Puramore

Chapter 2 - West Meets East-1

Chapter 2 - West Meets East

Hong Kong, 15 March 2019

The flight from London gave him the leisure to ponder over his life as a military officer for the first time in several years.

After resigning his commission only several months before, he had almost no time until then to reflect upon the only way of life he had ever known since his graduation from Eton College at the age of eighteen. For until his ceremonial release from military service the previous week, he devoted all his energies toward attending to severance minutia and executing the necessary arrangements to begin his new career in Hong Kong.

Comfortable and relaxed in his premier class-seat, General Sir George Smythe absently stared at the movie playing on the screen in front of him. He listened to a classical music programme through headphones as his mind wound through the collage of his military career.

He began to recall the day of his arrival at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after his graduation from Eton College. The subsequent forty-four weeks he spent there as a cadet flashed through his memory. Although it was a time of intense personal growth and learning for him, it was also a time to be inculcated with the ritual of military duty and honour as an officer.

He fast-forwarded through his initial career posting as a second lieutenant and staff officer with the Intelligence Corps after being commissioned into the Royal Anglian Regiment. Excelling in that post to such an extraordinary degree he was promoted to first lieutenant after only two years of service. Two years later, he advanced to the rank of captain as a result of his extraordinary contributions and leadership abilities.

In his first assignment as a captain, he served as a special liaison officer with the British Defence Staff office stationed in Washington D.C. Upon return to his regiment, he served as both an operations officer and adjutant commander in both the Northern England and Cyprus campaigns. In his eighth year of his military career, he was promoted to the rank of major. Several months after the promotion, he received the Distinguished Service Order decoration in recognition of his brilliant combat leadership contributions.

He savoured the memory of that phase of his military career. The experience was all the more memorable since he knew then that his career path was on a fast track toward advancement to the upper echelon ranks of military command.

After attending Staff College Camberly in his tenth year of military service, he returned to the Royal Anglian Regiment, headquartered at Bury Saint Edmunds, as adjutant to colonel of the regiment. Upon his promotion to lieutenant colonel four years later, he held several high-level staff appointments within the Ministry of Defence.

In his twenty-ninth year of service, he was promoted to the rank of major general and was later awarded both the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George. After serving as commander-in-chief of NATO's Northern European Defence Group, he occupied the Whitehall office of the Ministry of Defence as the chief of the general staff as he neared retirement age.

His military career had been his only mistress from the time he graduated from Sandhurst. Though he enjoyed a few diversions, such as stock market trading and general aviation, he mainly focused on the constant demands of his military duties. From his early teens, he knew that the military life would be his calling. His instructors at Eton College attempted to dissuade him from that career objective as they considered him an excellent candidate to matriculate at either Oxford or Cambridge. But his steadfast resolve to become a military officer finally overcame their objections when he enlisted in the British Army as an officer candidate several days after his graduation.

As he approached the fifth anniversary of his promotion to the rank of major general, he first met Lord Cedric Chamberlain at a social function he attended one evening in London. Unbeknownst to him at the time, the British lord was a senior partner of a staid and dowdy Hong Kong commodities trading firm. The firm, Oriental Winds Commodities House was one of the original British trading houses that specialised in oriental commodities and goods for export to the West. Established in the early 1900s, the firm flourished for nearly eighty years.

He vividly recalled Lord Chamberlain’s first mention of OWCH soon after they were first introduced by the Minister of Defence the previous August. For some peculiar reason, he thought, at the time, the old man took more than a casual interest in him. He also thought it odd that Lord Chamberlain would open his heart about the history and status of his firm to a total stranger.

Before departing, he invited Smythe to dinner at his private club the next evening. He accepted the invitation as he welcomed the prospect of breaking away from the Joint Military Intelligence crowd who were his only company for the past week, as he had been attending a conference with the top NATO military leaders.

* * *

The cab stopped in front of an ancient red brick and white marble building. Typical of that affluent and secluded section of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the edifice possessed a slightly garish but elegant bearing like all homes built in London during the late Victorian era. Aside from the polished brass house number posted discretely to the left of the massive front door, no other sign even hinted at the fact the building housed an exclusive gentleman's club.

After exiting the cab, he climbed the white marble steps to the front door landing and rang the doorbell. Peace reigned supreme in the neighbourhood on that balmy evening. The heavy teak door opened to reveal a distinguished-looking man dressed in an English butler suit and tie.

“Good evening, General Sir George Smythe. Please follow me.”

Smythe entered the dark wood-paneled foyer. He followed as the man proceeded down a wide corridor. The scent of tobacco smoke and exotic oil-treated oak permeated the stately ambiance. An unbroken line of portrait oil paintings hung on both walls all along the entire length of the corridor. Smythe judged that the men portrayed in the paintings must have been past members, possibly former officers, who may have presided over the club since its founding. And, judging by the elegant attire worn in the earliest paintings, that might have been as early as seven centuries ago.

