More shopping

Victoria squirmed on the seat opposite the Tutor. She wanted to ask him about the things he had bought, to know how and when he intended to use them. Previously she had thought she had understood what was going on, had been able to rationalise his behaviour but, suddenly, when she had felt her wrists fastened like that, she had glimpsed a world which was completely beyond her comprehension. Her revelry was interrupted as the carriage once more came to a halt.

This time they had halted outside a bizarre looking shop, full of bright and garish objects. This time David did not enter with them. As Mr Bartlett approached the grey-haired shopkeeper, she looked around the shelves. It appeared that the shop imported commodities from the Empire, particularly India. There were huge carved statues of foreign looking gods; statuettes cast in bronze with fantastic appearance – figures with animal’s heads, figures with many arms. Alongside there were wooden carved animals, elephants, tigers, and crocodiles. She saw a huge tiger skin rug, the head still attached, the mouth drawn back showing a terrifying array of pointed teeth. In another part of the shop were decorative mirrors, gilded and set with stones, whilst impossibly jewelled boxes occupied another set of shelves.

“Come Victoria “she heard the Tutor say, and she saw that the shopkeeper had opened a door to another room. Remembering her experience in the previous shop Victoria hesitated, but, reasoning that she would be suffer more for refusal, she followed the shopkeeper and the Tutor. She was relieved to find that the room contained nothing more threatening than ornaments, pictures and books.

Left once more to look around, she examined some of the pictures. At first she thought they were simply exotic pictures, but looking more closely she felt her face colour. Most of the pictures depicted naked men and women in fairly rich detail. Some of the pictures had couples lying together; others showed several men with one woman, and some even showed women together and men and boys. She suddenly realised that she was studying them with an unsuitable interest and quickly looked away. Fortunately neither Bartlett nor the shopkeeper appeared to have noticed.

Moving along she noticed some odd-looking statuettes. Some were carved out of a pale wood, possibly sandalwood she decided, others were probably made of ivory, others of jade. They seemed to be divided into two separate groups. The former were short, no longer than her little finger, quite slender, with a distinct flat, broad disc at one end; the latter were longer – varying from perhaps six to ten inches in length, broader in girth, and without the disc. Both were round in shape and distinctively tapered. She wondered what they were. Presumably some kind of primitive icons she decided. She lifted one of the wooden ones down, and lifted it to her face, smelling the exotic perfumed wood. Replacing it she picked up one of the ivory pieces, stroking it with her finger, feeling the smoothness. Suddenly she heard a polite cough and looked round, to see both men watching her with an amused expression.

“I’d better take a selection of these as well” the Tutor said, “Seeing as Victoria is clearly curious to experiment with them. “

Victoria’s bewilderment grew; both men seemed to be laughing at her. Mr Bartlett came over to her and selected some of the icons, two from each group, selecting in each case one that was particularly long and one that was particularly thick. When the shopkeeper had wrapped them, they left the shop, Victoria still trying to understand the joke.