Chapter 194

Chapter 277: Happiness Restored

During the same week, Ram was merrily at play with little Anarkali in the living room. Her voiceless coos and gurgles blessed the air and it was certain that the Princess of the Castle enjoyed the company of her lovable foster brother.

It was at this moment that the little boy noticed OmPrakash walk through the central doors, escorting a man who looked familiarly like the herbalist of the South Village. The men ascended the stairs and Ram was worried that Nani had taken ill.

Gathering up little Anarkali, her eyes animated at the thought of having an excursion, Little Ram slowly made his way up the stairs.

Lady Anjali had told him specifically never to climb the steps with the baby in his arms but he couldn't help himself this time. What when the matter seemed so curiously urgent, how could he stop to think of frivolous rules. He had come to the conclusion that there would not be any problem if he was careful with the carrying of the child and let nothing untoward happen.

Her head cradled close to his little neck, Anarkali looked on in amazement as her transporter took her on the little adventure up the hill of steps and across the tower-like landing.

Ram had intended to take the corridor down to Nani's room when he noticed the commotion at the other length corridor. Perchance, it isn't Nani whom the herbalist has come for...

He had barely reached the raucous room, its door ajar with sounds of laughter and exclamations emerging from inside, when Kushi stepped out of the very chamber, her cheeks red with excitement and her eyes filled with tears. She looked down and saw Ram there.

Ram was relieved for one thing: Whatever was the cause of happiness helped fog Miss Kushi's mind from noticing that he'd come up the whole staircase with the baby on his shoulder.

Kushi lifted the little Princess into her arms and then beamed at the two children, "Did you hear, you little darlings? Jiji -" she paused and corrected, "Payal is with child!! My sister is to become a mother!"

At that moment, heavy steps were heard bounding up the stairs and heading their way.

Ram and Kushi looked up just in time to see a flushed Lord Akash rush towards the chamber they were standing outside of.

Following him was Lord Arnav whose approach slowed down as he neared his wife, and they stood by the doorway watching Lord Akash embrace his wife who was sitting in an armchair by the window, her face radiant with deeply blushed cheeks.

"Did your sudden exit of the Industry leave matters orphaned?" she asked, the baby cradled in her arms.

"Adil will take care it," said Lord Arnav, his eyes absentmindedly on the baby, and then he added, "As soon as HariPrakash came to me with the news, I sent him to fetch the Guptas from the North Village."

"Couldn't you have waited till we were sure," asked Kushi cautiously, "It was only a few minutes ago that the herbalist was brought to affirm the postulation."

"It's how we deal with situations at its initial stages that bring out the required results," stated Lord Arnav, looking towards the scene in the room, "If last time, they had kept it undisclosed, this time we celebrate it from the first hour of its broadcast!"

Standing between the First Lady and the First Lord, Ram attempted to peer into the room and was most astonished to find the entire inhabitants of the Castle cramped within. Though it seemed there wasn't much space to move about with frocks and boots in the way, everyone was in a cheerful mood, servants and family alike, and they kept looking at Payal whose either side was flanked by Lady Manorama and Lord Akash.

Lord Manohar was listening attentively to the remarks of the herbalist but his eyes were lovingly trained on his daughter-in-law.

As though the uproar in the room was not enough, Ram was petrified when loud jubilations were heard from downstairs and he looked through the railings (while Kushi and Lord Arnav looked over the railing) to find the Gupta family crossing the living room, escorted by HariPrakash.

Mistress Madhumati and Master Happy had also been invited along and, on glimpsing his former Master, Ram was so overcome with joy that he bounded down the stairs and flung himself into the waiting arms of Master Happy whose eyes moistened on sighting the little boy again.

"How are you, laddie?" mumbled Master Happy, lifting Ram up on his shoulder, "Goodness! You've become real heavy! I suspect the entire pantry of the Raizada kitchen is lodged in your little tummy!"

In accord with his words, Master Happy tickled Ram's little tummy, earning the boy's wriggling and voiceless laughter.

When HariPrakash had escorted the company up the stairs and across the landing, Master Gupta shook Lord Arnav's hand, kissed his youngest daughter's forehead and touched little Anarkali's head in blessing before slipping into his expectant daughter's room. Mistress Gupta kissed all three standing outside the door, including a little peck on Lord Arnav's forehead, before following her husband.

Unlike the formers, Mistress Madhumati didn't offer any affectionate kisses but gave Lord Arnav her infamous embrace that threatened to crush any man's bones, and fortunately Kushi was spared from the torture. Instead, her aunt's beefy hand patted her niece on the head, as though she were a kid.

Preferring to remain outside the clogged room, Madhumati struck a conversation with Lord Arnav, enquiring further into the details of the highlight of the day. She paused in her tirade of words to take the baby from Kushi's arms at whose expense the aunt began to make unsightly faces which undoubtedly made the child toothlessly grin.

Lord Arnav shared a glance with Kushi who rolled her eyes at her aunt.

"Buaji," Kushi remarked, "you haven't changed a bit!"