“Most impressive.”

They had arrived at the end of the hallway.

“This is one of the finest collections of portraiture I have ever seen.”

“Indeed, General Sir. It’s a tradition the order established over eight hundred years ago. Previously, the membership saw no need to render portraits of Grand Exalted Masters.”

This must be a Masonic temple, Smythe thought.

Turning into another hallway they continued their journey.

At the end of the corridor, they entered a large two-story-high library. Wood shelves filled from the floor to ceiling with books covering the four walls of the grand space, some thirty meters in length and width. At the start of the second-floor level, an ornate balcony ran along the entire perimeter of the library. Access to the balcony was gained from spiral staircases positioned at the corners of the library. Great ladders hung from overhead rails provided access to volumes in the upper reaches. On the ground level, sets of ornately carved wood desks occupied half of the floor space. Old-fashioned brass reading lamps set atop each desk.

The other half of the floor space contained large leather-bound chairs, each adjoined by a pedestal table and brass floor lamp. A monumental crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling provided ambient lighting for the library. Most of the leather chairs were occupied by elderly men absorbed in reading. Many smoked cigars or tobacco pipes. No one, however, paid the pair any heed as they entered the regal book depository.

The butler started to walk across the middle of the library floor toward a hallway opening at the opposite end.

“This way, please, General Sir.”

Exiting the library, they proceeded through another portrait-lined hallway. Instead of pre-eighteenth century clothing, the men portrayed here wore modern garb.

At the end of the corridor, the butler halted and motioned for Smythe to proceed ahead of him.

“The maître d’ will show you to your table. Lord Chamberlain will be along presently to join you.”

He then made a military-style salute and marched back down the hallway.

Black-tie-and-coat-clad diners occupied nearly all the thirty or so linen-covered tables. The dining room was finely furnished with British period pieces dating back to the seventeenth century. An assortment of British heraldic emblems decorated its dark wood-paneled walls, one of which was occupied by an ancient and elegant bar.

A handsome young man dressed in a tuxedo arrived.

“Follow me, please.”

He led him to a solitary table situated at the far end of the dining hall. As the general sat, the maître d’ told him that a waiter would attend to him presently. A few minutes later the waiter took a cocktail order from him.

He continued to survey the understated elegance of the dining room as Lord Chamberlain approached the table. Dressed in formal attire, the standard black coat and tie worn by everyone else, he appeared as hale and hearty as any man his age would ever wish to be.

“Good evening, General Sir George Smythe.”

General Smythe rose to shake his hand.

“I welcome you to the Ancient Order of the Blue Garter.”

They sat down.

“It is a pleasure to be here, Lord Chamberlain.. Though I don't believe I've ever heard anything about the Ancient Order of the Blue Garter. From what I have been able to ascertain since my arrival, though, the club must be steeped in ancient tradition. That was especially evident in the portrait paintings and other renderings I viewed on the way here.”

“Quite so. More on that at another time.”

He placed his linen napkin on his lap as the waiter served the general his martini cocktail.

“The usual for me, Crumley,. And do try to make it extra dry this time, my good man.”

The waiter shook his head ever so slightly to acknowledge the command and left.

“Right. I trust you are enjoying your stay in London.”

“Yes, I am indeed, Your Lordship. I was born and raised in here, as you know.”

“Yes, I do know. In fact, I know far more about you than you probably presume. The order has always maintained a favourite community interest, unlike any other gentleman's club. Instead of engaging in furthering charitable and academic concerns, once in a decade, we select an outstanding young man to cultivate for purposes of future interest to the club. In your case, we followed your academic and social development from the time you were thirteen years old. We later confirmed your suitability to receive the anonymous scholarship from the Ancient Order of the Blue Garter when you were aged fifteen. As a result, all other aspects of your life henceforth came under our anonymous and beneficial guidance.”

General Smythe took a slow sip from his martini as he considered the gravity of the revelation Lord Chamberlain had disclosed to him. In retrospect, there were times in his life, particularly during his early adolescence and adulthood, when for a reason, unbeknownst to him, he was cast in a mould well above the station of his birth. At the time he didn’t realise the true significance of the largess he received.

The first and most notable of these benefits came in the form of an astonishing invitation from Eton College to sit for a qualifying entrance examination when he was aged fifteen. After passing the examination, he was offered a full scholarship by an anonymous benefactor.

A distinct social anomaly, given his relatively obscure social background and status, he nevertheless gained tremendous respect from his classmates, primarily based on the excellence of his academic performance. His athletic prowess and leadership capabilities further bolstered his popularity amongst his schoolmates, so much so, that his varsity football team mates elected him as squad captain in his final year.

“So, Lord Chamberlain, what you are saying to me is that my life has been influenced in no small measure by the benevolence of the Ancient Order of the Blue Garter.”