She did begin to understand the routine, and the pecking order in the harem. There were four privileged women, who had private suites. Davina was one ...f them but who the others might be she did not know. Then came the ordinary women like herself who slept in a big dormitory and did nothing. Bottom were the serving women who wore smocks and were servants. None of them ever spoke and she wondered if they were dumb. The eunuchs controlled all that went on and were ever watchful. In the first few. ‘Miss Schulman, a Mr. Butler is on the line for you.’ ‘Good day, how can I help?’ ‘Hello, Jacqueline, this is John Butler.’ ‘Yes . . .’ The name failed to ring a bell within my memory. ‘We met at the charity ball some days back.’ ‘Oh, yes, how are you?’ ‘Fabulous. And you?’ ‘Wonderful.’ ‘I was wondering if perhaps we might have a cocktail sometime.’ I took it as a social invitation, and might have turned him down for at that time I had no lack of potential dates and John, after all, was. I was waiting for an opportunity and I found in a few days it was a Sunday and my parents went to other city to relatives and I was left home and Priya also went out I don’t know where. I thought it is the right time for me and I went to Priya’s house and knocked the door Chinni opened the door and was in the way I pushed her side and entered.She was shocked with my behaviour and tried to hit me and I pushed her again and locked the door, she started crying and shouting I told her to keep quite. Friday Feb 19The minefields had all been cleared. The sources of danger I’d felt had been dealt with or were in the hands of the military, and the wives and daughters of the top-ranking Chinese officials had been divvied up as concubines amongst the elite forces troops. Most of the young women who had been forced to be concubines of Chinese officials had no family left to return to and gratefully accepted a life as a concubine of one of the elite forces.That I felt no danger from nine of the.