The Third Course

The evening at Magistrate Ashworth’s estate began with all the grandeur Calcutta’s colonial society could muster — exotic fruits arranged on silver, candelabras doubled in the dark mahogany of the table, and the slow beat of the punkah fan overhead keeping time with the distant sounds of river traffic. But away from the glittering table, in the servants’ quarters, a far less elegant scene was unfolding. Two of the house servants dragged Ratan, the Pelhams’ palanquin driver, before Havildar…