Second whether they had acted independently, without any knowledge of the others activities or if they had acted collectively (for whatever reasons) there had been one or a series of common denominators that had brought them in turn to my attention.
Because of what had taken place one evening at a ball in Johannesburg and the suspicion I had drawn from the event I was to find out shortly that I myself was one of the common denominators.
“The widow has been asking questions that are never to be answered... and she is making inquiries in places where she should not be. With that in mind what are we going to do about Mrs. Watson... or as she has taken to unconvincingly pass herself off as Miss Morstan?
“Certainly... I do not know who she thinks she is fooling with this charade? Anybody who has read the narratives of the late Dr. Watson (her husband) should know that the two surnames are linked.”
“Can we simply do away with her? No... she is too well known and thought of... what with her established volunteer work... the famous deceased husband and well documented connection to and past collaboration with the consulting detective.
Removing her now would bring unwanted and unneeded attention. “Besides if she were to vanish... this would certainly give Mr. Holmes (where ever he is at the present time) great cause or reason to take up a trail that has been cold since 1917.”
Chapter 27
Counterbalancing the somewhat cold and odd reception I had received upon returning to the society there was one person who was very pleased to see me again... my young friend Miss Elizabeth Humphrey.
I had first met her on a warm Saturday afternoon about a year ago at St. James’s park. Regal St. James’s Park (where John and I had picnicked together in the summer) it is surrounded by three Royal palaces.
Spanning 23 hectares (58 acres) it has a lake which is home to the park’s famous pelicans. You can watch them being fed every day at 2.30p.m.so this is where and how we first met.
Of course I had seen Elizabeth at the park on previous Saturday afternoons and each time in my mind I had entertained the thought of being brave... overcoming my shyness... approaching her to say hello then introduce myself.
Except I was still coming to terms with Sherlock’s absence... and missing my husband’s company so I did not feel very confident or congenial when I should have.
However as I saw her on that particular Saturday... she seemed friendly and approachable so it was then I decided the time was right to let the world and the people in it back into my life.
Allaying what fears I might have I moved towards Elizabeth in what I hoped was a friendly manner... when I reached her I smiled and started with “Hello my name is Mary... Mary Morstan... and what is your name?”
***
She was at the time the newest member (at my invitation) of the Fawcett society... Elizabeth is the organist at St. George’s Anglican Church... and she is employed as a stenographer by the law firm of Arnold and Porter (barristers and solicitors) which is located on Whitehall Street. She never married and lives at home with her parents Mr. Paul Humphrey and Mrs. Grace Humphrey.
***
A part of our conversation on our first afternoon together... after mutual introductions... that has always stayed with me was how she beamed then asked if I enjoyed reading mystery novels, and if I had a favourite author.
I answered (of course tempered with the life and the people I had known) “occasionally, but no I did not have a favourite author.”
Elizabeth straight away came out and shared that she did and could easily lose herself in any of the works of Agatha Christie. I smiled to myself for a moment upon hearing the famous mystery writers name again as it brought back memories of a mystery writer I knew.
Deciding that I needed a friend who was well outside the sphere of everything Sherlock Holmes I did not bring up Winifred’s name (or even my association to her) in the conversation but instead deftly changed the topic and started by telling Elizabeth about my early life as a governess in India.
Changing some of the details of the events that followed I told her as to how John and I had met. I went onto describe a quiet and somewhat uneventful life (certainly a fictional one for me) as the wife of a medical doctor until John’s death in 1920.
My first day back with the Fawcett society ended on a positive note with Elizabeth inviting me to Koffmann’s for a light supper then onto BETAthe Prince Charles cinema located at 7 Leicester Place to see a motion picture titled A Chapter in Her Life an American film based on the novel by Clara Louise Burnham.
After living on my own for so long with only my thoughts and fading memories for solitary companionship then alternately taking little notice of what I thought amounted to no more than the daily idle social gossip at the Fawcett society it was refreshing to listen to an interested and sociable voice while in the company of my young friend.
Despite the fact that there was some difference in our respective ages I found that Elizabeth and I shared many common interests and there was much we could talk about.
To any one seeing us together our conversation appeared to... and sounded as having the easy back and forth quality of old friends in terms of tone and character.
But like venturing out onto an only partially frozen over river in early winter I had to be careful where and how I tread so as to not break the ice and possibly fall through there by revealing my past with John and Sherlock.
***
From our first Saturday afternoon together, during the warm lazy days of summer and into the frost tinged days of fall Elizabeth and I kept amicable company.
