Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 15:38:46 +0000
From: Jeffrey Fletcher <jeffyrks@hotmail.com>
Subject: A meeting of the Twain Part 4

This is a story that involves sex between males.  If such a story is
offensive, or illegal for you to read where you live, then do not continue,
go and surf elsewhere.

This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific
person or persons.  If there is any similarity to any real persons or
events it is entirely coincidental.

The work is copyrighted (c) by the author and may not be reproduced in any
form without the specific written permission of the author.  It is assigned
to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it
may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written
permission of the author.

My thanks to John who has read this through and made a number of
corrections and suggestions.  Any remaining errors , grammatical, spelling
or historical or whatever are entirely my fault.

Thank you to those who have commented on my stories.  If you want to
comment on the story then do contact me on Jeffyrks@hotmail.com.  I aim to
reply to all messages.



A Meeting of the Twain Part 4



Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an' a man can raise a thirst;
For the temple bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be-
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea.
Mandalay
Rudyard Kipling  1865-1936


Lex found life in India exciting, baffling, and at times unpleasant.  The
heat was the most unpleasant factor, though he soon got more acclimatised
to it.  He often longed for a cool English day, and, at times, even a
bitterly cold snow laden wind from the east.  There were times when the
smells were unpleasant, though he soon began to like the smells of Indian
cooking.  But India always remained baffling.  Whenever he thought he
understood, something would happen that would lead him shaking his head in
puzzlement.  As his linguistic ability improved he began to ask the
question 'why?'; and often the response was a shrug of the shoulders and
the words 'Because it has always been so'.  When the person he questioned
asked him the same question about European customs, he found himself giving
the same answer.  But always India was exciting.  Even in the Europeanised
Calcutta at every turn there was evidence of a different and very ancient
culture.

Lex always tried to speak to the servants in Bengali.  They were pleased,
and helped him as much as they could.  Sam laughed at his efforts; Fred was
disdainful about trying to speak a native language.  The other two followed
the usual English practise when having to communicate with a foreigner;
they spoke louder and slower.  The servants already had a few English words
and soon acquired more.  Only Lex persevered in trying to learn Bengali.

It was Lex, of the three clerks, who first began to grasp the elaborate and
all important caste system.  Each servant had his own task, allotted him by
caste, and it was disaster to ask someone to do what was above or beneath
him to perform.  He learnt to preface many requests with the words, 'Who
should I ask to do....?'

He soon realised it would be a help to be able to read and write in
Bengali.  The servants were all illiterate.  He began to make some
enquiries.  But it was the gardener of all people who told him of a man who
was a Bengali teacher, who had a little English who might be able to help.
The man, who was well into his sixties, was only too pleased to teach an
Englishman.  Lex soon began to make progress in the reading and writing of
Bengali, as well as continuing to progress in the speaking of the language.
Because his teacher was an educated man he could ask questions about the
nature and structure of the language.  The years at school learning Latin
and Greek, as well as the little French, soon began to bear fruit, though
Bengali is a totally different language.

All three of the young men found Calcutta a fascinating city.  There were
such extremes of wealth.  Some of the wealthiest to be found were either
rich Indians or the British merchants.  The Indians lived in palatial
surroundings around Calcutta.  The wealthy English merchants often chose to
live along the banks of the rivers.  The poorest people were some of the
Indians, homeless, living by begging on the streets.

In the eighteenth Century the relationship between the British and the
Indians was often good.  Eleanor Fairfax, with whom Lex had talked in
French on the last part of the journey was one of the first English wives
to be brought out to India.  The first English ships throughout the
seventeenth century and early eighteenth century contained very, very few
women.  The crews were all male, the merchants and clerks of the East India
Company were all men.  Only in the late eighteenth century did a few
English women get taken out to India.  It was the nineteenth century that
was to see so many wives go out to India, and later the large number of
single women who came out on the 'fishing fleet' looking for the husband
they had been unable to secure back home.

Because the East India Company was a mercantile operation the Englishmen
coming out to India expected to be in contact and to trade with Indians.
The majority of these men were normal males and had sexual desires.  Some
resorted the Punch Houses [brothels] of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and
later the other places where Englishmen set up factories - places for
trade.  Others took Indian women as their mistresses.  Often a particular
servant in a household was the bed fellow of the master.  A few, and it was
a few, went further and went through a form of marriage with an Indian
woman.  It was a form of marriage, because English clergy in any numbers
were later arrivals on the Indian scene.  It was the coming of hordes of
British women, and British missionaries that was to transform the
relationships between the two races, and not for the better.

The three young men came to terms with India in different ways.  Lex found
it a country of infinite interest.  The totally different way of life,
which manifested itself in the varied languages and different religions,
the extremes of wealth and poverty, the noises and the smells, the customs
and traditions, all absorbed him.  He soon discovered that he was enjoying
it.  Sam was an easy going man, and he just accepted.  He asked very few
questions, and never wanted to know why such and such a thing was done.
Fred was different again.  He basically did not like it.  He moaned about
the heat, the noise and the smells.  He complained that he was unable to
eat the same food as he had done back in England.  Sam picked up a few
words of Bengali from the servants, and other Indians with whom he came in
contact, but not Fred.  He made it a point not to speak 'their heathen
language' - though he himself was probably the least religious of the
three.

