Pride, Honour & Love

Chapter 32

Mr Khan, Sir, sorry to bother you, there is a messenger for you who is saying there is something very urgent to inform you.....

Messenger? For me ? Here.....

Yes Sir, here he is.....The Steward barely finished when a man came and did his salutations.....

I have a grave news, My Lord, your ammi, Nafisa Banu Begum sent me, your beloved father, our good old master has passed away on the 24th of the month, precisely 10 days ago, your younger brother Hasan has claimed to be the rightful heir of the late lord.....

Hasan? How dare he......but you are not the usual messenger, I do not recall having seen you before....

Well my father Osmaan was at your service and I am a new recruit, Hasan is keeping all the members of the family under watch to prevent them from contacting you, here is a ring, which Her Highness the Begum said you will recognize.....

Indeed it was the seal of their family legion, specially used when one is in trouble.....

Jamal jumped up, shoving the messenger he ran out, asking the steward to send his servants up....

My Lady and her company watched Jamal running out in disdain and picked up another helping.

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It was not easy for Jacques to convince My Lady to attack Jamal that too in Calcutta, far away from their stronghold. That morning Jacques had gone to meet the Bank Manager once again, regarding certain securities he wanted to encash for the money he required to build Dariyaganj, he had gone early, not having much to do he thought he will spend sometime in the Bank, catch up with old acquaintances in case they came by, as he settled down he saw a gentleman coming wearing uniform of Jamal's estate colours, he became curious, only to hear they needed some cash to book rooms in Auckland Hotel as Jamal was coming with his entourage......Jacques developed a plan and then ran back home after completion of his job. Bani did not hear his plan and later Jacques thought to take My Lady into confidence first. My Lady was obviously upset. Here they had friends but with the uprising the atmosphere was not right and they did not know how strong Jamal was, his relative Wajid Ali Shah was imprisoned in Calcutta with a vast no. of his own people. In imprisonment too he lived like a king and that made Jamal's position stronger than Wallaces but Jacques was adamant. He looked at Sarah and Bani for support. Bani was on My Lady's side but Sarah looked excited, she was with Jacques when Bani said if it is a trick without any bloodshed or duel she will agree to it.....that made Jacques think....once they hatched the plan, they confided to Charles for help, it was natural Jamal will show some business interest to cover up his actual coming to Calcutta. He bought horses from another person whom Charles happen to know, he laid the bait putting his prized breed forward, Jamal took it and today evening Charles invited them for dinner for the successful deal and starting of new business relation.....

Jamal had instructed his men to get a boat hired, he will take the river route, it will be faster and anyway he doesn't need to look for Jacques anymore, he knows where he is. His abbajaan was not keeping well lately but then when he went back after missing Jacques, he had recovered enough, seeing him well Jamal had decided to continue his search with fresh set of men but now it seems disaster has struck. Jamal sat on the deck of the boat waiting for high tide to come and the boat to sart, his younger brother Hasan, an upstart , Jamal always had his doubts on him, son from his step mother, Hasan was just like his cunning mother who left no stones unturned to bring misery to the other wives of his father, specially his mother who was the eldest. At the break of dawn high tide flooded the harbour of river Hooghly, the boat started, Jamal watched the Calcutta skyline receding into the horizon , he gave a sigh and got up to go down to the cabin when his eyes fell on a boat sailing past, Jacques was sitting on the deck with his two faithful servants including the ladies, they were enjoying the sun rise it seemed but when their eyes fell on Jamal, they waved, shouting happy journey, waving their handkerchief gaily....Jamal was forced to wave back and watch them going towards the city when his eyes fell on the servant standing at the corner of his deck...in clear daylight he noticed the face was not known to him...