101. A Call of Love by Barbara Cartland Page A

he will come and see me tomorrow and, of course, you must come too.”
    Aisha smiled.
    “I would enjoy that. But it will not be the same as being able to talk as we did on the first part of the journey on every possible subject.”
    “We certainly covered the world,” he laughed, “but I think there is still a great deal more for us to find out or is it perhaps hidden away in Heaven?”
    “Then we must still find it and dissect it between us!” Aisha replied.
    “I will tell you what we will do – ” he said.
    At that moment an all too familiar voice piped up,
    “Oh, here you are, Charles. I wondered where you could be. I have been looking for you everywhere.”
    “We were just saying that, with Calcutta in sight, it will not be long now before we will all be saying goodbye to each other,” Lord Kenington replied.
    “I hope that’s not true,” the Countess said. “You will be going on to Simla to see the Viceroy and so will we after we have visited the Colonel.”
    “Oh, that is splendid news.” There was nothing else he could say.
    *
    It was afternoon and the sun was very hot when the Liner sailed into Port at Calcutta.
    Aisha had already been on deck for half-an-hour, waiting eagerly for the first sight of her father.
    When Lord Kenington joined her, he said,
    “You must not forget that I am almost as eager to see your father as you are.”
    “But for very different reasons, my Lord. I am sure that he will be here waiting for me and he will tell you where we are staying.”
    “I expect it will be at Government House, unless your father is at Regimental Headquarters.”
    “We will soon find out the answer.” She was looking very pretty, wearing a thin cotton dress because it was so hot. Also a shady hat trimmed with flowers.
    Lord Kenington suddenly thought that if she was to meet the Officers of her father’s Regiment, as undoubtedly she would, he would have even less chance of being alone with her as they had been on board.
    They waited for the ship to come slowly alongside.
    Lord Kenington was immediately aware that Aisha suddenly stepped nearer to him.
    He could see that Arthur Watkins was only a little way from her.
    When he saw Aisha share a table with the Earl and Countess of Dartwood, Watkins had been astute enough to realise that he had made a mistake about her.
    He knew enough of the Social world to be aware that, if she was the type of woman he had thought her to be, the Earl and Countess would not for one moment have sat down at the same table beside her.
    In other words she was a lady and, although she was travelling alone, she was not what he had assumed. Nor would she behave in anything but a ladylike way.
    ‘I have made a fool of myself,’ Arthur Watkins told himself, as he deliberately walked away from Aisha. She gave a sigh of relief.
    “Forget him,” Lord Kenington said. “It’s something that happens to pretty girls all over the world and you should never think about it again.”
    “Now you are reading my thoughts, as I told you to do. Incidentally it’s an experience I will not forget easily.”
    “Of course you will. When you are engrossed with India and only India, and perhaps with the charming young gentlemen who will be praising you to the skies from the moment you appear.”
    “I only hope that’s true, but I think it’s unlikely. Now at last we ought to see Papa.”
    She leant over the railing as she was speaking and Lord Kenington stood beside her.
    He wondered what her father would look like. He expected him perhaps to be in uniform, which would make it easier to identify him.
    Although there was a throng of people waiting on the quay, Aisha did not point anyone out.
    In fact, when at last they went down the gangway, there was a carriage waiting for the Earl and Countess, which had been ordered in advance, but there was still no sign of Major Warde.
    “I cannot think where he can be,” Aisha sighed.
    “Of course you let him know that you were sailing on this