The three men mixed with their fellows.  They enjoyed a social life.  They
were entertained, and did entertain.  This was mainly, though not
exclusively so, with their fellow Englishmen.  Their activities together
were kept securely secret, though was almost certainly known to their
servants.  The servants had no problem; but the three knew that back home
there were dire consequences if you were found out, and to be known that
you were that way inclined could lead to serious difficulties.

During May and early June each day seemed hotter, and more unbearable than
the day before.  Tempers were frayed, angry words snapped out.  The
servants said, 'Monsoon soon,' and smiled.  Then the day came when huge
dark clouds were seen massing to the south.

Lex, Sam and Fred were all at home when the clouds covered the sun and the
rain came.  It was not rain as they had known it in England, so often soft
and gentle, but usually cold; this was an entirely new experience.  It was
heavier and more torrential than they had ever experienced, and it felt
warm.  The three of them rushed out into the small garden and stark naked
danced in the rain.  This caused great amusement and some interest to their
servants.  Noel Coward, more than a century later, was going to sing about
'Mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun' if he had seen the
three of them prancing around he might have written a different song, but
more probably would have joined them, and hoped for more than a mere dance!

One day in mid September when Lex was hard at work, his immediate superior
came in the place where he was working and called out, "Do any of you know
any French?"

Lex looked up and raised a hand, as did one other man.  The manager chose
Lex and beckoned to him.  From such small incidents so much can follow.

"There is this note in French on this paper, I can see it's French, but I'm
afraid I can't translate it with any degree of accuracy."  He handed the
paper to Lex.

Lex translated the three or four lines of French.  In themselves they were
of no consequence.  "You good at languages, Pen?" (Lex's abbreviated
surname was most often used at work).

"I did well at them at school."

"What, the usual Latin and Greek?"

"Because I was quite good at them one of the masters taught me some French.
There was a woman on the ship coming out who spoke excellent French, and I
used to speak French to her for an hour or two every day.  It helped wile
away the time on the voyage."

The manager smiled.  "Do you speak any of the languages out here."

"Bengali, and I am hoping to have a go at Hindustani and Persian if I can
find someone to teach me."

"I bet you can't read Bengali."

"Yes, I can.  I found an old man who lives near me, a teacher, and he has
been teaching me."

"Why do you do it?"

"Because I like learning languages.  I like to be able to talk with people.
The servants helped me start speaking the language.  Though my teacher says
I have picked up quite a lot of bad language."

The manager laughed.  "Well done.  I will pass that information on, it
might well come in useful for the Company."

It was one evening in late September that Sam complained of feeling unwell.
He went to bed early.  The following morning Lex and Fred found that Sam
had a high fever, and was obviously very ill.  Someone with some knowledge
of medicine was called, and it was recommended that he be bled.  This did
him no good.  He deteriorated during the day.  In the early hours of the
following morning Sam died.

This was all very sudden for Lex and Fred.  It seemed as though Sam had
been with them one minute and was gone the next.  Lex had very few memories
of his mother as she had died when he was very young.  The only other death
that he had been closely involved with was that of his father.  But his
father was reckoned to be an old man in those days.  He had passed his
three score years and ten, even if he had not attained the fourscore.  Sam
was the first of his close contemporaries to have died.  Now he and Fred
were the closest Sam had to relations in India.  They were the chief
mourners at Sam's funeral which was held later in the morning that he died.
There were letters to write to inform Sam's parents and family back home of
what had happened.  Lex and Fred struggled to write a suitable letter.

Sam's death altered the whole atmosphere in the bungalow.  It initially
bought Fred and Lex closer together.  They sought solace with each other in
frequent sexual activity.  But there was no affection between them when
they sucked or fucked.  It was a relieving of tension, an escape from the
reality of what had happened.

They reacted in different ways.  Fred blamed everything Indian for what had
happened.  It was the bloody climate, the bloody food, and bloody
everything else.  Lex escaped by working harder at his language studies.
He had now added Persian to his curriculum.  Persian was the language of
the Moghul Court, and the language of Indian diplomacy as French was for a
long time the language of European diplomacy.

It was soon seen that Sam was the person who kept that household together.
Lex and Fred drifted apart.  After the initial burst of sexual activity,
that became less frequent and ceased.  Whether Fred sought solace and
relief elsewhere Lex never knew.  Lex now entered a period of enforced
chastity.  He missed what had been enjoying over the last few years, but it
was a sequences of circumstances had led to his activities in Whitgest with
Ralph Tooley and Billy Blackstone, and also to what had happened on the
London and the consequent setting up home with Sam and Fred.  This did not
happen to him in Calcutta.  Lex now reverted to the help of his own hand.

