And you, Andr`e, you are an accessory to the conspiracy.
He laughed outright, a bad twisted laugh.
Prove it! Will she tell a court about an abortion, will the mama-san be witness against me?
Will the court believe the story of the daughter and niece of criminals against mine?
No, but God will know and soon you will be before HIM.
Yes, and HE will know I've done much worse. And intend to do even more evil.
Tears began to stream down his face.
"Ayeeyah, Miss'ee," Ah Soh, said, trying to help Angelique undress, who would not be still, again in a merry mood, her immediate problem solved. "Miss'ee!"
"Oh very well but do hurry." Angelique stood by her bed but continued to hum her cheery polka, the room more feminine and friendly in the oil light than during the day, the glass windows slightly ajar with the slatted shutters barred.
"Miss'ee gud time heya?" Nimbly Ah Soh began to untie the waist straps of the crinoline.
"Good, thank you," Angelique said politely, not liking her particularly. Ah Soh was a big-hipped, middle-aged woman, a servant and not a real amah. "But she's so old, Malcolm, can't you find me someone young and pretty who laughs!"
"Gordon Chen, our compradore, chose her, Angel. He guarantees she's completely trustworthy, she can brush your hair, bath you, can look after your European clothes, and she's my gift to you while she's with you in Japan...."
The straps loosened and the crinoline fell away, then Ah Soh did the same with the petticoat and last the vast framework of hoops of bone and metal that gave the crinoline body.
Long pantaloons, silk stockings, short slip and the boned cinch and corset that made her twenty-inch waist eighteen inches and swelled her breasts fashionably. As the maid unlaced the cinch-corset Angelique let out a deep sigh of contentment, stepped out of the sea of material and flopped on the bed and, as a child would, allowed herself to be undressed completely. Obediently she raised her arms to permit the flowery nightdress to be eased around her.
"Sit, Miss'ee."
"No, not tonight, Ah Soh, my hair can wait."
"Ayeeyah, t'morro no gud!" Ah Soh brandished the brush.
"Oh all right." Angelique sighed and scrambled off the bed and sat by the dressing table and allowed her to take out the pins and begin to brush. It felt very good. Oh how clever Andr`e is! He makes everything so simple--now I can get all the money I need, oh how clever he is.
From time to time a benign sea breeze creaked the shutters. A hundred yards away, across the promenade, waves ran up the pebbled shore and departed and came again with a good sound that promised another gentle night that all in the Settlement had welcomed. The fleet had left with the light.
Everyone not drunk or bedridden had watched the ships sail off with varying degrees of anxiety.
All wished them God speed and a quick return.
Except the Japanese. Ori was one of them and he had his eyes pressed to a crack in one of her shutters, well hidden and camouflaged by the tall camellia bushes that grew here abundantly and Seratard, a keen gardener, had had planted.
Long before midnight Ori was in this ambush, waiting for her, time passing slowly, thinking and rethinking schemes, exhausting himself, nervously checking and rechecking that his short sword was loose in its scabbard and the derringer safe in the sleeve of his fisherman's kimono. But when he had seen her approaching the Legation in the company of the two gai-jin, all his tiredness had vanished.
For a moment he had contemplated rushing out and killing them but discarded that foolishness knowing it was unlikely he could kill the three of them, and the sentry, before being killed himself. And anyway, he thought grimly, that would end my plan to have her once more before I die, and then to burn the Settlement.
Without me to goad Hiraga he will never do it.
He's too weak now--he's gai-jin infected.
If Hiraga the Strong can succumb so quickly, what about others? The Emperor is right to hate gai-jin and want them expelled!
So he curbed his anger and slunk deeper into hiding, biding his time, planning for any eventuality. No way through the windows unless she unbarred them. The back door was unguarded and possible--and plenty of footholds to the next floor if it would not open. He had watched the undressing in every detail, barely two paces away, beyond the wall. Now she was being tucked into bed, the maid fussing about her mistress. His impatience became almost unbearable.
