‘Can’t have been a very riotous time!’ said Joe gently. ‘I heard no sounds from downstairs and I’m a champion light sleeper. A riotous time down there would have woken me up. Are you sure about this? And what do you mean by “riotous”?’
‘You don’t make it easy for a girl, do you? No, you’re right. Bad choice of word because it wasn’t noisy at all. Not at all. It was rather subdued but energetic, um, sexual congress.’ She finished with a rush, blushing hotly.
Taken completely by surprise, Joe looked at her in horror and then said carefully, ‘I think it might be better if you took me through this step by step from the ending of the dinner party, Lily.’
‘Yes, it would. It’ll be a lot easier to talk about now I’ve said those words. From now on I shall refer to the activity as s.c. Is that all right?’
‘Quite all right,’ said Joe.
‘You saw the appalling Rathmore bundle me out of the room, lest I should fall victim to silken oriental seduction?’
Joe nodded and remained silent. ‘Prescient old Rathmore!’ he was thinking. ‘More sense than the rest of us apparently!’
‘Well, it was clearly his idea that I should fall victim to his own Western style of courtship. Not subtle! Oh, don’t look concerned – I can handle unsubtle! He’s suffering this morning from a dented ego and a bruised foot! Did you notice he was limping this morning?’ she said, a flash of good humour returning. ‘He marched me round the garden and pointed out that a nightingale was singing and the moon was shining. He reminded me that he was a lord, twirled his moustache and fell on me. Well, on where I would have been were I not such a fast mover! I escaped and went to my room and he hobbled off back to his room, cursing me no doubt. Must have been at about half-past ten.’
‘I made my rounds at eleven and everyone was in their own room. You locked your door when I asked you to.’
Lily gave him a scathing look. ‘You were taken in by that old girls’ boarding school trick? I locked and unlocked it again straight away.’
‘But why didn’t you complain about Rathmore’s behaviour to you? I would have dealt with him. It would have given me quite a lot of pleasure in fact!’
She said what he knew she’d say. ‘I can take care of myself. No need to involve anyone else. Everything went very quiet, Joe, when you finished padding about and I sat and waited.’
‘Waited? Waited for what?’
‘Do you remember the Persian poem Zeman said to me towards the end of dinner? About the moonlight on the pool and “I wait to see your shadow fall on the garden’s midnight wall” – all that? I sort of, well, took it literally. I took it as an invitation to meet him by the pool at midnight.’ She blushed but looked at Joe defiantly. ‘Ridiculous, I know and I’m ashamed of myself but it was so romantic! Oh, I was imagining telling my friends! I thought at the very least he would try to kiss me and I’d decided that at the very least I would let him. No one I know has kissed a Pathan before! And this guy could out-smoulder Rudolph Valentino! If you know who he is?’
‘I am aware of the gentleman and have even seen some of his moving pictures,’ said Joe. ‘And, yes, Lily, I can see what the attraction was! But, tell me – what time did you go out to the garden?’
‘Just before midnight. I put on a dark dress and a pair of sandals and I crept out. I didn’t disturb anyone. I got into the garden and decided to hide in the almond trees. Well, I didn’t want to appear to be the first to get there – you mustn’t seem to be overkeen, you know.’ Lily fell silent again.
‘And?’ Joe prompted gently.
‘He didn’t turn up. I thought I must have misunderstood the meaning of the poem at first and then I thought he might be praying or giving orders to his men or doing something military so I hung on. I mean, how would I know how these guys pass their time? I guess I waited until, oh, it must have been half-past midnight at the earliest. And then I heard quiet laughter. Someone was coming into the garden. Someone who didn’t want to be heard. I stayed where I was just in case it wasn’t Zeman. But it was. It was Zeman but he was hand in hand with someone else. They went to the pool and they took their clothes off and slid into the water and then they, they, oh!’
‘S.c. occurred?’ Joe finished for her.
She nodded miserably and Joe felt desperately sorry for her. He felt a stab of anger too with Zeman for playing with the girl’s fantasies. ‘Good Lord! A scene like this could twist an impressionable girl’s views of men for evermore,’ he thought.