Further distresses
Thursday, 20 April
1876
Today the master and mistress returned to London,
accompanied by the rest of the household.
Over the last week there have been a number of deliveries for
Miss Moriarty from the seamstress, as this will be her first full
Season. She has converted one wall of her room into a complicated
calendar of the breakfast parties, garden parties, teas, dinner
parties, balls, and dances to which she has been invited. Chaperoning
duties will be handled by Miss Pinker, Mrs Wooster, Mrs Frazer, and Mrs
Salmalin taking turns. They, along with Tattvick, have devised their
own system of managing the schedule.
His lordship and her ladyship have their own schedules, as
there will be dinner parties nearly every week. There was a moment when
his lordship was discussing a change in plans with Miss Pinker when I
had quite a start. It reminded me of a similar conversation between Sir
Galen and Lady Constance some years ago. I needed a moment...
The train misadventures in Settle have left everyone a bit
short of sleep, so I was not surprised to find most of the household
napping in the drawing room after dinner.
Not Miss Moriarty, of course, she was too busy with her
sketches and plans.
Friday, 21 April 1876
It was an even more casual breakfast this morning than usual.
Everyone seems to be trying to rest up in anticipation of the impending
social whirlwind.
The newspapers inspired some spirited conversation. Princess
Grabriella Edwina and her daughter, Princess Sigfrieda, have been
mentioned in connection to a minor scandal caused by her companion, the
Princely Countess Patrizia Saltokova. It seems a terrible fuss over
something which, while unseemly, is not altogether uncommon. Elderly
peers
who have outlived their wives have been marrying women young enough to
be their daughters for ages. At least in this case, the younger bride
was of the appropriate social class. And Countess Patrizia is hardly a
child--she's been considered a spinster for a number of years.
And this is all occurring in Paris.
There must certainly be details that the sensibilities of even
the gossip column of the Telegraph
is loathe to mention.
I overheard Miss Moriarty consulting with Miss Pinker as to
whether Princess Sigfrieda had replied to the invitation to Lord
Greyminster's Ball. She had a letter to Princess Sigfrieda for the late
afternoon post.
His lordship, meanwhile, has been preparing The Crate for a
return trip to Commander Wymms, or more properly, to the Duke of
Wolfenbuttel. It is rather astonishing how well the crate has held up
to all these trips to Prussia and back.
Saturday, 22 April 1876
The Season has begun.
And Miss Moriarty decided to open it in her own rather
inimitable style. I'm not certain that his lordship realized, when she
mentioned some days ago her notion of how to unveil the new model of
bicycle. I'm having to piece this all together after the fact, as these
conversations occured in Edenfield and Settle, while I was in London.
Mrs Wooster was scheduled to accompany Miss Moriarty to the
bicycle factory, to test the new model and inaugurate the new Single
Copper Program -- which will sell bicycles to constables for the cost
of manufacture plus a penny. Mrs Wooster had not been warned that there
would be reporters present, nor that Miss Moriarty would be testing the
bicycle by riding it through the nearby streets. The latter
necessitating that a chaperone accompany her.
The two of them successfully circled several blocks on the
steam-powered cycles. Though Mrs Wooster took no joy in it. If the
rendering in the Globe
is accurate, Owen found the experience exhilarating.
Mrs Frazer, upon learning what was going on, had set out on her
own bicycle to make sure Mrs Wooster was all right and that Miss
Moriarty had caused no more trouble than was usual.
Meanwhile, her ladyship was interviewing several candidates for
various positions. With the growing number of children in the
household, she wished to add another nursery maid and perhaps some
other assistants for Mrs Frazer, Mr Chadwick, and Mr Graham. Though I
think Mr Suresh is going to be assisting Mrs Salmalin, rather than Mr
Graham.
Because we have members of both the country house and town
house staff here, no one was aware of just how much tea Miss Moriarty
has been consuming. I had to inform her ladyship that her favorite brew
was in short supply. I had planned to send Stuart on a shopping trip,
but her ladyship insisted on going to see Mr Quan herself.
We were not aware that Mrs Wooster had encountered Captain
Tiberius Frazer (though he seems to be using his given name as a
surname at the moment; given the covert nature of his businesses, that
makes a certain amount of sense). Captain Tiberius happened to see the
Cyclone demonstration. He complimented Mrs Wooster on her riding skill,
and asked Miss Moriarty a question which gave her an opening to explain
how any concerned citizen could donate to the Cowperthwaite Country
Constable Conveyance Fund, which will subsidize the purchase of
bicycles for constables. He then vanished into the crowd.
Later, her ladyship and Mrs Salmalin saw Captain Tiberius
exiting through the rear door of Mr Quan's shop. They prevailed upon Mr
Quan to allow them to follow (along with Mr Salmalin), and discovered
the entry way to a business of some sort of disrepute. Given that there
was a guard on the door who required a password and that the entrance
was not an egress. Her ladyship, unable to convince the guard to let
her in (he was convinced that Mr Rip Chigwidgeon would inflict greivous
bodily harm upon him if he allowed her ladyship to enter such a place),
prevailed upon him to tell her where the exit was.
They were thus able to catch Captain Tiberius on his way out.
Though he was not terribly specific, he did admit that he was trying to
track down a scoundrel that he had followed all the way from
Australia--someone he suspected had come to London with nefarious
purpose. Her ladyship invited him to the dinner party. Which I suspect
was the last thing he expected.