Lex had been in Calcutta for almost a year when he was called to the office
of one of the managers of the East India Company's Factory.

"I hear you know how to speak French?"

"Yes Sir."

"We are going through one of those times when relations with the Frogs are
better than usual.  The result is that a party from here are going to
Chandernagore [the French concession in Bengal] to conduct negotiations
about trying to settle on or two disputed issues between the Company and
the French."

"But I know nothing of such matters, Sir."

"I know.  I am not asking you to go as a part of the negotiating team, but
as an assistant.  Ostensibly to act in a supporting, or possibly
secretarial roll.  I want you to go there to learn as much as you can about
the French, and their intentions in this part of India.  Try to assess the
morale of the French.  To get them talking, but talking so as not to reveal
too much about ourselves, and what we are interested in.  Often a great
deal can be learnt over a meal or a game of cards.  Of course, you may
learn nothing of relevance.  Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You leave in a week's time and will probably be away for about three
weeks.  There will be a meeting of all those going tomorrow at 8.00am."

"Yes, Sir."

Lex was waved out of the room.  Was this the opportunity to do something
different?  It was certainly a chance to see something more of India,
though Chandernagore was not all that far from Calcutta.

There were ten Englishmen on the team to meet with the French, plus a bevy
of Indian servants, and a small company of sepoy troops of the East Indian
Company with an English officer and sergeant.

The two boats making the journey upstream to Chandernagore took it at a
leisurely pace, taking two days to do a journey that could easily have been
done in one.  The Englishmen travelled in comfort on one boat, the servants
and sepoys under the command of the sergeant travelled in more crowded
conditions on the other.

Chandernagore is situated on a crescent shaped bend of the river.  It had
been bombarded and largely destroyed by Admiral Watson, when it was
captured by the British in 1757.  When peace was declared it was returned
to the French in 1763.  They had rebuilt the small town with some elegant
buildings.  It was not a busy place like Calcutta, but it was still an
important trading post for the French.  [See footnote A]

The British delegation arrived in the late afternoon and were warmly
greeted by the French.  They were ushered into a hall where they were given
light refreshments.  There it is was arranged where the delegates were to
stay.  Lex was described as a clerk, and would keep a record of the
discussions.

The French were dressed in lighter Indian made clothes but in the European
fashion.  The British were dressed in their unsuitable English clothes.
Pride and prejudice, and perhaps sheer obstinacy, overruled comfort and
convenience on formal occasions like contact with the French.  Louis XVI
was on the throne of France, and events were moving towards the revolution
but little of this was either known or felt in Chandernagore.  A slim
Frenchmen in his mid thirties came up to Lex, bowed and introduced himself
as Pierre Montmorency, Chavalier of the Ordre du Saint Esprit.  "Monsieur
Penbarton, you are to stay with me."

Lex bowed to the Chavalier, and they shook hands.

[Lex and Pierre spoke to each other in a mixture of English and French.  I
have not attempted to reproduce this - in any case my French is not up to
it!  But I have introduced one or two characteristics of a French speaker
into Pierre's dialogue]

"I think we not need to insist on the formalities.  Please call me, Pierre
and I you will call by your Christian name."

"My baptismal name is Alexander, to my family I am Alec, but to my friends
I am Lex."

"Then, I call you Lex?"

"I would prefer that.  Alexander is such a mouthful.  And Alec reminds me
of home."

"With 'appiness?  Or with sadness?"

"With both.  I was very happy at home, until I fell out with my older
brother, Sir Edward Penbarton."

"Fell out?"

"We quarrelled."

"And your older brother is a chevalier?"

"He is a baronet.  My father was a Sir Edward before him, as his father was
before him?"

"You come from a noble family then?"

"The lowest rung of the ladder of nobility," said Lex with a laugh.  "There
are Lords, Earls, Marquises and Dukes further up the ladder."

"And at the very top 'is Majesty King George III?"

"Yes, Farmer George himself."

"Farmer George?  That sounds a vulgar nickname?"

"He is interested in things agricultural and horticultural, hence his
nickname."

"It sounds disrespectful.  We would never call 'is Majesty King Louis XVI
by such a dishonourable name."

"For us it is a nickname of affection, not of disrespect."

"You English!  We will never understand you and your ways.  We can talk
more later.  Follow me, the servants are bringing your baggage."

Lex was shown into a room with a large four-poster bed.  "You are to sleep
'ere.  I am in the next room."  There was a door way connecting the two
rooms.

"In 'alf an 'our we will be dining.  You may wish to wash, and change your
clothes.  I will be doing that."

There were two Indian servants to assist Lex in all that he did.

Half an hour later Pierre knocked at the open doorway.  He entered
resplendent in tasteful, though colourful, attire.  He was dressed in silk
britches and coat.  There was lace at his cuffs, and on his shirt.  He was
also wearing a powdered bob wig.  Lex was more soberly attired, though by
twenty-first century standards, he too was colourfully dressed.  He too
wore a powdered wig, I suppose he was just less colourful when compared
with the Frenchman.

