The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne
Page 30
Cecily raised her brows. “Someone I know?”
Meacan paused for dramatic effect. “Your Russian.”
“General Belyaninov?”
Meacan nodded. “Apparently he’s been frequenting all the Tower Hill pubs, and he’s heard in bits and pieces the story of what happened. Everyone is talking, you know, about the hidden spells, and Inwood, and the shipwrecks. Who knows what he’s gathered from the jumble, but it was enough to convince him that the cabinet of John Rose will be the perfect gift for the Tsar, who is very much taken with the macabre. A cabinet that has been the cause of obsession, betrayal, and madness? What could be more alluring? They are calling it the murder cabinet.” Meacan paused. “I wonder,” she said.
“Yes?”
“I wonder if it isn’t what Rose intended all along. Not specifically of course. But maybe, by telling Sir Barnaby that he had found the secret to occult power, and Inwood that he had found maps to lost treasure, maybe he hoped that eventually his collection would become so shrouded in mystery and fascination that it would turn his cabinet into a—well, I don’t know quite how to put it. Into a—”
“An enigma that could never be solved?” suggested Cecily.
“Yes.” Meacan sighed. “In the end, I suppose he was a bit of a magician. Like a wizard who hides his soul in a needle in an egg in a rabbit in a bear, or however the story tells it.”
They watched a painted pleasure barge glide by in a blur of gilding and fluttering velvet, its occupants oblivious of their regard. “I received two letters this morning,” said Cecily. “It seems my husband is returning to England.”
Meacan turned to her. “Is he?” she asked mildly. “Did one of his superiors discover that he cannot do sums or recognize swindlers?”
“He didn’t give a reason, but he must have left soon after I did, for his message says he is already in Venice. He will spend the rest of the season there, but he gave instructions for having the house prepared for his arrival.”
“Ah,” said Meacan. “I suppose you’ll be off to Lincolnshire, then.”
“In good time,” said Cecily. “The second letter I received came from the steward who has cared for my own family’s estate for many years. He wrote to inform me that the current tenants have elected to quit the house, and to ask if I might come in person to hear their reason for going. He says it is of an unusual and puzzling nature. I wondered if you—”
“I accept your invitation,” Meacan declared. “You were going to invite me?”
Cecily smiled. “The gardens will be happy to see you back,” she said. “The trees have grown a great deal taller since we were little girls.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The ideas that would become the foundation of this book were still in that chaotic, twisty-turny stage prior to being tamed by a plot when Doug Holland, the Library Director at the Missouri Botanical Garden, showed me the Garden’s rare book room. As I marveled over the volumes, I felt for the first time that my as yet unnamed protagonist was sitting somewhere in time and imagination, concentrating on the details of a plant, ready to be pulled into an adventure. I am grateful to the Garden for that moment, and for the wealth of resources that were available to me later in the writing process, from biographies to herbals to herbarium specimens.
Established in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, the Chelsea Physic Garden still sits at the edge of the River Thames in London, and still educates visitors on the uses of plants. The hours I spent wandering its paths making scribbled notes and sketches not only supplied essential historical details for writing The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, but inspired its final scene.
Publishing a novel is a group effort, and I am fortunate to have the guidance and support of a fabulous editor, Kelley Ragland, and agent, Stephanie Cabot. I’m also lucky to have a mother willing to turn her keen eye to tricky sentences, and a brother willing to share his insights into story structure. Finally, a way-too-big-for-a-sentence thank-you to my husband, Robbie, for talking through murder methods on weekend walks, for brewing experimental posset, and for reminding me always that words and imagination can transform one thing into another, no occult magic necessary.
ALSO BY ELSA HART
City of Ink
The White Mirror
Jade Dragon Mountain
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elsa Hart is the author of three acclaimed mystery novels set in eighteenth-century China. The most recent, City of Ink, was one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2018. She was born in Rome, but her earliest memories are of Moscow, where her family lived until 1991. Since then she has lived in the Czech Republic, the United States, and China. She earned a BA from Swarthmore College and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Acknowledgments
Also by Elsa Hart
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
THE CABINETS OF BARNABY MAYNE. Copyright © 2020 by Elsa Hart. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photographs: cabinet © ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo; flowers © Des Panteva / Trevillion Images; animal skull © Tanguy Delaunay / Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Hart, Elsa, author.
Title: The cabinets of Barnaby Mayne / Elsa Hart.
Description: First edition. | New York: Minotaur Books, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019059161 | ISBN 9781250142818 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250142825 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3608.A78455 C33 2020 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019059161
eISBN 9781250142825
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First Edition: 2020