Our Mr Frazer--or I should say, Clerk Sergeant Major
Frazer--meanwhile had stopped by to inquire with Mrs Wooster as to
whether she had heard any news from the Lieutenant since parting
company Thursday. He informed Mrs Frazer (and Robert and Caroline) that
he was taking a train to Liverpool to assist Sir Simon in an
investigation, and did not know how long they would be.
Miss Moriarty's afternoon engagement was a tea party hosted by
Mrs Dahlia Travers, the Lieutenant's sister.
The staff was occupied preparing for the dinner party. Since
her ladyship will be hosting a number of parties, in order to repay the
obligations incurred by all the invitations to which Miss Moriarty is
attending, Miss Pinker and I had suggested that guest list for the
first party should all be people her ladyship already knows. The guests
originally were to be Lord Cuthbert, Mrs Cuthbert, Sir Simon and Lady
MacGregor, Mr O'Flaherty and a guest, Sir Robert and Lady Nitterdale,
Sgt Mjr and Mrs Frazer, and Mr and Mrs John Applethwaite.
Sir Simon and Mr Frazer being busy in Liverpool, unbalanced the
numbers a bit... except that Mr O'Flaherty brought a young gentleman, a
Mr O'Grady, and Captain Tiberius accepted the invitation. So everything
worked out.
Mr O'Grady is from America, and is obviously a relative of Mr
O'Flaherty. There was a slightly awkward moment, after dinner when the
gentlemen had joined the ladies in the drawing room, when her ladyship
asked Mr O'Grady about his relationship to Mr O'Flaherty, but his
lordship successfully distracted her. Mrs Frazer asked Mr O'Grady if he
had had an opportunity to observe a cricket game since arriving, which
kept everyone talking about baseball and cricket until the Nitterdales
and Applethwaites had taken their leave.
Miss Moriarty had rather over indulged in tea over the last few
days, though I believe she has learned that lesson before anything
terrible awkward occurred. Miss Pinker and Mrs Salmalin accompanied her
to the Ball. I understand she had a very good time, though she had to
be carried from the carriage to her room, as she could not be awakened.
Sunday, 23 April, 1876
We had kept the sensational headline from the Globe out of Miss
Moriarty's sight yesterday, but it was impossible to hide all the
headlines in the Sunday morning papers. Despite the unseemly and
inaccurate description in the Globe's
story,
their artist certainly
captured Miss Moriarty and Owen's spirits. His lordship had me send for
additional copies of the paper. And an inquiry about whether he could
purchase the original engraving.
I had to tell him that a comment from Mr Voach when the milk,
cheese, and yogurt were delivered this morning indicates the original
may have already been purchased.
Our other early morning visit was from Constable Gregson,
nephew to Lt and Mrs Wooster. He finds a number of excuses to stop by
to inquire into Patsy's health. Though this morning he had a rather
amusing tale to share about Miss Moriarty's friend, Mr Howard Walsh.
Mr Walsh was having a pint at the Oar and Sternpost, a pub in
Southwark. A Mr Kevin Molloy and his companions were talking rather
unfavorably of Miss Moriarty's steam bicycle demonstation within
earshot of Mr Walsh. Mr Walsh suggested he re-word his comment, which
prompted Molloy to extend his remarks to suggest that women, young or
old, should not be allowed to pursue certain vocations. Mr Walsh took
exception to the comments, and expressed this exception in physical
terms.
Molloy's allies attempted to retaliate, and soon a full-fledged
brawl was in action. As it happened, Mr O'Flaherty was also trying to
enjoy a quiet drink in the pub, and became involved in the affray.
Mr Walsh and Mr O'Flaherty managed to exit the premises before
the constables arrived. Molloy insisted that Walsh had started the
fight, but the majority of the witnesses were equally insistent that
neither Walsh nor O'Flaherty were present.
Constable Gregson knows those reports to be in error, as he
found the path Walsh and O'Flaherty used to flee--it involved leaping
from one railing to another, about 40 feet above an open stretch of the
river--as they left creosote footprints at several points along the
way. The constable said, after hearing from several witnesses the
precise words Molloy had used in reference to Miss Moriarty, that he
felt a broken nose and lip were just desserts, and so had chosen not to
report the footprints to his superiors.
Gregson mentioned that he had stopped by Mr O'Flaherty's flat
earlier, to suggest that Mr Bey take care to dispose of any
incriminating creosote-stained rags, in case someone else decided to
look into it. Mr O'Flaherty had already left rather early in the
morning, to call on Mr O'Grady and another acquaintence from Amercia, a
Mr Rigby at their hotel.
His lordship, meanwhile, has been discussing Miss Moriarty's
new dying process. He also attempted to explain to Miss Moriarty why
her explanations about the demonstration had not been adequate
preparation for Mrs Wooster. Let us hope there are no further
distresses.
A cable arrived from Liverpool for his lordship. Sir Simon
suspects several people have succombed to autenite posioning, and would
appreciate his lordship's assistance. I noted that the delivery boy had
also dropped off a telegram at Lord Cuthbert's, which I presumed was a
message to Mrs Frazer from her husband...
Proceed to A tragic turn
This page copyright 2011 by Gene Breshears. All Rights Reserved.