Read Online Fragrant Flower by Barbara Cartland - Free Book Online Page B

soon as I read it, I realised that you and the wife would be on the same ship. I worry about her travelling alone with the children. She’s not one for the sea.”
    Lord Sheldon wondered with an inward smile how many soldiers’ wives were, but he replied,
    “I will certainly keep an eye on your wife, Sergeant-Major, and I only hope the weather is not too rough.”
    “That’s what I’m hoping too, my Lord. I was never much of a sailor meself.”
    They talked of old times, and then the Sergeant-Major said,
    “We miss you, my Lord. Those of us who was with you in India wish we was back there, even if it was stinkin’ ’ot at times!”
    “I feel the same,” Lord Sheldon smiled.
    “Do you miss the Regiment, my Lord? It don’t seem right to be seeing you out of uniform.”
    “I miss it more than I can say,” Lord Sheldon replied with a note of sincerity in his voice, “and I miss India. I am afraid you will find Hong Kong rather restricting. It is a very small Colony.”
    “That’s just what I was thinking meself, my Lord,” the Sergeant-Major said. “But I’m hopin’ it won’t be for long, and we’ll ’ave some Indian troops with us, which’ll make it seem more like ’ome.”
    “It will, indeed,” Lord Sheldon agreed.
    He had known that a number of Indian troops were being sent to Hong Kong to reinforce the garrison, and that officers and N.C.O.s who had previously served in India were being drafted there to command them.
    As the Sergeant-Major had expected, his wife had succumbed immediately to the roughness of the sea and, although Lord Sheldon had sent her various comforts, the stewardess who looked after her had reported she was far from well.
    Now, descending to the Third Class deck with some difficulty owing to the pitching and tossing of the vessel, Lord Sheldon moved along the narrow passageway to the cabin occupied by Mrs. Favel and her children.
    The Third Class arrangements in the Orissa were better than in many of the ships on which Lord Sheldon had sailed, but the passengers were nevertheless uncomfortably crowded.
    Low down in the ship the smell of oil and bilge, and the lack of fresh air were very obvious, and only Lord Sheldon’s sense of duty made him enquire personally every day about Mrs. Favel from the stewardess who attended her.
    He found her now without much difficulty, a middle-aged woman, looking tired and somewhat harassed as she came out of the cabin carrying in her hands a bowl from which Lord Sheldon averted his eyes.
    “I won’t be a moment, my Lord,” the stewardess said as she saw him and disappeared through a door where he could hear rushing water as she sluiced the bowl clean.
    She came back wiping her hands and smiling.
    Women of all ages and all classes invariably smiled at Lord Sheldon. There was something not only handsome, but also attractive about him, which they found irresistible.
    “How is our patient?” Lord Sheldon asked.
    “A bit more perky today, my Lord, and very grateful for the bottle of brandy you sent her.”
    “I hope it helped her seasickness.”
    “I’ve always found there’s nothing like brandy,” the stewardess said, “but unfortunately, my Lord, few people on this deck can afford it.”
    “Let me know when Mrs. Favel wants another bottle,” Lord Sheldon said, “and tell her I have enquired after her.”
    “She’ll be very honoured, my Lord. She has told me how much her husband admired your Lordship.”
    “Thank you,” Lord Sheldon said. “Is there anything else you want?”
    “Nothing, thank you, my Lord. I am just praying it won’t be long before we reach a bit of calmer weather. I’ve never known it as bad as this.”
    “I suspect that is what you say every time there is a storm,” Lord Sheldon remarked.
    The stewardess laughed.
    “I expect you’re right, my Lord. One forgets until the next time, thank goodness!”
    She spoke so fervently that Lord Sheldon also laughed and turned to go back the way he had come. Then