Pierre escorted Lex downstairs, and across a square back to the hall where
they had first met.  This was now laid out for a banquet.  A long table ran
the length of the hall, lt. was lit now by chandeliers and candlesticks.
The French were obviously intent on doing the British proud.

It was another all male gathering.  There was a dearth of French women in
India, as there was of English women.  Lex did not sit with Pierre.  He sat
between a French officer, and a merchant.  Lex had little difficulty in
keeping up a conversation.  Most of the meal was taken up with small talk
about India, and comparing Calcutta and Chandernagore.  The only possible
item of intelligence was that the army officer expressed some anxiety about
what might be happening back in France.  The delay of over six months in
getting information meant that any news was always stale.

The meal lasted two hours.  It was a mixture of European and Indian
cuisine.  The French were like the British in thinking that to eat purely
Indian cuisine would be a compromise, and mark a lowering of standards.

When the meal was over the men stood around talking and drinking for about
half an hour.  Then some began to drift away.  Pierre came up to Lex,
"Shall we now go?"

"Yes, I'm feeling ready for some sleep."

They crossed the square, and made their way up to the bedrooms.  Half way
up the stairs Pierre took hold of Lex's arm.  "My friend, it is my custom
to have a bathe before going to bed.  It washes off the dirt of the day,
and relaxes one for sleep.  I 'ave presumed you would like to bathe too."

"That sounds a good idea."

Pierre pulled off his wig and threw it at one of the servants to catch.  He
then pulled Lex's off.  "I can never wait to get those things off my 'ead.
I 'ave told the servants that we will bathe.  There should be two baths in
the room we go through to get to our rooms."

Lex wondered what was in store for him.  They went to the top of the stairs
and into the room off which their two bedrooms lay.  In the middle of the
room there was now two metal baths, and four servants seeing to the water.

"Good, I see all is prepared," said Pierre.  He raised his arms and one of
the servants took off his coat.  Two other servants came over and stood by
Lex.

"They will 'elp you get off your clothes," said Pierre.

Lex raised his arms, and his jacket too was removed.  Four hands then
started to undo his shirt, and take off his shoes.  He looked across at
Pierre who was now almost naked.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw
Pierre step into one of the baths, and sit down, and then lie down in the
water.  "It is a wonderful moment at the end of a day to get into warm
water, and feel it make your body rest."

Lex's britches and underwear were removed; and thankfully without getting a
horn on, he stepped into the bath.  He saw that Pierre was watching him
intently.  He, too, got down into the water.  It was tepid, not so hot as
to increase one's body heat, nor so cool or cold to be uncomfortable or a
shock.

Lex sighed.  "This is a good way to end a day."

"I always think so."  Pierre waved to dismiss the servants.  "Well?  What
do you think of Chandernagore?"

"It is much like Calcutta, though perhaps more civilised!"

Pierre laughed. "Did you enjoy your meal?  I saw you were sitting alongside
Captain Renard."

"I did enjoy the meal, and talked amicably with the Captain.  He is quite
worried about how things are going in France."

"I know.  He talks about it a lot.  I think the King will solve the
problems.  I do not think that anything serious can 'appen."

They talked on about the situation in France.  Then Pierre clapped his
hands.  Immediately the doors opened and the servants came in.  This time
the servants were sparsely dressed in dhotis [loin cloths].  "The servants
will 'elp you wash."  Pierre stood up in the bath, and two of the servants
started to wash his body.

Lex looked on in amazement, the other two servants stood looking down on
him expectantly.  Slowly he rose to his feet.  Four hands reached over to
washing him.  Lex could not remember when he had last been washed.
Presumably it had been by the family Nanny when he was young.  But he found
the hands all over his very arousing.  To his acute embarrassment he
started to get an erection.  He looked over to Pierre.  His genitals were
now being washed most thoroughly by one of the servants.  The other servant
was at the back washing his arse.

"Do not worry, my friend, if your sex becomes 'ard, mine always does.
Enjoy it."

There was a battle within Lex between the embarrassment and enjoyment of
the occasion.  His two servants spoke to each other, they did not realise
Lex spoke Bengali.

"This is the first Englishmen we have cleaned."

"His lund is big and strong."

"Pity we cannot enjoy it tonight."

"Will you two stop jabbering," said Pierre in French, reprimanding the two
servants.

The soaping was now over.  Jugs of clean water were now poured all over
Pierre and Lex.

Pierre stepped out of the bath, and immediately the servants started to dry
him.  Lex followed suit, and soon he was dry.  Two very light silk garments
were produced and wrapped round the two Europeans.  Pierre led the way into
Lex's room.  He pointed to the bed.  "Sleep well.  Good night."

He bowed to Lex, and turning went into his own room, but leaving open the
door between.  Lex climbed into the bed, and settled down for the night.
There was a lot going through his mind.  The events of the day were
reviewed.  He went to sleep thinking about Pierre and the events just
before going to bed.  The ritual of bathing was interesting.  It looked as
though Pierre went through that procedure every night.  He wondered whether
Pierre was one who enjoyed the same sort of activities as himself.  He
thought that time might tell, and with that he went to sleep.

