often occupied them in idle and happy planning: a home in the western isles, a large grey-stone house in which, Jane had already decided, every room would display a rich and beautiful Indian carpet.
Save! How could he save when every month he was spending almost three hundred rupees more than he earned?
‘A hard way to get rich,’ he muttered.
*
By the evening his worries were blocking off all other thoughts, but he kept them from Jane who was still suffering spates of sadness due to Maria’s departure from India a few days earlier.
Maria had simply gone on a holiday to England in order to visit two other sisters there, but she would be away for almost a year, and Jane had clung to Maria as if the ship was taking her no further than the bottom of the ocean. At the end, himself and James Morley had been obliged to pull the two sisters from each other’s arms in order that the ship could set sail.
James Morley … Lachlan scowled as he thought of Jane's irascible brother-in-law who had begun to show signs of renewed disapproval of Jane's marriage. But Maria Morley had begged Lachlan, before she sailed, to do everything possible to keep on good terms with her husband, and not to discommode him in any way, if only for the sake of dear James's liver.
Only a month after Maria's departure, Lachlan was given harsh evidence of the deplorable state of dear James's pickled old liver.
Morley stormed into the office at Army Headquarters which had been given to Lachlan upon his appointment as Major of Brigade, waving a letter in the air as he screamed: ‘How dare you, sir! How dare you! ’
The young lieutenant who had been sitting before Lachlan's desk rose to his feet and diplomatically left the room, closing the door very quietly behind him. The sound of his boots could be heard marching down the corridor as the two men looked at each other.
‘Mr Morley…’ Lachlan said in a carefully subdued voice, ‘kindly remember that you are on military premises now, and we do not like our quiet corridors disturbed by the screaming of irate civilians.’
‘Don't you dare act the supercilious staff officer with me, sir! I know what you are, Macquarie. What I always thought you were. A conniving fortune hunter! And now you've proved it by trying to get your hands on Jane's money!’
Lachlan looked at Jane's brother-in-law with a contempt he made no further effort to conceal. ‘Your accusation, Mr Morley, is offensive, and I have warned you once before that my tolerance has a limit.’
Morley threw down the letter written on expensive English bond. ‘There's the proof! There it is! You, sir, have made an order upon the London bankers, Messrs Francis and Gosling, to provide the money for a London-made carriage that you intend to purchase and have shipped out here to Bombay! As well as silver and plate engraved with the Arms of Mull! ’
Calmly, Lachlan read quickly down the single sheet of paper. ‘The carriage,’ he said, ‘was in fact ordered before our wedding by Jane, as was the request to Messrs Francis and Gosling to make payment. As soon as I learned of it, I wrote to the London carriage makers cancelling the order.’
‘And the silver and plate?’
‘That was also ordered by my wife, wishing as she did, to have her silver and plate adorned with the Macquarie Arms, and that I allowed to go through.’
‘And who did you expect to pay for it? You are well aware that the marriage contract forbids you to touch Jane's money or any of the interest accruing from it.’
‘And I have not done,’ Lachlan replied in puzzlement. ‘What the hell are you accusing me of? Jane has not sought to use any of her own money either, she knows she cannot do so until she is twenty-one.’
‘So where did she hope to get the money for her fancy carriage then? For her silver and plate?’
‘From the thousand pounds I gave to her as a wedding gift. The thousand pounds that you insisted I also deposit with
Save! How could he save when every month he was spending almost three hundred rupees more than he earned?
‘A hard way to get rich,’ he muttered.
*
By the evening his worries were blocking off all other thoughts, but he kept them from Jane who was still suffering spates of sadness due to Maria’s departure from India a few days earlier.
Maria had simply gone on a holiday to England in order to visit two other sisters there, but she would be away for almost a year, and Jane had clung to Maria as if the ship was taking her no further than the bottom of the ocean. At the end, himself and James Morley had been obliged to pull the two sisters from each other’s arms in order that the ship could set sail.
James Morley … Lachlan scowled as he thought of Jane's irascible brother-in-law who had begun to show signs of renewed disapproval of Jane's marriage. But Maria Morley had begged Lachlan, before she sailed, to do everything possible to keep on good terms with her husband, and not to discommode him in any way, if only for the sake of dear James's liver.
Only a month after Maria's departure, Lachlan was given harsh evidence of the deplorable state of dear James's pickled old liver.
Morley stormed into the office at Army Headquarters which had been given to Lachlan upon his appointment as Major of Brigade, waving a letter in the air as he screamed: ‘How dare you, sir! How dare you! ’
The young lieutenant who had been sitting before Lachlan's desk rose to his feet and diplomatically left the room, closing the door very quietly behind him. The sound of his boots could be heard marching down the corridor as the two men looked at each other.
‘Mr Morley…’ Lachlan said in a carefully subdued voice, ‘kindly remember that you are on military premises now, and we do not like our quiet corridors disturbed by the screaming of irate civilians.’
‘Don't you dare act the supercilious staff officer with me, sir! I know what you are, Macquarie. What I always thought you were. A conniving fortune hunter! And now you've proved it by trying to get your hands on Jane's money!’
Lachlan looked at Jane's brother-in-law with a contempt he made no further effort to conceal. ‘Your accusation, Mr Morley, is offensive, and I have warned you once before that my tolerance has a limit.’
Morley threw down the letter written on expensive English bond. ‘There's the proof! There it is! You, sir, have made an order upon the London bankers, Messrs Francis and Gosling, to provide the money for a London-made carriage that you intend to purchase and have shipped out here to Bombay! As well as silver and plate engraved with the Arms of Mull! ’
Calmly, Lachlan read quickly down the single sheet of paper. ‘The carriage,’ he said, ‘was in fact ordered before our wedding by Jane, as was the request to Messrs Francis and Gosling to make payment. As soon as I learned of it, I wrote to the London carriage makers cancelling the order.’
‘And the silver and plate?’
‘That was also ordered by my wife, wishing as she did, to have her silver and plate adorned with the Macquarie Arms, and that I allowed to go through.’
‘And who did you expect to pay for it? You are well aware that the marriage contract forbids you to touch Jane's money or any of the interest accruing from it.’
‘And I have not done,’ Lachlan replied in puzzlement. ‘What the hell are you accusing me of? Jane has not sought to use any of her own money either, she knows she cannot do so until she is twenty-one.’
‘So where did she hope to get the money for her fancy carriage then? For her silver and plate?’
‘From the thousand pounds I gave to her as a wedding gift. The thousand pounds that you insisted I also deposit with
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