SQ 04 - The English Concubine Read Online Free Page B

the scandalous Alexander. Are you still madly in love with him?’
    Amber blushed. ‘Silly girl. I grew up with him. He’s my cousin.’
    Sarah nodded and threw a knowing look at her friend. The sound of conversation began in the hall and she rose.
    ‘Here is Ann with little Thomas to visit Mother and finish sorting out all her things. We shall be moving out tomorrow.’
    Amber rose and kissed her friend. ‘I shall see you at the ball next Friday. We shall see how the new governor dances with his peg leg.’
    Both girls went off in peals of merry laughter.
    Amber left the ramshackle mansion on Leonie Hill which had become the residence of the Governor of Singapore since the demolition of the house on Government Hill. It was so far from the town and so unsuitable for large functions that the governor held all such events at the Court House. So it was to be for his official farewell and the welcome of Colonel Cavenagh. There would be the officers from the Royal Navy on their way to China and, too, the Rajah Brook of Sarawak who was passing through on his way to London. He was said to be old and ailing and his face was a positive horror of pox marks. With such pleasures in store she could hardly wait.
    Amber’s thoughts turned to Alexander with a tremor of anticipation. She had been in love with him since childhood though he barely took any notice of her at all. She longed to see him again. This scandalous business of some woman in Scotland meant nothing to her. In her heart she forgave him everything and hoped against hope that, when he saw her again, now she had grown so pretty, that he would fall madly in love with her.
    She directed the Indian syce to take her to the house of her friend Lian, the daughter of her aunt’s Chinese lover. It always made her giggle and quickened her blood to think of him this way. Zhen was an object of intense interest to all the girls at school. He was handsome and spoke excellent English. He was tall and well-made and exuded an exotic excitement. Lian was her school friend and lived with her crazy aunt who Lian said still lusted after her brother-in-law. She, Lian and Sarah chattered endlessly about all this.
    She waved her fan to catch the air. It was so hot and these petticoats and flounces were the very devil in the climate. She had no intention, however, of returning to the soft voiles and cool cottons of her youth. She was no longer a girl and the most hated garment in her wardrobe was the plain blue dress and white cotton apron all the girls were forced to wear at school. She longed to wear the French lace corset she had seen in Little’s Store on Raffles Place but her father would not allow it.
    Amber dismissed the syce at Thomson’s Bridge. He hated to go into the Chinese town because of the cholera but she didn’t care. No European had caught it and she certainly wouldn’t. Her Malay maid trailed along behind her. Unlike most girls her age, she never went about with an older chaperone. Her mother had not thought it necessary and her father paid no attention. Aunt Charlotte had spoken to her about the impropriety of walking alone and everyone had agreed the maid would be sufficient.
    She examined all the wares spilling out of the shops along Circular Road, silks and nankeens from China, muslins and shawls from India, exquisite beaded slippers, silver and ivory jewellery, bangles of jade and amber. She purchased a Chinese silk purse and, lifting her petticoat from the dusty street, turned into North Canal Street and into the verandah of the house of her friend. The door was opened by the housekeeper, a Javanese Chinese woman. The usually quiet house was filled with noise and bustle.
    ‘Hello, Ah Ma,’ she said to the housekeeper. This woman had been with Lian’s family for years. She told the maid to go to the kitchen.
    Lian rushed out to greet Amber, her hands covered in rice flour. Both girls hugged and Lian glanced upstairs.
    ‘Mother Lilin is sleeping,’ she said,