He was woken by a servant at first light.  Pierre came into his room.

"Good morning.  Did you sleep good?"

Lex had slept well.

"We will break the fast in 'alf an 'our, and then there will be the first
meeting with your delegation.  After noon we will rest, and then there will
be another meal like yesterday, though not so late an 'our."

The morning was spent at a meeting of the French and East India Company
officials.  Lex took detailed notes of the meeting.  This was not new work
for him.  He spent the first part of the siesta writing up his notes.  He
then joined Pierre who was resting on a couch on one of the verandas of the
house.  Pierre was asleep so Lex lay on a couch which was alongside, and
soon he too was asleep.  It was over an hour later when a servant came, and
woke them, and placed a glass on fruit juice on the small table nearby.

They went upstairs to prepare themselves for the main meal of the day.

At the end of the day Lex and Pierre crossed the square back to Pierre's
home.

"I am in need of a bathe," said Pierre.

"Did you train your servants to undress and wash you?"

"Yes.  Why?  Do not you 'ave servants to do that?"

"We have servants, though not as many as you, but we do not allow them to
do those things for us.  We would not let them see us naked."  Lex
remembered there had been an occasion when the servants had seen the Lex
and his two companions naked.  "There was one occasion when they did.  That
was when the monsoon broke."

"What 'appened?"

"We danced around outside in the rain."

"With no clothes?"

"No clothes"

Pierre shook his head.  "You English.  I will never understand you.  You do
not let the servants see you without clothes inside your house, but the
three of you dance around naked outside, like school children."  He paused
as if realising he sounded judgmental.  "But it does sound fun."

"It was."

The same ritual as the evening before was followed.  Once the two men were
in their bathtubs, the servants again left the room.  They both enjoyed the
comfort of the water, and talked of unimportant matters.  After a good
soaking Pierre clapped his hands, the four servants entered, and again
soaped, rinsed and dried.  This time there was no chatter as they dried
Lex's prick.  Their silken gowns were wrapped around them.

"Do you go back to England when you have made much money here?"

"No.  I shall stay in India.  You?  Will you return to France."

"I 'ope so, at some time.  But I must let some years pass."

"Some people have to do some forgetting back in France?"

"Oui, yes."

Lex wondered what the reason was for Pierre needing to let time pass before
returning to his homeland.

"I owe a lot of money."

"I thought it might be some angry father, or angry husband," volunteered
Lex.

"No, not at all.  Far from it."

Pierre led the way into the room where Lex slept, as he had done the
evening before.  "Did you, my English friend, leave behind some broken
'eart?"

Lex blushed slightly, and thought of Billy Blackstone, who had been forced
to leave his birthplace and family, and of Ralph Tooley.  "No broken
heart."

Pierre pointed to the bed and Lex got into it.  Pierre sat on the edge.
"'Ow do you find living in India, with no English girls.  Do you 'ave an
Indian girl back in Calcutta?"

"No.  Do you have an Indian girl tucked away here?"  He looked around.

Pierre laughed.  "I do not miss any French girl, and I want no Indian
girl."

"Have you ever....with a girl?"

"No.  'Ave you?"

"Just once."

"Oh.  Just once, and you not want again?"

Lex shook his head.

"So you?"  Pierre made the usual sign of someone tossing himself off.

Lex laughed.  "Yes, quite often."

"But it is not the best, is it?"

"What is the best for you then, Pierre?"

It was now Pierre's turn to look embarrassed.  "That would be to say."

"Go on, say.  We are friends."

"Can you a secret keep?"

"As you said, we are friends."

Pierre continued slowly and hesitantly.  "I do not like the girls, I like
the men."

"I have the same secret too."

They looked at each other, Lex lying back in the bed, and Pierre sitting on
the edge.

"I thought that you may be.  That's why I chose you to stay with me."

They continued to look at each other, neither wanting to make the first
move.  It was Pierre who spoke next.  "Can I sleep with you, Lex?"

"With pleasure."  Lex moved over in the bed, and Pierre joined him.

There was an immediacy and fervency in their first physical contact.  Their
gowns were soon removed, and totally naked they could not get close enough
to each other.  They had seen each other naked while being bathed, so there
was no great need to feast the eyes.  It was flesh against to flesh they
both wanted.  They rolled around on the bed.  Their limbs were entwined.
Their lips met, but also found many other places to show their passion.

"This is much better than our two nations being at war.  Why must men
always fight each other, when they could do this?"  said Pierre.

"I know the thrust of a prick is surely always preferable to the thrust of
a pike?"

Pierre stilled.  "Do you like to thrust with your prick?"

"Always.  Any time."

"Will you thrust your prick into me, Lex?"

"If that is what you want."

"Yes, I want very much.  A moment!"  Pierre jumped out of the bed, and ran
into his own room.  Within a short moment he was back clutch a small jar,
and with his hard prick jutting out in front of him.  "Something to 'elp
you thrusting!"

