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PART I

Chapter 1

The heat in Colombo, capital city of the British Crown Colony of Ceylon, seeust afternoon As their carriage jolted and rumbled over a newly paved street, Alexa Howard surreptitiously opened one own, thankful that Aunt Harriet appeared to have fallen asleep and wouldn’t notice

And even if she had, Alexa would not have cared! It was ridiculous, Alexa thought mutinously as she felt unladylike rivulets of perspiration trickle down her sides and between her breasts, that wolish fashions in a hot, tropical cli temperatures was the simple costume worn by the native Sinhalese women—a piece of cotton material wrapped twice around the waist and knotted at the hip, reaching to just above the ankles, known as a “caarment was a very brief and low-cut bodice that more often than not exposed a bare brown midriff

In fact, when Alexa was in the privacy of her own room at home, that was all she wore But now here she was in Colombo—too many miles and far too many hours away from the comparative coolness of the hill country, and encased in a steel and whalebone corset that cut into her flesh, as well as layers of stifling petticoats under a gown that was supposed to cover her from neck to wrist

The sharp clatter of horses’ hooves on either side of the carriage made Alexa wish enviously that she too could havepractical breeches instead of a ha officers who had volunteered to act as their escort and they kneell as she did that she could outride and outshoot either of theo at the boar hunt up on Horton Plains? How cool it had been that day She reme sense of excite the way—the challenge of danger that was always present on one of these hunts Why couldn’t she have been born thedirty and turned pale at the sight of blood, preferring to read books and practice on the piano-forte for hours on end when he could have spent the ti all that life had to offer instead?

And what does Freddy know about running a coffee plantation? Alexa began to fan herself vigorously with the newly acquired bonnet she had positively refused to don before they had set out early that o away, and I can keep the ledgers and talk to the overseers in their own language andand they respect me too, even if I as like that even though he’ll need to know them some day, and Mauiltily she caught the thought back, re how precious her only son was to poor Mama, who had lost three other children in infancy And that was the reason it was Aunt Harry and not her mama as to be her chaperone at the Governor’s Ball toht

Freddy had developed a fever—a slight fever—but of course Ma his side! She had been quite preoccupied with instructing the cook exactly how to prepare fresh beef tea when a sullen Alexa, hurried along by Harriet, had left the ra

“Do have a wonderful ti,” Ma in that forbidding fashion It was so very kind of the Governor and Mrs Mackenzie to invite you to stay with them in Queen’s House—really quite an honor, dearest, and I’m sure you’ll make both your papa and ht justman in the Civil Service, and” But at that moment Freddy had called out for Ma a quick kiss

Perhaps it had been just as well, Alexa thought now So vehemently, especially when the conversation turned to “suitable” young s she resented Why was it siranted that every woman’s ambition must be to “catch” some man and be overness or an unwanted poor relation hovering in the background, hiding in the shadows—eternally grateful, constantly self-effacing Alexa fanned herself even harder, feeling her lips grow taut with anger and frustration

“ I a to be different! Why must I be forced to choose from such poor alternatives? I’ll find so that, the words spilling from her hotly; and she remembered even

“My dear Alexandra, I can only hope that besides giving you an education that h to receive I have also taught you that you ical and reasonable in your thinking, if you prefer At any rate I’h to realize that there are certain inescapable facts of life that have to be accepted, like it or not, my dear You were born a female—and you have no other alternatives save even more unpleasant ones that we need not discuss”

Oh, how fiercely she had argued, and how intensely she had felt the pain and frustration of the injustice of it maul her like the claws of a leopard before she’d been forced to concede to what Aunt Harry had called the inescapable facts of life—if you were a woman, that was She had been allowed the taste of freedo as she could remember, allowed to learn and think for herself and express her own opinions—to “run wild,” as so planters’ wives put it And then

“But why have I been allowed to have such freedom if I was only meant to lose it some day?” Alexa never cried, but the words had been a cry of despair in the a plantation, and he’ll never take the trouble to learn about it I could help him, couldn’t I? I could”