Together we attended the Summer Exhibition. This is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London held during the summer months of June, July, and August.
The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, architectural designs and models, and is the largest and most popular open exhibition in the United Kingdom.
When the Royal Academy was founded in 1768 one of its key objectives was to establish an annual exhibition, open to all artists of merit, which could be visited by the public.
There was the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the (RHS) in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London.
It is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom, and perhaps in the world, attracting visitors from all continents.
We also attended the West End theatre. This is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of what is known as the Theatre district located in and near the West End of London.
Along with New York City’s Broadway and Hippodrome theatres, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.
Chapter 28
With the interval of time that had passed since departing from the port of Calais and returning home... revelations I had discovered, events I had experienced and the applicable information I had gathered while staying in Johannesburg and Dresden was losing its importance and had started to fade from my mind.
I found with time even my concerns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding John’s death were also beginning to diminish.
With my overseas journeys now well behind me and days fully occupied with the Fawcett Society I felt I would eventually be leaving the exciting and liberating world I had known as a capable detective behind and return to the safe and anonymous role that of the widow of a medical doctor and as a volunteer.
But a member of Sinn Féin was determined that this was not to happen. Continuing the line of questioning she had started with on my return Patricia McLean persisted in wanting to know mo
re about my (at the time unannounced) travels abroad.
As always carefully phrasing her query to sound merely as an innocent (or passing) comment she had recently questioned me on delft porcelain and castor beans.
While I could have easily dismissed her opening examination concerning my overseas destinations as mere coincidental curiosity... with the nature of her subsequent follow up questions each had started to link(in my mind) Patricia to Marius Bakeberg and Albrecht Metzger.
It was almost as if the two men, through Patricia were reaching across the distance to ask more about the true nature and purpose of my visits.
Adding to a rising feeling of discomfort with this unsolicited (and at times often unanticipated) attention I harboured a fear that other members of the society who had overheard these examinations may have become curious as to where my inquisitor was going with her line of questions.
With this they may well begin to ask similar questions of their own. It was at this point that I was beginning to treasure my secure and certain friendship with Elizabeth.
Chapter 29
“I see the widow has made a new friend... is this person someone we already have knowledge of or should we have knowledge of? No... she is of little importance to us but it is an odd co-incidence that this young lady (Elizabeth... I believe her first name is) has been seen regularly at St. James’s park every Saturday since April.
One would get the impression that she had strategically placed herself there with the sole purpose of attracting the attention of Mrs. Watson.”
***
“On another topic does the Fawcett Society member of Sinn Féin have any more information for us? No she does not and I have been informed the widow is getting agitated with being questioned by her.
Remarkably when Mrs. Watson chooses to answer... she still carries on as if she had travelled to the Union of South Africa and to Germany with the sole purpose of visiting with relatives and taking in the sites.”
“What of the contacts (that we know of) she made while in Johannesburg and Dresden... was any information divulged that should not have been?
We have been assured no... but some of her comments and questions she made in both cities certainly did raise suspicion. We know that when she left the two locations she had little more than a general working knowledge of how delft porcelain and castor oil is manufactured.”
“So we should not encounter any further problems with the former protégé of Mr. Sherlock Holmes then. Yes... from what has been learned by our member in the society Mrs. Watson is losing interest in her noble cause and appears to be quietly returning to what might be thought of as a civilian life.
There is however one small possible impediment concerning the widow’s transition to retirement... What is that? It is Marius Bakebergin Johannesburg and the note he sent to the Monarch hotel. It was not addressed to Miss Morstan as it should have been but instead it was addressed to Mrs. Watson.”
Chapter 30
Norway’s Independence from Sweden(1905): After the Napoleonic Wars (1815), Norway was joined with Sweden, and ruled by the Swedish monarch Carl the III.
In 1905, the Personal Union between Sweden and Norway was peacefully dissolved, after Norwegian dissatisfaction with the union came to a boiling point. Instead of engaging in a war to maintain Norway, Sweden accommodated the countries desire for independence.
It was at this time a young family with the surname of Huber... being Norwegians of German decent moved from their small town of Farsund in the county of Vest-Gadder, Norway to East Finchley a borough of the city of London in the United Kingdom.
When the new arrivals had located and settled into suitable accommodations the father found work as a skilled optician. Within a short time the family became a part of the local resident German Émigré community.
Wishing to make a new start in their adopted country the father had suggested at dinner one evening and the family agreed that the best way to achieve this would be to anglicize their first and last names.