"Who demands I should!" claimed Mistress Madhumati, It was then that she noticed Ram standing beside Master Happy and, calling out his name in elation, she proceeded to pull him into one of her notorious embraces.

Kushi chuckled lightly, remembering how much, as a child, she used to fear her Buaji's extreme acts of affection. But there was no denying she had immensely missed them too.

Gradually, the furore in the room transferred to the more spacious living room where the family and guests were all served tea, cakes and scones. Payal was the highlight of the moment and Lord Manohar quipped that from henceforth he could be spared his nagging wife for a few months of freedom, which won him a scowl from the belligerent Lady Manorama.

In the midst of the happy conversations and commentaries, Mistress Madhumati blurted out, "It will not be long before we come trudging this way again on news of our Mistress of Mischief's being with child!"

This had some of them chuckling and others smilingly imagining the possibility of an offspring by their First Lord, all of which turned Kushi red in her cheeks.

However, overhearing this statement and finding it not mirthful but troubling, Lord Arnav silently excused himself from the jubilant living room and made for the library, Kushi's worried eyes following his heavy strides up the stairs.

On reaching the solace of his library, Lord Arnav shut the door to the noise and happiness downstairs and began ambling to and fro in the room, attempting to vent out his growing frustration in the repeated movement.

He was presently passing by the bookshelf that was adjacent to the sunny window, a few feet away from his writing desk, when he paused.

A familiar look of white among one of the books caught his eyes and, wonderingly, he took down the book from the shelf by its bind. The book opened to the page where they lay a crumpled white handkerchief, forgotten and unused. Lifting it up, he thoughtfully fingered the red hearts clumsily embroidered into the kerchief, that appeared to be more like strangled roses...

He vaguely recollected that this kerchief had something to do with Kushi and her days of unwanted presence in his Castle.

Pocketing the kerchief, he was about to close the book and replace it when his eyes fell on the page that was open to him.

He felt a sting upon his heart like a dj vu of a bad note, as his eyes read the title of William Blake's disconcerting poem The Sick Rose.

He knew he had once read the accursed verse and had found it distasteful but he couldn't tear his eyes from the eight lines that provoked his attention.

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

Feeling disgusted and dizzy, his trembling hand let the book fall to the ground, as he leaned forward to the cold glass pane of the window and pressed upon its smoothness his burning forehead. His eyes were fixed on the tall rosebush, ominously waving where there was no breeze. Wretched memories of the past rushed at him like enemies with spikes and spears, intending to inflict him immeasurable pain.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to breathe in and block out the swarming images from his mind. A tear drop glistened below an eye and he turned away from the window.

He picked the book off the floor and replaced it in its home on the shelf, his mind wandering to the dialogue that had sent him to the library. Only one grieving thought remained: Would she never be his forever?

"What took you so long?" asked Lady Anjali when it was night, to her husband who had just walked into their bed chamber, "The Guptas asked for you incessantly and waited till three hours ago, hoping they could see you before they left for the Village."

The General spoke naught and headed straight for the bath chamber.

He had gone on his morning ride and, on returning for lunch, had learnt of Payal's happy news. He had barely made it up the steps to congratulate the new mother, when he heard the sounds of the Gupta family issuing from the room. He decided he couldn't betray himself so early in the presence of the Guptas for, undeniably, though Master Gupta would not remember him, Mistress Madhumati would. He had never given her the occasion to have a full view of himself all these months and, hence, wished not to make a spectacle of the realization at this juncture in the company of the multitude and in the gladness of the moment.

After his hasty wash and dressed in a night robe, he excused himself from the room and made for the room upstairs, knowing well that everyone was already in bed, nearly asleep.

His steps halted before the room that belonged to the Second Lord. Pausing uncertainly, he bent down to place a card and a single white rose by the door.

Just then, perchance sensing his faint presence outside the room, the door was opened and there stood Payal, graceful in her blue night robe.

Of all the women in his life, he couldn't quite comprehend why, he had always felt a sense of respect for the one standing before him. He had never had many occasions to meet her or even parley with her but there was that abounding affection he felt at every thought of her existence.

Strange though it seemed, anything that made her happy, made him comforted too.

He handed the flower to her, wording the writing on the card in speech, "You deserve all the happiness in this world, Miss Payal, and I congratulate you for the occasion."

Her gentle face smiled as she took the flower, "Thank you... You are too kind, sir, to seek me despite the lateness of the hour to render me this blessing..."

It was then that he understood why he valued her so much. The kindness that emanated from her gentle gaze, her unprejudiced address to him, and her womanly resolute that shone even in the most grieving moments of her life... By her aura and by her heart, she reminded him so much of someone he treasured so greatly...

What have you done... a haunting voice from the past echoed at the end of the dim corridor. Paled, he looked to the side but found nothing there that could have made the words, and yet he could feel himself being watched.

Turning to Payal, he hastily bowed goodnight and then hurriedly departed, a concerned Payal watching him dwindle into the darkness down the stairs.