"How do you want me to thrust at you?

"For our first time I like us side by side, like two spoons on the table.
Then we can take all night, you one on top is not trying not to be 'eavy."

Soon they were prepared, lying on their sides Pierre was pushing his arse
back into Lex.  With a careful aim Lex position his prick and began to
push.  His prick after a moment at the entrance made its powerful way into
the Frenchman.

"I never though I would 'ave an Englishman's prick inside me, and I enjoy
it."

"It was because I was doing this, and was found by my older brother and
some of his gentry friends, that I have had to leave England."

"Pourquoi?  Why?"

"In England it is illegal.  You can go to prison, even be hanged for it.
Certainly the pillory or a good ducking."

"In France it is against the law.  The Church says it is wrong.  But no one
suffers for doing it.  If seen people look the other way.  Your brother is
not a gentleman, 'e did not look the other way!"

"My brother is very religious.  But I'm enjoying having my prick up your
lovely French arse."

"Good, we both enjoy."

All the skills that Lex had acquired with Billy Blackstone, and Ralph
Tooley, and all that he had learnt on board the London with the Company
sailors were now used to enable Lex to take his time, and to give pleasure
to Pierre.

"Tell me more of your brother?"

As they lay there couple they talked.  Lex told Pierre about his activities
at Whitgest and on the London.  Pierre told Lex about his activities in
France, where it appeared that men with men was more common and relatively
open than in England.

"But now in India, what do you do, Lex?"

"Sometime I do this with the man I live with."

" ' Ave you not done it with an Indian man?"

"No.  Have you?"

"Yes, many times.  The four servants who bathed us this evening, they all
enjoy it.  That is why they are my servants.  I do not believe in this
Indian caste system, with untouchables and so on.  I always sleep with one
or two of them."

"With two?"

"Sometimes.  It is wonderful to in bed with two lovely young men.  They
will suck me or, what do you say, fuck me, whenever I want.  And I can suck
them, and occasionally fuck them if I want."

"You prefer to be fucked?"

"Oui.  All times."

Lex took his time, knowing when to hold back and when to proceed.  He was
able to reach over and use his hand on Pierre's prick.  It was slightly
longer than Lex's but considerably thinner.

Eventually Lex could hold back no longer, he managed to bring them both to
a simultaneous climax.  With a loud cry he shot his spunk deep into Pierre,
who also cried out aloud.  Lex was also conscious of the abundance
pulsating out of Pierre's prick.

They got out of bed to clean themselves up, and then went off to sleep with
Lex spooned in front of the Frenchmen.  Both were content with all that had
happened.

The remaining days of the visit to Chandernagore followed the same pattern.
One night Pierre suggested that one or two of the Indian servants joined
them.  Lex was not sure about larking around with Indian servants, and
declined.  His decision not spoil in any way the friendship that was
growing between the two men.

When the time came for Lex to depart, they made the decision that they
would meet again.  Lex explained that he did not live in the comparable
surroundings Pierre, but he was assured that that would cause no problem.

Lex's stay had not been totally taken up with having a good time with
Pierre, taking notes and writing them up.  He made a decision not to try
and get information from Pierre, as that would be an abuse of
friendship. He had kept his ears open, especially during the main meals
when he sat between different Frenchmen each evening.  He often tried to
get the conversation onto affairs within Chandernagore, but the important
item of information was not heard at the dinner table, but before hand when
they were about to go in for their meal.  On his return he was summoned to
a Patrick O'Riley's room.

"Thank you for your accurate reporting of the meetings.  I think you will
be asked to do that sort of thing again."

Lex slightly inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Now did you learn anything that may be of interest?"

"Several men expressed some concern about the way things were going in
France.  One even expressed fears of real civil disorder should there be a
failure of the harvest.  Others thought the new King Louis XVI and Queen
Marie Antoinette would sort everything out.  I am afraid I do not know much
about the situation in France, and so cannot judge whether their concerns
are valid."

"Ummmm.  Several other have said much the same thing.  Anything else?"

"I overheard one of the soldiers saying that he was being sent to
Hyderabad."

"Hyderabad, you say?  Sure of that?"

"Yes, Sir."

The man was silent for a while.  "Well done.  That may be important.  That
will have to be considered carefully."

"There is something else.  I have made good friends with the Chevalier
Pierre Montmorency.  He wishes me to visit him again, and I have invited
him to visit me.  Is that all right?"

"We are at peace with the Frogs at the moment.  So that it will be fine.
But you must be careful what you say, for they would like to learn things
from you too."

"Naturally."

"Do not let them know what you heard, and what you have just told me, and
especially my reaction."

"Naturally."

"I think we will arrange for you to have some leave in three or four weeks
time.  Two weeks in Chendernagore?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And keep your ears open."

***

Lex's absence in Chendernagore led to a deterioration in the relationship
with Fred at home, but before they took a disastrous turn another
fortuitous event occurred that was to change Lex's life.

