Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

'And you, my love,' smiled Roger, 'although I don't deserve it, have made me the happiest man.'

Champagne was sent for and an hour went swiftly while the four of them told of their adventures since they had parted in sight of the Minerva going down. They also discussed the matter of young Winters and the marriage settlement. Roger produced the document from his big fish-​skin wallet, and Sir Curtis said there could be no question about Clarissa's legal title to the money. He added that Winter’s firm was a very rich one, so he would not be jeopardised if called on to pay out a sum running into five figures. On that assurance Clarissa stuck to her intention of making her claim and the judge said that after Christmas he would introduce them to a good lawyer who would handle the matter for her. The following day was Christmas Eve, and on it Lady Beaumont was giving a reception; so it was agreed that no better opportunity could be found for her to present Mr. and Mrs. Roger Brook to Calcutta society.

After the Beaumont’s had left, Roger and Clarissa, now almost intoxicated with joy at this most fortunate outcome to their affairs, sent for the clothiers again, who, with the willingness of Orientals to work all night, promised that they should have at least one set of European garments apiece by the following day.

On Christmas Eve, lolling side by side on the cushions of a hired palanquin, which was borne by a team of sweating natives, they had their first proper sight of central Calcutta, and were much surprised to find that its principal streets and open spaces differed little from those of a large English town For the past half-​century the architects had copied faithfully the prevailing fashion in London, and some of the larger private mansions might have been lifted bodily from Grosvenor Square. By contrast with the adjacent streets of native houses made from wood and bamboo, they looked all the stranger, and the more so as their gardens had nothing in common with those at home, their most striking features being tali palms, deodars, baobabs and other tropical trees. But the people in the streets and the new bazaar which against strenuous opposition by property owners had been erected in the middle of the town-​they found fascinating, for the crowds were larger, and displayed a far greater variety of colourful costume, turbans, hats made from leaves, and strange weapons, than in any other place in India that they had so far visited.

In those days every city displayed evidence of great wealth side by side with the direct poverty, but such contrasts were far more evident in this eastern metropolis than in the capitals of Europe. Most of the well-​dressed Europeans and many richly robed Bengalis were escorted in their palanquins by a dozen or more servants dressed in colourful liveries; yet half the native population wore only a single ragged garment, and at the mouth of every alleyway crouched cripples and beggars who appeared to be in the last stage of destitution.

The mixture of smells was indescribable, as the better off of both sexes, white and brown alike, soused themselves with perfumes, many of the women wore garlands of flowers, and from market and warehouses there frequently came a fragrant whiff of aromatic herbs; but these pleasant scents were never strong enough to overcome for more than a moment the all pervading odour of stale sweat and rotting garbage, which at times was augmented to a revolting stench coming from some dead pariah dog or the corners at which men and women were often to be seen relieving themselves in public without shame.

On the waterfront, hundreds of coolies, wearing only a loin cloth were humping the rich cargoes that scores of lighters and small schooners had brought up from the ships at anchor in Diamond Harbour at the mouth of the Hooghly. Bills of Exchange and canvas bags of gold running into many thousand pounds a day were being chaffered over between merchants, ships' captains, agents and the Parsee bankers; yet in the ghats that led down to the river there huddled scores of emaciated figures picking the lice from one another's hair and bathing their sores in the dirty water.

Every boat that drew alongside holding a passenger was met by a bevy of young girls, many of whom were obviously not yet in their teens, offering themselves for prostitution; and, from the upper windows of the houses in all the streets outside the European quarter, more prosperous houris with gold buttons in their nostrils, ignoring Clarissa, called down invitations to Roger to return and visit them.

Yet wealth was far from being confined to the Europeans. In the better part of the city, there were scores of shops jewellers, silk-​merchants, saddlers, silversmiths, sword-​makers, confectioners and wine merchants-​which rivalled those of London, and the great majority of them were native owned.

At the Beaumont's reception that evening, they were presented to Sir John Shore, the Governor General. He had succeeded Lord Cornwallis in '93 and was a very different type from that handsome, much-​beloved soldier. Sir John had spent a lifetime in the Company's service and risen to its highest post by his industry, honesty and capability as a civil administrator; but he was an ugly ungracious man, incapable of inspiring affection, and of a deeply religious bent which did nothing to add to his popularity in a society which, though outwardly elegant, found its principal distractions in drunkenness and lechery.

Sir Robert Abercrombie, the Commander-​in-​Chief, Admiral Elphinstone, Commanding the Bengal Squadron and General Brisco, the Commander of the Company's Troops, were also there. The first, who was purblind and looked like a Skye terrier, but was at that date Britain's most brilliant soldier, Roger had already met in the West Indies. The second,' who had recently been conducting a drive against French pirates along the Assam coast, was an old friend of Roger's father. The third he found a pleasant but unusually stupid man.

Among the legal lights were Sir Robert Chambers, Sir William Dunkin, a Mr. Macnaghten and a Mr. Hickey. The first two were Sir Curtis's colleagues on the Supreme Court, the third the High Sheriff and the fourth a lawyer whom Sir Curtis introduced as the gentleman he had had in mind to act for Clarissa in the matter of the settlement.

The ladies were by no means so numerous, but under Lady Beaumont's wing Clarissa was most kindly received by them and they were all agog to hear about her narrow escape from becoming a permanent inmate of the harem of the Vali of Zanzibar. Men as well as women were soon clustering round her, and it gave her a secret thrill to be able, for the first time. to reply to the many invitations that were pressed upon he: that she 'was mightily obliged but left all such arrangements to her husband'.

Roger noted with interest that many of the men still wore powder and that their clothes were much gayer than had in recent years become the prevailing mode in London. In fact, but for the difference in the language spoken, he felt as though he had gone back a decade in time and was once more attending a soiree in Paris in the days before the Revolution. Being an exquisite by nature, nothing could have pleased him better, and he promptly made up his mind to order some more suits for himself of brighter silks, with wide skirts, deep cuffs and plenty of gold galloon.

He was, however, much surprised, when the party had been under way for some time, to see in the distance young Winter scowling at him. Etiquette in England was still most strict upon such matters as precedence on going in to dinner, who should be admitted to social functions at the Assembly Rooms in County Towns, and who should be permitted to sit in the presence of their betters. The higher grades of professional men were becoming more and more admitted to the friendship of the quality, but tradesmen never, with the one exception of wine merchants, who had always been accepted into county society.