The Missing Sister by Dinah Jefferies

Author:Dinah Jefferies
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241985441
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

32.

Righteous indignation fuelled Belle’s footsteps as she marched away from Oliver’s apartment building. Silently fuming, she barely noticed the usual mix of people, vehicles and animals in the streets, nor was she aware of the sun high in the sky and the sweat trickling down her back. All she could think was that she would definitely go to Sydney after all, leave everything else behind – leave him behind – certain now it was the only thing to do.

By the time she’d regained her composure she glanced about and found she had ended up in an unfamiliar area of the city riddled with alleyways. She came to a stop when a huddle of Burmese men, dressed only in skirts, blocked her path. One man was painting black signs on the bare chest of another and more waited in line, eager to be ornamented. Engrossed in this strange activity, they paid Belle no attention. As more men attached themselves to the group Belle sidled past and headed for what she hoped was the road leading to the Secretariat. She wanted to find Edward to tell him she was delighted to accept Clayton Rivers as her agent.

As she rounded a sharp corner and then headed towards a crossroads she heard a throbbing, rhythmical sound. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up. What was this odd noise? She stood still and listened to the thump, thump, thump, and then it dawned on her. Marching feet. She was listening to marching feet. A moment later dozens of Burmans wielding swords, iron bars and axes came into sight. ‘Jesus,’ she whispered. What on earth was happening? She spun round trying to figure out the best way to get out but now men seemed to be pouring from every direction. In a flash she knew she was hemmed in. She flattened herself against a doorway, heart pounding, fear stealing her breath. As she stared, the mob tripled in size and a huge number of men were now beating a path towards her.

Rooted to the spot, she attempted to scream. Nothing came out. She willed herself to move but, glancing about, could not see a route through. She squeezed her eyes shut in a hopeless effort to block out the petrifying sight. Dozens of men, bent on attacking her, were brandishing their weapons, gesticulating and shouting. Marching. Thumping. In a state of shocked disbelief, she had frozen. Was this how her life was to end? Was she to be beaten to death on a street corner? She desperately wanted her mother, her father, anyone to come, but could only take a ragged, terrified lungful of air and wait for her fate.

When, after a few moments, nobody had touched her, she opened her eyes and realized the men leading the charge had begun pounding on the door and windows of a house two doors further up from where she cowered. She vaguely recalled being told this was the area where the Indians lived, and looked up to see Indians hurling bricks from the windows of the houses on the opposite side of the street.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.