Read Online The Red Pavilion by Jean Chapman - Free Book Online Page A

sparkle now and, as her head fell to her chest and her shoulders rounded, she looked an old, old woman.
    ‘Oh, tell me, amah dear?’ Liz used her childhood plea for a favour. ‘Please.’
    ‘I can tell nothing.’
    ‘Ah! Anna, please! My father … ’
    ‘I can tell nothing . Miss Liz, you and your mother go back to England. It is safer there.’
    ‘And for my husband — is it safe for him too?’ Blanche’s voice broke in upon the two earnest women and they both instinctively drew apart. ‘Hello, Anna, I’m pleased to see you,’ Blanche added.
    Anna stood up and half bowed as Blanche took her hands and bent to kiss her on both cheeks. ‘It’s been a long time. We’re both older, Anna.’
    Anna accepted the greeting with trembling lips, a slow shaking head and an offer of tea.
    Blanche explained the briefness of their visit.
    ‘But we’ll come again soon,’ Liz added with enthusiasm, ‘when Daddy’s home and we find Lee and Mrs Guisan. Josef’s at Rinsey, did you know — ’
    A savage crash brought her to her feet, her heart pounding. There was such ferocity in the sound, she was surprised to see it was merely the noise of the bead curtain at the far end of the room being suddenly parted.
    A man pushing a young boy before him stepped authoritatively into the room, then stood stock-still. The man was Chinese, the boy Malay, about ten years old.
    ‘I thought,’ the man said, ‘your visitors would wish to see your grandson.’
    Liz noticed how white the knuckles of the man showed as he gripped the boy’s shoulders. She glanced at Anna; sheer terror shone from the wide black eyes.
    Her mother saw too and moved forward. ‘How kind,’ she said, as if taking the man’s words literally. She held out her hand to the boy, not looking at the man, and talking all the time. ‘I remember you being born. Anna’s first grandchild. Let me see if I can remember your name.’
    The man was so disarmed by her unexpected approach that for a second he looked behind him as if for support, and let Blanche draw the boy away. Released, the boy ran to his grandmother, who covered him protectively with her arms, her hands over his head.
    ‘No, don’t tell us,’ Liz took up the game, her eyes never leaving the now frowning and uneasy man. ‘I know who would remember, Major Sturgess. I could go and get him in a second.’
    They knew then the man was alone for he stepped back, half bowed and left the room backwards. After a few seconds Liz hurried after him and returned to report, ‘He’s gone, but who was he?’
    Amah shook her head and all eyes turned to the boy, who was now bursting with information.
    ‘They came when we were playing football earlier … ’
    ‘They?’ Blanche queried.
    He shook his head at the very seriousness of what he had to tell. ‘Six men. The others all had guns. They sent our teams home to tell their mothers and fathers the communists were here and no one was to come out — but they kept me. I had to learn a message to tell my grandmother.’ He stopped and looked at Anna, who nodded once for him to go on. ‘I have to say that they will always know where to find me.’ His eyes were wide and his lips drawn down. ‘That those who work for running dogs will be killed like snakes.’ His head dropped right to his chest as he mumbled the last words, ‘And those who work for Tuan Hammond will be killed like bad snakes.’
    Liz dropped to her knees and took his hands. ‘Don’t worry. Your grandmother will look after you.’
    ‘He’s all I have, mem,’ Anna appealed to Blanche. ‘I lost my son and his wife to the Japanese. Please leave us alone.’
    ‘Oh! Amah, I’m so sorry ... ’ Liz began.
    ‘Please, go quickly now. They may be watching. Please make no fuss.’
    ‘Do you know anything of my husband?’
    ‘I know nothing, nothing, nothing that will help him, or you — except go away, mem, go back to England.’ She leaned forwards over the boy she clutched to her. It was pitiful