Their only child... a daughter they had named Liv... as any girl born in England was brought up in a loving and caring home.
She received a good education and excelled at her studies... was involved in all school as well as after school activities and was well-liked by her class mates... teachers and by the people in the local community.
However this would change when she (as a young adult) found herself taking an active interest in continental politics and the philosophies of the German Workers Party.
While on a visit home to Norway in 1922 the daughter found herself returning to a country much different from the one she had left as a child.
***
At the outbreak of World War I, Norway had bravely attempted to remain neutral but the country was wholly unprepared for any large military invasion.
In April 1914 German troops launched a major attack from the coast of Denmark. After crossing the North Sea in a short time nearly the whole country was occupied and under enemy control.
***
Torgeir Rendahl (July 18 1887) is a Norwegian politician. With the invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in an Imperial German Army sponsored coup d’état. In 1914he proclaimed himself Minister-President and to the present day continues to govern in this role.
His government, known as the Rendahl regime, is dominated by ministers from Nasjonal Samling, the party he founded in 1903.
Despite the fact that many occupied countries were liberated by the allies during and towards the end of the war, Norway is still governed by the Rendahl regime with the backing of a foreign military occupying force.
Chapter 31
It was a lead grey, overcast, still and silent late Sunday afternoon when I paused for a moment from the current Times crossword puzzle I had been pleasantly occupied with for most of the day. I put the paper down to look outside then become aware of the lingering foliage still crowning the trees lining both sides of Hill House Road.
Never really appreciating or being aware of it when leaving or entering the house and there for always taking its presence for granted I now observed through the window that the leaves had gradually started to transition from the familiar bright colours of autumn into the now dull and lifeless colours of early winter.
When each was fully transformed the tree released then let each individual drop away from its respective branch signifying that it no longer had any function and there for was of no further use.
I turned for a moment to contemplate John’s journals still occupying the book shelves lining the study and realized that they too were now like the autumn leaves I had just seen and that they did not need to be where they were any more.
But unlike the changing seasonal event I had just watched unfold with each discarded leaf being let go then slowly spiral down one by one to the ground their final fate only to decompose with the cold rain I would lovingly collect and keep all of John’s meticulously written notes in a safe, warm and dry place up in the attic.
With this final act of closure almost complete I would last gather up the final reminders of what had been an interesting and exciting life I had once known and place each in the box next to the now sleeping journals.
Before going back to what I had been engaged in I looked outside one last time as the bleak winter sun was beginning to set on the now barren trees of Hill House Road.
I watched as the first cold and fragile snowflakes of November one by one slowly and gently starting to spiral and descend from the sky.
The cover the snowflakes combined with a swirling winter wind together were starting to create was as fluffy white comforter that stilled all life under it.
In a similar manner all my memories of John, Sherlock, Albert Einstein, Winifred Jeffery and Harry Houdini were being covered with the passage of time... and were now being stilled and
coming to an end.
***
Returning to my afternoon entertainment the next word in the cross word puzzle for me to solve was 7 across... it was a 13 letter word for an act that may under taken for financial gain, or to avenge a grievance... the word I found that fit the given number of boxes was ‘assassination’.
The Reporter (Gravesend)
The body of Doctor Michael Briggs 21years of age, long-time resident and general physician of Gravesend, Northwest Kent was discovered in the mid channel of the Thames and Medway Canal.
The crew of the local canal barge the Eliza returning to its home port were the first to happen upon the corpse. The immediate cause of death given at the time of discovery was by accidental drowning.
Dr. Briggs is the son of Dr George Briggs (retired from the faculty of medicine Imperial College London) and Mrs Catherine Briggs.
Born in London December 30, 1896, Doctor Michael Briggs completed his medical training in 1917 at Newcastle University. From 1918 (after returning from a medical internship in the Dominion of Canada) until 1923 Doctor Briggs had provided exceptional medical care in his surgery located at 65A Perry Street in Gravesend.
The doctor is survived by his parents and will be missed by his many patients attending at his surgery, by those in Gravesend and in the surrounding community who knew him.
Chapter 32
My first thought after reading this shocking story was to immediately contact Winifred, then quickly make plans to journey by train to Gravesend.
Once I had arrived and settled in she and I would work together and investigate the events leading to what I suspected was not an accidental death but the cold murder of the Doctor.
But I did not follow through with this plan because I realized that it most likely had been somehow discovered that Doctor Briggs had been forwarding to me relevant medial information (that was never meant to be shared) which had been of great assistance towards my uncovering the medical details of John’s death.
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