Wisdom and Rubies by J. F. Slattery

Author:J. F. Slattery
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783066247
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

PART THREE

CHAPTER ONE

That autumn of 1829… how am I to set out, with any degree of clarity, the complex of adventures which beset us all at the time? Which involved Arthur and Horatio, James and myself? Let us start with the older generation. Let us start with me.

As soon as the dust had settled, so to speak, I gave my mind to the problem of “Maria Wallace” and her doings. I wanted of course to get to the bottom of the affair. I wanted to unmask the hoaxer. But there was so very little in the way of evidence. The handwriting of the letters was that of a woman, an educated woman, though a gushing and immature one. A woman had also collected the letters from Mr. Catchpole’s shop. But they could not be the same woman, since Mr. Catchpole had described the collector as dressed “in the garb of a superior servant.” It would be logical to assume that this superior servant was the Rebecca whom “Maria” referred to as her maid and to whom she said she had given a gold watch. Or – wait – could it be that this “Rebecca” was actually the writer of the letters, merely posing as a servant?

Be all that as it might, and however many women may have been involved, I did not believe that the complicated hoax was conceived or organised by a woman. I was pretty sure it would turn out to be a man, with a female accomplice or accomplices who copied out the letters and collected them. Practical jokes, tricks of one sort or another: these are the province of men, or rather of schoolboys. Moreover the spiteful nature of the subterfuge – leading a man to think a woman desires him, only for him to find there is no such woman – seemed to me to denote a man’s spitefulness towards a man, not a woman’s to a man. But, apart from the question of sex, the mastermind must be someone acquainted with both Arthur and Horatio – particularly well acquainted with Horatio, for the suggestion that he (with Arthur) should climb a wall was surely founded on the knowledge that he did climb a certain wall quite regularly. And it must also be someone who was well acquainted with Mr. Hanbury. Here surely was the essential angle of approach. If I could pinpoint a common acquaintance of Horatio and Hanbury, I might very well have found my culprit. I thought it would be most fruitful if I started my enquiries with Hanbury, so I wrote him a letter as follows:

Inner Temple.

2 November 1829

My Dear Sir,

You may recall, on seeing my name, that I acted as counsel for the two young men who were so lamentably involved in the late distressing hoax of which you were an unwitting victim. I am very anxious to detect the culprit who planned these events and consider that an interview with yourself might well provide me with relevant information. May

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