Chapter 216

Chapter 299: Conjuring A Climax

While the happy festivities proceeded in the ballroom, the General dolefully remained in the silent living room.

Sitting on the gloomy lounger, he stared vacantly at the fireplace, the fire crackling on the wood in lazy languish.

It was then that he sensed something move beside him.

Turning his head, he found little Anarkali there, lying still as a cushion but her dark eyes staring intently at him.

As though he were hit by a bolt of lightning, he scooted to the farthest end of the lounger, away from his nemesis.

Almost at once, Ram appeared in the room, having gone to get a bottle of milk for his little foster sister. He had conveniently parked her beside her absent-minded father, wanting to not leave her untended while he went to fetch her milk.

The General blinked abstractly. It was fascinating how he had not noticed any of these exchanges occurring right under his nose.

Unquestionably, his mind was terribly distracted. He was still annoyed by the unrestricted display of affection between his enemy and his cure, still angered by the disconcerting play, and unusually anxious about the night for as soon as the Ceremony was nearing its conclusion, he was intending to bid formal goodbye to the family and depart forever. As was his plan.

Shrugging off that wary sensation, the General stood to return to his bed chamber. He was in no mood for dancing, conversations or celebrations. But he did regret not personally commending Payal on her special day.

Pausing before the closed doors of the ballroom, he wondered if he should, just for a moment, walk in. Just enough to grab a glass of wine, congratulate Payal and Akash and then vanish again. He would manage it easily, ofcourse, unless his wife caught up with him and insisted on a dance. She would never let him turn down the offer, knowing how imperative it was for her to dance with him.

The General weighed the pros and cons of risking an entry and was on the very verge of deciding against entry when the doors opened and the Elder Lord and Master Gupta walked out, conversing about the upgradation of the Mill in the North Village.

"There are many men willing to work, you see," Master Gupta was explaining to the Elder Lord, "Especially now that they tend to see me as the father-in-law of the First Lord which I do not-"

He paused and so did Lord Manohar halt his steps as their attentions fell on the General standing with a stunned expression before them.

Recovering himself instantly, the General bowed and excused himself, preparing to retreat.

Something about the General's demeanour put Lord Manohar to a suspicion and he called out to him, "Bitwa, I am surprised to find you here. Did you tire of the festivities?"

The General, realizing civil rejoinder was more favoured than dissuasion, retraced his steps back and smiled, "Good eve, Mamaji and Master Shashi."

"Good evening, sir," greeted Master Shashi amiably, "You seem a tad preoccupied. Is something the matter?"

The smile died on the General's lips, "Nothing is wrong, Master Shashi."

"Forgive me if I sounded too imposing," began Master Gupta but the General interjected, "I feel slightly ill, I fear, so if you will excuse me..."

"Ill, did you say?" Lord Manohar interrupted concernedly, "We should call for the herbalist-"

"No!" asserted the impatient General, who hastily rectified his error by softening his tone, "No, I'd rather rest, Mamaji."

"If that is what he wants," suggested Master Gupta to Lord Manohar, and the General would have turned and been on his way hadn't a fourth voice exclaimed, "If it isn't the soldier boy!"

General Jha's heart jolted in alarm and his face turned pallid with panic.

"Is it not you, Officer Shyam?" asked the voice doubtfully.

Slowly, the General looked over the shoulders of Master Shashi and Lord Manohar and caught the intelligent glimpse of Mistress Madhumati looking directly at him.

She was flushed with the excitement of the Ceremony and there was an enthusiastic smile on her face, "It is truly surprising finding you here after so long! When was the last time we met - a year ago?"

Amazed, Lord Manohar looked at Buaji, "Madhumatiji? How can it be that you remember seeing him only a year ago? He quit his Battalion months ago and has been in this Castle ever since."

General Jha swallowed hard, staring like a cornered cat.

"Really?" Mistress Madhumati was astonished, "Whatever for? Is he related to you?"

"What do you mean?" Lord Manohar laughed humorously at her expression, "Do you not know who the General is?"

"I know him to be a good soldierly soul," complimented the oblivious Mistress Madhumati, "And a charming gentleman, who had once seemed quite suitable to be a befitting husband to our Kushibitiya until-"

"What?" Lord Manohar's eyebrows rose in amazement.

Even Master Shashi looked in confusion at his sister.

The General felt his world dizzying. He wanted to flee the moment but some strange force weighed down on his legs, disabling his slightest movement.

Across the room, Ram looked up with interest, holding the child in his arms.

Lord Manohar burst into laughter, "How could you have associated him with Kushibitiya on any account? Unless it was before you came to Arhasia..."

"No," reasoned Buaji in an unconvinced tone, wondering why Lord Manohar took so lightly what was so serious, "It was a few months before Arnavbabua married her that we had contemplated marrying her to Officer Shyam."

