It was indicative of my relationship with Toby that he was the one to whom I came nearest to confiding.

One day when we had finished our business he said to me: “You are better since the doctor’s visit.”

“Yes.” I hesitated.

He looked at me earnestly and I felt a wave of affection for this calm self-effacing man, who was genuinely anxious about me.

“Sometimes,” he said, “it is difficult to adjust oneself to a new environment.”

“I have been here for some time now, Toby” I said. “I think I have adjusted myself.”

“Then…”

My defenses weakened. I had to talk to someone and there were few I trusted as I trusted Toby.

He was waiting and I felt the words rushing out.

“I think something I’d taken was perhaps making me ill.”

“Something you’d taken!” He repeated the words and there was incredulity in his voice.

“Jason was ill,” I said. “He had drunk my tea. It seemed strange that he should have been ill after that. He had nightmares… and I am sure that his symptoms were the same as those which have been affecting me.”

“Do you mean that there was something in the tea?”

I looked at him.

“It seems the last thing,” he said, “unless…”

He did not need to say any more.

“I have always felt that strange things can happen in The House of a Thousand Lanterns,” I went on. “The house affects me in an odd way. There are so many servants and even now I find it difficult to tell them all apart. Sometimes I think I am resented, Toby. Perhaps Sylvester was resented too.”

“Who would resent him?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You would think me fanciful if I said The House, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” he answered. His eyes were serious. “If it was the tea then you are in danger. For if you no longer take tea might something else not be used?”

“I can’t really believe it, Toby. I think I’ve been run down and imagining things.”

“And Jason?”

“Children have these sudden upsets.”

“You’ve talked this over with Joliffe?”

I shook my head.

I could see that he was puzzled. “It’s a lot of imagination,” I said quickly. “I feel ashamed of my thoughts. I haven’t told anyone.”

I knew I had made some sort of a confession. My relationship with Joliffe was not what it should have been between husband and wife. If a woman feared she was being threatened wouldn’t the first person she turned to be her husband?

“Don’t treat this lightly, Jane,” he said.

“No. I’ll be careful. But I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. I’ve been run down as they say. I’ve had bad dreams and even walked in my sleep. It happens to lots of people. All one needs is a tonic and one returns to normal.”

“If something had been put in your tea,” said Toby, “who could have done this? You don’t think it could be one of the servants who has some crazy notion that you as a woman have no right to own the house? It’s possible that one of them could get such an idea. I know how their minds work. Who would profit from your death, Jane? There may be someone who would. It sounds mad. I wouldn’t say this to anyone else. But you’ve got to be watchful. You’ve got to protect yourself. If you died Adam would get control of the business in trust for Jason. Adam could want that. Business is not good with him. I do know that. I think it would be very advantageous for him if he could get his hands on your affairs, which, of course, he would do in the event of…”

My heart was beating fast. I said: “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it for an instant.”

“Of course not. I’m sorry I mentioned it. It was just that I was looking for a reason…”

He trailed off miserably. He was worried about me. He would have been more so I know had I told him that I had brought about a change and that it was Joliffe who would now have control, Joliffe who would have the motive.

He said that Elspeth had mentioned the fact that she hadn’t seen me for a long time. Would I call in to see her?

I said I would go now. Elspeth was a stern and practical woman; it was impossible to indulge in flights of fancy in her presence. I felt she would have a sobering effect.

“Ee,” she said when we arrived, “so you’ve come for a cup of tea.”

I said it would be delightful and she set about brewing it.

She had baked a batch of scones and Scotch baps. She made the tea at the table with her spirit kettle.

I drank it with relish.

“I wouldn’t have any of the servants making it,” said Elspeth. “There’s only one way to make a good cup of tea and nobody seems to be able to do it here.”

“Jane was saying the same,” added Toby. “She likes to make her own tea. Have you got that spirit lamp you brought with you from Edinburgh? She could have that and make a cup when she fancied it.”

“She’s welcome,” said Elspeth. “I don’t use it now. But they never will give it time to infuse. Only the Scots and mayhap the English…” she added grudgingly, “seem to know how to make a cup of tea.”

