillness of the Central Asian desert that he had crossed after being rescued from Bokhara. He had been so focused on bare survival that he hadn't appreciated how the subtle tones of the desert had gently reintroduced him to the land of the living.

During the weeks Ian had spent with his sister Juliet and her husband, Ross, it had taken immense effort to maintain his control, to make wry jokes and pretend that there was nothing wrong with him that a little time and a few square meals wouldn't cure. In spite of his best efforts, he doubted that he had been entirely convincing. He had been indecently grateful when the time came for him to return alone to his regiment in India.

Absently Ian rubbed the black patch that covered his right eye, then ran his fingers through his auburn hair. His head ached, but less than usual. Perhaps that was because he was, finally, in the land that had been home for most of his adult life. During the last two years of hell he had wanted nothing more than to return to India, and to his fiancee.

Georgina. Golden-haired, graceful Georgina, the most sought-after English girl in northern India. Ian realized that his heartbeat was quickening, as much with anxiety as with anticipation. He forced himself to breathe deeply until the fear subsided. More than India, more than his friends in the regiment, he needed to see Georgina, to hold her in his arms again. Then he would be all right.

His knuckles whitened as his fingers clenched the teak railing.
Pray God he would be all right
.

Baipur Station

North Central India

Nightmares again. Laura awoke gasping and sat up in bed, one flailing hand striking the muslin mosquito curtain that surrounded her. Shaking, she buried her face in her hands.

As her fear eased, she wryly reproached herself for becoming so upset when her nightmares were such old friends. They had begun when she was six years old, when she had first witnessed the savagery that could exist between men and women.