Shadow of the Moon Read Online Free
Author: M. M. Kaye
sense in such matters. Suspicion and speculation were rife, and all Oudh seethed with rumour and counter-rumour â¦
The Conde Ramon had of recent years withdrawn himself more and more from the world outside the high white walls that bordered his estate, and save for a handful of old friends, of whom only a few were European, he lived a life of retirement and seclusion. But even into this quiet backwater there crept ripples of fear and unease, so that when Lady Emily Barton had suggested that his daughter accompany their party to the hills, he had accepted the invitation with gratitude and urged his young son-in-law to agree to Juanitaâs departure.
It was cool among the pine trees and rhododendron forests of the hills, and here life appeared to move at a more peaceful and leisurely pace than in the teeming plains. Beyond the folds of the foothills rose the higher ranges; line upon line of wild, jungle-clad hills with behind and above them the changeless snows, their white, ethereal peaks unmoved by Time or the hurrying feet of History. Yet history was being made and the times were changing.
Far away in a small rainy island at the other side of the world a King died, and a young girl scarcely out of the schoolroom, who was to give her name to one of the greatest periods of British history and in time to be proclaimed Empress of all India, ascended the throne of Great Britain. The Victorian age had begun.
* * *
When the monsoon rains broke over the burning plains of India, Juanita would have returned to Lucknow. But Wali Dad and her mother-in-law Aziza Begum forbade it. âStay yet awhile, beloved,â wrote Wali Dad, âfor there is evil work afoot in this city and I am uneasy as to what is toward. Though my house is dark without the light of thy presence, nevertheless the thought that thou, my Heart and my Life, art safe from all danger, is of great comfort to me. When this evil is past I will come and fetch thee away.â
So Juanita stayed in the hills while far below, in the hot, humid capital of Oudh, Colonel John Low pleaded by dispatch and letter for the replacement of Nasser-ood-din by another of the royal house, rather than the annexation of his kingdom by the Company.
Colonel Low, like many of his contemporaries in the ranks of âJohn Companyâ, was alarmed and dismayed at the direction the affairs of the Company had taken. The Honourable the East India Company - âJohn Companyâ - was a company of merchants and traders. They had come to India to buy and sell, and trade and profits were what they desired. They did not want an Empire. Yet slowly and insidiously, or so it seemed, an Empire was being thrust upon them.
In the days of the Great Moguls a British shipâs surgeon had successfully treated the badly burned and beloved daughter of the Emperor Shahjahan, and when asked what he wished for in reward, had requested permission for the British to trade in Bengal. Those first small trading posts had flourished and paid rich dividends, but in their very success they had aroused the envy and resentment of other traders from beyond the seas.
The French, the Arabs, the Dutch and the Portuguese were also rivals for the golden prizes of Indian trade, and the British merchants, in order to protect their factories and their lives, had been forced to arm themselves and to hire mercenaries. They had in time succeeded in defeating their rivals and in establishing a monopoly of trade, but as their interests grew and expanded, and more and yet more factories and warehouses were built, the need for larger forces for their protection grew also; for the times were troublous ones, and India a medieval medley of small and warring states riddled with corruption, trickery and intrigue. The âCompany of Merchantsâ made treaties with many of these petty kings, and on behalf of their allies fought with others, while their arms, of necessity, kept pace with their profits. The Genie of
The Conde Ramon had of recent years withdrawn himself more and more from the world outside the high white walls that bordered his estate, and save for a handful of old friends, of whom only a few were European, he lived a life of retirement and seclusion. But even into this quiet backwater there crept ripples of fear and unease, so that when Lady Emily Barton had suggested that his daughter accompany their party to the hills, he had accepted the invitation with gratitude and urged his young son-in-law to agree to Juanitaâs departure.
It was cool among the pine trees and rhododendron forests of the hills, and here life appeared to move at a more peaceful and leisurely pace than in the teeming plains. Beyond the folds of the foothills rose the higher ranges; line upon line of wild, jungle-clad hills with behind and above them the changeless snows, their white, ethereal peaks unmoved by Time or the hurrying feet of History. Yet history was being made and the times were changing.
Far away in a small rainy island at the other side of the world a King died, and a young girl scarcely out of the schoolroom, who was to give her name to one of the greatest periods of British history and in time to be proclaimed Empress of all India, ascended the throne of Great Britain. The Victorian age had begun.
* * *
When the monsoon rains broke over the burning plains of India, Juanita would have returned to Lucknow. But Wali Dad and her mother-in-law Aziza Begum forbade it. âStay yet awhile, beloved,â wrote Wali Dad, âfor there is evil work afoot in this city and I am uneasy as to what is toward. Though my house is dark without the light of thy presence, nevertheless the thought that thou, my Heart and my Life, art safe from all danger, is of great comfort to me. When this evil is past I will come and fetch thee away.â
So Juanita stayed in the hills while far below, in the hot, humid capital of Oudh, Colonel John Low pleaded by dispatch and letter for the replacement of Nasser-ood-din by another of the royal house, rather than the annexation of his kingdom by the Company.
Colonel Low, like many of his contemporaries in the ranks of âJohn Companyâ, was alarmed and dismayed at the direction the affairs of the Company had taken. The Honourable the East India Company - âJohn Companyâ - was a company of merchants and traders. They had come to India to buy and sell, and trade and profits were what they desired. They did not want an Empire. Yet slowly and insidiously, or so it seemed, an Empire was being thrust upon them.
In the days of the Great Moguls a British shipâs surgeon had successfully treated the badly burned and beloved daughter of the Emperor Shahjahan, and when asked what he wished for in reward, had requested permission for the British to trade in Bengal. Those first small trading posts had flourished and paid rich dividends, but in their very success they had aroused the envy and resentment of other traders from beyond the seas.
The French, the Arabs, the Dutch and the Portuguese were also rivals for the golden prizes of Indian trade, and the British merchants, in order to protect their factories and their lives, had been forced to arm themselves and to hire mercenaries. They had in time succeeded in defeating their rivals and in establishing a monopoly of trade, but as their interests grew and expanded, and more and yet more factories and warehouses were built, the need for larger forces for their protection grew also; for the times were troublous ones, and India a medieval medley of small and warring states riddled with corruption, trickery and intrigue. The âCompany of Merchantsâ made treaties with many of these petty kings, and on behalf of their allies fought with others, while their arms, of necessity, kept pace with their profits. The Genie of
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