Earlier one of the mixed naval and army patrols that roamed the Settlement nightly to keep order had suddenly challenged him in a lane behind High Street. He had stopped without fear, there was no curfew nor was any part of the Settlement forbidden Japanese though, wisely, they kept mostly to their own quarter and chose not to tempt gai-jin temper.
Unfortunately the Sergeant had rudely shoved a lantern in his face making him jerk back, startled. The concealed short sword clattered to the ground. "'ere, you little bastard, you knows daggers'n the like is forbidden, kinjiru."
Though Ori did not understand the words, the rule and penalty were common knowledge. At once he grabbed up his knife and fled, the Sergeant fired at him but the bullet haranggged off a tile harmlessly and he leapt over a low wall to lose himself in the maze of lanes and dwellings. The patrol did not bother to give chase, just shouted a few curses after him, carrying a knife was a small misdemeanor, worth only an immediate beating and the weapon confiscated.
Again he had waited in hiding until he could join a group of fishermen to go down to the shore, then doubled back, scaled the Legation fence and quickly found a safe place. Once there he had slumped down and began to wait.
This morning, he had pretended he was ready to leave the Yoshiwara for Kyoto as Hiraga had demanded. "As soon as I've contacted Katsumata there, I'll send you a message," he had said, deliberately tight-lipped. "Make sure the girl does not escape!"
"She's the tai-pan's woman so her every step is measured and she'll be easy to find,"
Hiraga had told him, as coldly. "Watch yourself, the Tokaido will be dangerous--Enforcer patrol and barrier guards will be very alert."
"Better we honor sonno-joi, better you allow me to stay, better we burn Yokohama, Akimoto arrives today, we could do it easily."
"We will, when you return. If you stay now you will make a mistake, the woman has turned your head and made you dangerous, to yourself, your friends and sonno-joi."
"What about you, Hiraga? The gai-jin have turned you and twisted your judgment."
"No. I tell you a last time."
Careless of provoking Hiraga even more, he flared, "You saw what scum gai-jin are, drunk and revolting, fighting like beasts, carousing in the filth of Drunk Town--are these the men you want to know more of, to be like?"' "Go!"
As angrily he had collected his short sword and derringer. At Raiko's suggestion he joined the daily procession of servants leaving for Kanagawa market where the best sak`e and foods were purchased. With them he had passed through the Yoshiwara and Settlement barriers, the Enforcer patrol still lurking amongst the guards, making them as nervous as the villagers. Halfway to Kanagawa, the road traffic heavy, he had slipped away to the shore. There he had bribed a fisherman to row him to the far end of the Settlement, near Drunk Town, to hide him till dusk.
I am doing the correct thing, he thought with absolute conviction, the small sea wind scattering the night insects. The woman is the perfect target for sonno-joi. Whatever Hiraga says I may never have another chance to cast away her spell. Yes, I am in her spell. She must be a kami, a spirit, a wolf woman reborn gai-jin, no other woman could be virgin and drugged yet still be as welcoming, no other could make a man explode like I exploded, or keep me deranged with desire.
Tonight I will lay her for the second time. Then I will kill her. If I escape, karma. If I do not escape, karma. But she will die by my hand.
The sweat was running down his face and back.
Once more he concentrated, watching her through the crack, so very close that, but for the wall he could almost reach out and touch her. She climbed into bed, nightdress revealing. Now the maid turned down the oil flame to leave a warm glow of light.
"'nite, Miss'ee."
"'nite, Ah Soh."
Happy to be alone, Angelique snuggled down in the bedclothes, watching the flame shadows dance with the drafts, her head resting comfortably on her arm. Before Kanagawa the dark had never bothered her and she would go quickly into dreamtime to awake refreshed. Since Kanagawa her pattern had changed. Now she insisted on a night light. Sleep did not come easily.
Soon her mind took her into paths of wild surmise. Her hands would stray to her breasts.