He was walking along a street in Calcutta when he heard someone calling out
his name.  "Pen!  Pen!  Penbarton."

Lex looked around and saw a man leaning out of a carriage window looking
straight at him.  Lex pointed at himself with a questioning look on his
face as much as to say, 'Do you mean me?'

"Yes, you.  You are Lex Penbarton aren't you, unless my eyes deceive me."

"Lex quickly walked up to the carriage.  As he drew close he recognised the
occupant, he could not believe his eyes.  "North!  Hugh North."  Lex had
been Hugh North's fag during his first year at school.  He had treated Lex
honourably and well the whole of that first year.  "What are you doing out
here?"

"I should ask you the same question.  As for me I am an aide-de-camp to the
Governor General, Warren Hastings."

"I'm just a humble clerk to the Company."

"Many have started on that rung of the ladder and climbed high, Clive for
example.  But Pen, I'm in hurry; come and dine with me at four o'clock."

"Where do you live?"

Hugh North gave Lex details of where he lived.  "See you later.  I must go.
The Gov. Gen. must not be kept waiting."  With that Hugh North gave
instructions to his driver and was away.

Though geographically Hugh North did not live far away from Lex's bungalow,
culturally they lived far apart.  When Lex made his way to North's
residence he was conscious of the size of the place, and the extent of the
grounds around it.  Lex had dressed in silk britches and coat, and one of
his most lacy shirts.  He also wore his bob wig.  He hired a rickshaw to
take him to North's place.  He paid the driver and went up the steps to the
main door.  As he approached it opened and a liveried Indian servant bowed,
"Mr Alexander Penbarton?"

"Yes."

"Please come this way, Sir"

Lex was ushered into a drawing room whose area was almost that of the whole
of the bungalow in which he lived.  "Sir Hugh will be down very soon, Sir."
The servant withdrew, leaving Lex free to wander round the room, admiring
the pictures and ornaments.  It was obvious that little expense had been
spared.

The door opened and Hugh North strode in.  "Pen, it's good to see you."
They bowed to each other and looked at each other, and then to Lex's
astonishment Hugh North gave him a quick hug.  Lex was relieved to see that
Hugh North was dressed like him, and was wearing a bob wig.

"You've grown, Pen, since school days.  You were a scraggly boy when I last
saw you, in a food-stained school uniform."

Lex laughed.  "Well, North, I never though then I would see you in silk
britches and coat."  He bowed.

North laughed and bowed to Lex, "I think we should drop the Norths and
Penbartons, do call me Hugh, but what should I call you.  Alexander is a
mouthful for everyday use."

"My friends call me Lex, and I would be honoured if you called me that."

"Fine, Lex.  I say, it's damned hot.  Let's take these bloody things off.
There's only the two of us."  He snatched his wig off and flung it onto a
chair.  "A drink?  Do sit down, they'll tell us when the food is ready.
I've got some good Spanish sherry brought here via the Portuguese, and some
better port for when we've eaten."

They sat and talked, catching up on news.  Lex told Hugh that he had fallen
out with his brother when Edward had inherited the title and estate.  He
did not go into further details.  Hugh told Lex that he owed his position
to the influence of his uncle Frederick the eighth Lord North, who was the
present First Lord of the Treasury, and Prime Minister of Great Britain.
They talked easily to each other.  Long past were the distinctions of
school days.  They talked throughout the meal, and had a number of laughs
together over the port.

In the course of conversation Lex had told Hugh where he was living, and of
the increasingly strained relationship with Fred.

"Why don't you come a live here?  I live in this vast place, it is more or
less just me and a company of servants.  It is all done for appearances,
does not do for the Gov. Gen's. aides-de -camp to live below their station.
You can have your own suit of rooms.  Come and go as you please.  It would
do the servants good to have someone else to look after.  Why not?"

The idea was certainly attractive to Lex.  He said he would think it over.

"Come round for another meal, on Thursday, four days time, and I will show
you round.  Busy till then dancing attendance on the Gov. Gen."

***

On Wednesday received a letter from England.  He found his eyes moistened
as he saw Thomas's familiar handwriting.  He thought of home, and missed it
acutely.