We did? Master Shashi was flummoxed.

The General's breathing was hard and rising and he fisted his hands to hold himself together. This cannot be happening. That evil child is casting her spell!

Lord Manohar shook his head, still in the effects of his laughter, "Then you have mistaken this man for someone else. It is utterly impossible that you could have proposed him to marry her for he was already married to another for three years."

"What do you mean?" Madhumati paled, her eyes on the General, whose betraying expression made her realize in rising horror that there was some truth to the Elder Lord's words.

"Well, you see," continued the Elder Lord, naively unleashing horror, "The General is the husband of Lady Anjali."

Flabbergasted by the revelation, Mistress Madhumati stared at the General, who took a deep breath, killed the trapped mien in his eyes, and then looked straight at her, his gaze passive and intact.

A scowl, deep and dark, appeared on the hefty woman's face.

"So you see, Madhumati-ji," Lord Manohar was continuing, unaware of the storm he had just let loose, when the General growled, "That is enough, Mamaji. You have rippled the surface and you needn't churn it further."

Lord Manohar was taken aback, surprised by the General's tone and words.

Forgetting herself, where she was and in whose company, Mistress Madhumati marched up to the General, her fisted hands reaching for his collar, "How dare you-!" when Master Shashi intercepted her, "Come away, Madhumati. What has gotten into you? Didn't you know he was her husband?"

Baffled, Mistress Madhumati stared at her brother, "Did you?"

"Yes," answered Master Shashi, "I saw him on many occasions after Kushibitiya's marriage."

"After her marriage?" Mistress Madhumati was confused, "Do you not remember seeing him before?"

"No," he replied simply.

The General perked up. A smidge of hope flickered to his defence.

"Of course he doesn't," said the General, settling a composure in his tone, "He hadn't seen me until the marriage was over."

"What do you mean he hadn't?" Madhumati shot the General a violent look, "I distinctly remember the day he went to the camp in the East and returned having met you. In fact, if I recollect more clearly, he was not too keen about marrying Kushibitiya to you for some suspicious reason that was never revealed to be the possibility of your prior marriage."

"I don't remember meeting him in the way you describe," said Master Shashi defensively, worrying if they were offending their hosts by this appalling drama.

"You don't, do you?" Mistress Madhumati turned to her brother, "I must say, ever since that ballnight a year ago, you fail to recall many such crucial incidents!"

"What is this?" Lord Manohar voiced finally, unable to make head or tail of their uneasy exchange, "What are you two talking about?" He looked at the General for conviction but the General only frowned at the floor, the veins in his temple throbbing with restrained anger.

"Is there something that you have kept from us, General?" asked the Elder Lord cautiously, "Have you known the Guptas before Kushibitiya came to our house?"

The General looked at him pointedly, "What answer do you expect to hear?"

"The truth," claimed Mistress Madhumati.

The General shot her a look, "The truth? What is the truth?" He stepped threateningly closer to her, but retained an aggrieved gaze, "The truth is what you want to make of it."

Mistress Madhumati retorted, "I want to make nothing of-" But her brother intervened, stepping cagily towards the General, "Do I know you from before? Before the first time I met you?"

The General didn't reply but instead turned about and made to abscond.

Immediately, a beefy hand gripped him by his shoulder.

"Not so fast, Officer Shyam," warned Mistress Madhumati.

He tried to pull away from Buaji's grip, only to have Lord Manohar grasp him by his other shoulder. As he struggled to escape, fury inflamed in his blood and the wildness roused within. No, not before him! Not again!

Just then, Master Shashi appeared before him, his gaze narrowed. The General instantly turned his head, daring not to divulge him even a fleeting glimpse.

"Tell me the truth, sir," said Master Shashi demanded, "Is there some knowledge you have of me that I know not of?"

The General's helpless stance, unable to imprison the malice stirring in him, revelled in the malevolent smirk he returned to Master Shashi, "If you knew..."

The unearthly growl of his voice was convoyed with a jade glint in his evil eye that dispelled Master Shashi who cried out aloud and almost fell backwards if Lord Manohar hadn't held him. Giddy on his feet, Master Shashi wiped his trembling fingers across his perspiring face, as he blinked through the fog of his distorted senses.

Slowly, he looked up, finding firmer footing, and seemed as though to emerge from an oblivion, rattled and disoriented. He looked around, inept to make sense of anything.

Then, at the very next moment, his eyes fell on the man before him who had a startled look on his face, the light vanished from his eyes.

"You!" Master Shashi retaliated, disgusted, "You, Vile Traitor! How dare you trick your wife and trap my daughter!"

A gasp and a shuffle resounded and the General looked over his arrested shoulder to find the rest of the family standing in the doorway, watching the outrageous tussle and amongst them was Lady Anjali, confounded to the core and her eyes glazed in grieved shock.