Sundry Fittings

The evening began with the party preparing to depart the Cavendish estate for an auction at the docks. With Meg’s servants occupied fortifying the grounds against the coming storm, there was no coachman to be found. Havildar Pratap Singh took the reins himself, guiding the carriage through the rain-slicked streets of Calcutta, past the town square and down toward the River Hooghly, where the smell of wet jute, opium, and cold river mud announced their arrival at the warehouse district long…