She said she had heard I had not been well. She pursed her lips in the familiar manner. She was suggesting of course that I must expect ailments if I was so unable to take care of myself.

While we were having tea a visitor arrived. To my dismay and Elspeth’s scarcely concealed annoyance it was Lilian Lang.

“I knew it was teatime,” cried Lilian, “to tell the truth I couldn’t resist coming. Those heavenly scones! And the shortbreads. What a cook you are, Miss Grantham, and isn’t Toby the luckiest man to be so well looked after.”

“I doubt he thinks so,” said Elspeth, at which Toby assured her that he did.

She shook her head, half pleased and still resentful towards both her visitors—to me for refusing her brother and to Lilian for coming to visit her.

She poured out the tea and Toby carried a cup to Lilian.

“Delicious!” said Lilian. “Just like home. All this ceremony here makes me laugh. Jumbo is always telling me I mustn’t laugh. They don’t like it. But that tea ceremony really is too funny. When all you have to do is heat the pot and pour boiling water on the leaves. But what ones they are for ceremony! I think the women are rather pretty though, don’t you? Now Mr. Grantham, you are not going to deny that.”

“They have a certain charm,” agreed Toby.

“You know the secret of this charm, don’t you?” She was smiling archly at me. “It’s the complete subservience to the male. They live to serve the man. They are brought up with that purpose in mind. Look at their poor little feet. I must say they do sway along rather gracefully. But fancy deliberately maiming oneself just to please some man.”

“I suppose we have to accept the fact that it’s an ancient custom,” I said. “It’s an indication of their social status.”

“Of course. Things are different here. There is the mysterious Chan Cho Lan.”

Elspeth pursed her lips. She did not like the way the conversation was going.

“I’ll give you the recipe for my shortbreads if you like,” she said to Lilian.

“You’re an angel. Jumbo loves them. I don’t know whether they’re good for him though. He’s putting on weight at an alarming rate.”

“Good Scottish shortbread never hurt anyone,” said Elspeth sharply.

“Nor good old haggis, eh! You must give me the recipe for that, too. What was I saying before we got onto this fascinating subject of food? Oh, Chan Cho Lan. Have you met her, Mrs. Milner?”

I said I had. She was certainly a remarkable woman.

“Beautiful in a way… if you like that sort of thing,” said Lilian. She looked sly. “And lots of men do… Europeans, I mean, as well as Chinese. So feminine, so graceful… and with those inbred notions about the superiority of the masculine sex.”

“When I met her she gave me the impression of having a high opinion of her own,” I said.

“Of herself no doubt,” retorted Lilian. “Then she sees herself as a liaison between male and female.”

“I’ll give you the recipe for the haggis if you like,” said Elspeth.

“That’s good of you, my dear Miss Grantham. Poor Jumbo. He’s in for a treat. I wonder what my Chinese cook will make of it? At home we would probably call her a procuress.”

Elspeth said: “I never heard such a thing.”

“It depends on whether you call a spade a spade,” went on the imperturbable Lilian. “You know she has her school for young ladies. She has them when they are babies. Parents of unwanted children send them to her… if they are girls, and heaven knows in this place if a poor child happens to be a girl it’s not wanted.”

“I’ve seen them perilously wandering about the sampans,” I said.

“You can be sure if a child falls overboard and drowns that child is certain to be a girl,” said Lilian. “But she takes them in, teaches them to sing and embroider and some she makes into dancing girls to entertain her guests, clients perhaps one should say. It’s quite a lucrative business I imagine.”

“I suppose she cares for the girls from their babyhood.”

“She does. It’s not many years. Girls of twelve are ready to go into service as they say. It’s all very honorable here and she’s known as a matchmaker. Of course quite a lot of our gentlemen visit the establishment.” She leaned towards me and lowered her voice confidentially. “We have to give them a little license, don’t we.”

“License!” cried Elspeth. “What talk is this!”

“Dear Miss Grantham. Your heart is in the Highlands but this is not Bonnie Scotland.”

“I’m a Lowlander,” said Elspeth tartly, “and I’m well aware of the location.”