Alec, Thanks you for your missives.  Two epistles arrived within six days
of each other.  I shall take the similar precaution and send off three
copies at intervals, so do not get excited if you receive another epistle
from me with the next week or so.  Margaret and I were joined in holy
matrimony just five days after you left.  Everything went well.  God has
blessed our union, in that a son was born to us some nine months after we
had consummated our union.  We have denominated him Charles, as that is a
family name.  His full baptismal nomenclature is Charles Thomas Alexander.
Georgina assented to him being named after you.  Edward protested, but I
insisted and overruled him.  I sought and obtained a presentation to the
Lord Bishop of London at Fulham Palace, and he concurred to my ordination
to diaconate, and later to the presbyterate of the Church of England.  I
was therefore made deacon in his Lordship's Cathedral Church of St Paul on
Trinity Sunday, and to the presbyterate at the ensuing Michaelmas.  I shall
minister in this parish as assistant curate to our well beloved old vicar.
He is now exceedingly incapacitated and can barely preside at God's Board
for Holy Communion, on the occasions when that is celebrated.  Edward and
Caroline have so far failed to obey the Biblical injunction to increase and
multiply.  Margaret has intimated to me that it may be because they regard
the physical dynamics and convolutions that are the necessary precursors of
an increase in the populace are an activity repugnant, if not repulsive, to
them both, and therefore not seemly for followers of the divine imperative
in the Eighteenth Century of our Lord.  I myself would not presume to make
such a judgement.  Never once has our brother inquired of your welfare or
even of your whereabouts.  I endeavoured to inform him by indirect means
that I had received a communication from our brother in the orient.  It is
however necessary to inform you that our esteemed sibling is proving to be
a most conscientious and considerate landlord to his tenants and
dependants.  He and Caroline visit assiduously within the estate, and
Edward has enabled considerable renovations and improvements to the
properties he possesses.  Caroline is a frequent visitor of the sick, the
venerable, and those in various stages of decrepitude, always bearing with
her a donation to assist their circumstance.  Both Edward and Caroline are
held in high esteem by their tenants, though the opinion has been expressed
that an increase of, nay, rather any evidence of, humour would make
relationships easier to bear.  I conveyed your enquiry about the welfare of
your equine creature to Ralph Tooley.  Ralph confirmed to me what appeared
to my untutored reconnaissance in such equine matters that Artimis is
indeed flourishing.  Ralph intimated to me to convey to you that he
flourishes, and that his existence is much the same as when you were
present in this parish.  I must confirm that his outward appearance is that
of a healthy and contented man.  Though he is about to put up the banns of
marriage to be read in Church.  I am personally not abundantly acquainted
with the fortunate young lady.  I think he will make a good spouse.  I have
often tried, using my imagination, to collect into my mind what it must be
like for you in India.  I trust that the Lord is prospering your
endeavours.  I look with eager anticipation to your next communication,
Georgina sends her greeting to you, Yours loving brother, Thomas Penbarton.

Lex read the letter and smiled.  Dear Thomas, why did he always use a
multisyllabic word when a single syllable would do?  Lex hoped that he did
not preach as he wrote, and had a fleeting picture of All Saints, Whitgest
full of snoring parishioners.

The letter did two, almost contradictory, things to Lex.  First, it made
him homesick.  He longed to walk over the fields and through the woods of
Whitgest, now changing into their autumnal glory.  He longed to sit on
Artie, and gallop over those fields.  He wished he could speak to Ralph,
had he now given up his sexual activities with men, now that he was about
to marry?  He wondered what had happened to Billy Blackstone.  He hoped he
was all right, and felt pangs of guilt over what had happened.  He wished
he knew where Billy was, then he could send him some money.  But secondly,
he thought of the life he was living in India.  His endeavours were
prospering.  He was on the bottom rungs of a ladder that could lead to
great wealth.  Life was certainly getting more interesting.  There was the
friendship with Pierre, and his renewed friendship with Hugh.

He replied to Thomas' letter within a week.  "I don't know what Pater would
have said, but I have made friends with a Frenchman, the Chevalier Pierre
de Montmorency.  I met him on an official visit to Chandernagore, and I am
going to stay with him again in a couple of week's time."

Lex went to dine with Hugh again as arranged.  Hugh showed him round his
home.  He offered Lex a suite of rooms, the floor area was double that of
the bungalow he had shared with Sam and Fred. He decided he would take up
Hugh's invitation.  He had already ascertained that Fred would be happy for
him to move out.

"So there you, Lex, you can come and go as you please.  I suggest you
employ a couple of servants of your own, to look after your own personal
needs.  The house servants will clean, wash and cook for you.  It will do
them good to have a little more extra work."

"There is just one thing.  When I went to Chendernagore I made friends with
a Frenchman, would it be all right for him to stay here with me?"

"Of course.  Our nations are at peace now.  No more fighting!  Who is it?"

"The Chevalier Pierre Montmorency."

"I know of him.  Yes, of course, I look forward to meeting him.  There is
one thing, Lex, I have a special friend."

Lex looked at Hugh.

"I love an Indian woman, and she is bearing my child.  I am going to
introduce you presently, and she will eat with us."

Lex was slightly surprised at this news but managed not to show it.  "Will
you take her back to England when you return?

"No, of course not.  She would be out of place there.  I shall probably
marry on my return home.  If the child is a boy I shall take him with me,
to be educated in England."

"I look forward to meeting her."

"Feel free to welcome any other friends you may have, lady friends, or boy
friends, for that matter."

Lex blushed at this.

"So is that the way it is for you?"

Lex nodded.

"That's no problem for me.  There are no ten commandments out here in
India."

****

Footnote:-

A.   Chandernagore was again captured by the British again during the
Napoleonic conflicts,  and again returned to the French afterwards.   It is
by all reports an attractive place to visit today.