“Mr. Cleveland is an honorable man,” Lord Richard said stiffly. “I especially recall his campaign. Someone had uncovered an old scandal—something about fathering a child on a woman not his wife. I was struck by his response: ‘Sir, I have cared for my bastard. Can you say the same?’”
“Richard!” Lady Pat cried out.
“I have not done my duty by Julia Harmon,” Lord Richard stated. “I must find out about that child.”
He was shown into the grim room used for interviewing prisoners, where a stout matron stood guard. Julia sat on a wooden stool, waiting for him. Her elegant gray gown had been replaced by a coarse prison smock, but her red hair was neatly arranged in its usual chignon, and her face betrayed nothing as Lord Richard approached her.
There was an awkward silence as the old lovers eyed each other. Then Lord Richard asked the question. “Where is the child, Julia?”
“You should have asked that fifteen years ago,” Miss Harmon spat out.
“I could not,” Lord Richard said softly. “But I ask it now. Where is the child?”
“You don’t even know or care if it was a boy or a girl,” Julia said bitterly. “Your son is in Canada, with my cousins.”
“Does he know?”
“Who his father is? No. They took him with them when they emigrated. I believe he is a strapping young farmer. That is all you need to know.” She shut her mouth and refused to look at him.
“And you will not let me help you?”
“I have friends who will take care of my legal expenses, if that is what you mean,” she said. “You made it clear enough that you wanted nothing more to do with me the day you left Oxford.”
“But—”
“But what? How did I find my way to Mrs. Jeffries’s door? That, Richard, is a long and not particularly pretty story. Not something for one of Mr. Dodgson’s little fairy books. Let us say, I saw an opportunity when it came, and let it go at that.”
“And when did you decide to take Alicia?”
Julia laughed. “Oh, that was Geoffrey’s idea, not mine. However, I do wish Mr. Dodgson were not quite so persistent. Alicia would have done quite well in France—for a while.”
Lord Richard shook his head. “And I nearly married you. I can only wish you a speedy trial. Good-bye, Julia.”
He turned his back on her and left. He was badly shaken in his own esteem. How could he have worked with a man for two years and not even known him? Should he resign his seat? No! Lord Richard’s head went up, and his back stiffened. He would not resign. If Waltham wished to be rid of him, they must vote him out.
Lord Richard Marbury returned to his wife. “Let us go,” he said. “There is still time for me to get to London and attend the evening session of the House.”
They left the law courts and followed the crowds to Brighton Railway Station.
Dr. Doyle and his wife were in the waiting room, with Mr. Dodgson and Mr. Barclay, when the Marbury party arrived.
“So all’s well that ends well, eh, Mr. Dodgson?” Dr. Doyle said. “I must say, it’s been instructive, working with you, sir.”
“Indeed.” Mr. Dodgson let his hand be enthusiastically shaken by his impetuous young friend.
“And you must come visit us in Portsmouth, should you ever find yourself there,” Touie added.
“Were I to find myself in Portsmouth, I should have to visit you, for I would be quite lost otherwise,” Mr. Dodgson quipped.
Dr. Doyle scratched at his mustache in embarrassment. “There is one other thing.”
Mr. Dodgson looked at him in mild perplexity.
“As you know, I’ve been doing some writing of my own.”
“So you have said.”
“And I have begun work on a novel.”
“But I am not a literary man,” Mr. Dodgson protested.
“I would value your opinion, all the same.”
The conversation was interrupted by a veritable procession charging down the platform: Lord Richard and Lady Pat Marbury, Miss Alicia Marbury and their suite, which consisted of Lord Richard’s valet and Lady Pat’s maid, Nanny Marsh, and the newly washed and much-improved Kitty, her homely face radiant with the promise before her of a better life in the metropolis.
“Ah, Mr. Dodgson!” Lord Richard hailed them. “Dr. Doyle! I am glad I caught you before you left. I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me and for my family.”
Mr. Dodgson waved a gray-gloved hand modestly. “Once I was brought into the business, I could not rest until I had set the matter right,” he said. “It was Dr. Doyle here who kept me at it, so to speak.”
Alicia tugged at Mr. Dodgson’s coat, to pull him down to her level. “What will happen to Mr. Upshaw?” she asked.
“That is up to the jury and the judge,” Mr. Dodgson explained. “He will be tried in the Autumn Assizes. If they find him guilty of murder—”
“Off with his head!” Alicia quoted, with great satisfaction.
“We hang murderers now, dear,” her mother murmured. “But you should not think of such things.”
“And what about Miss Harmon? What will happen to her?” Alicia persisted.
“You should not think—” her mother began.
“My dear Lady Patricia,” Mr. Dodgson protested. “Miss Alicia does think, and thinks quite well. Miss Harmon will also be tried, for assisting Mr. Upshaw and for … other things.”
“But not for kidnapping me? Why not?” Alicia’s eyes grew bright with anger. “She should be punished for what she did, not just to me but to Kitty, too. Kitty is my maid now,” she confided to Mr. Dodgson. “Nanny Marsh is showing her how she should go on. I promised her that she should come to London with me, and a Waltham always keeps his promises.”
Mr. Dodgson patted her hand and stood up again. “If Miss Alicia wishes to come to me next year, I will be delighted to have her,” he told her parents. “And this time there will be no confusion about the arrival of the trains.”
Lord Richard glanced at his wife, then down at Alicia. “With all respect, Mr. Dodgson, I think we shall continue to send Alicia to my brother at Waltham for her holidays. However, you may call on us when you are in London.”
“Papa,” Alicia piped up, “will I be expected to give evidence against Miss Harmon?”
“Certainly not!” Lady Pat exclaimed. “You should not have spoken out last night, at the meeting.”
“Why not? It made the police arrest Mr. Upshaw, didn’t it? And it made all those people sign General Booth’s paper,” Alicia pointed out.
“Yes, it did, but ladies do not speak in public,” Lady Pat said firmly.
“But Mrs. Churchill does. I heard you say that Lady Randolph Churchill goes and speaks for Lord Randolph.”
“Lady Randolph Churchill is an American,” Lady Pat said. “They are—independent.”
Alicia considered this. “Then when I am older, I shall be an American, and be independent,” she decided. “And I shall listen to Papa speak in Parliament.”
Her proud father beamed down at her. “I only wish you could stand,” he said wistfully.
“Why can’t I?”
“Because you are a lady, and ladies do not stand for Parliament. Ladies do not vote,” her mother told her. “Now, Alicia, say your good-byes to Mr. Dodgson, and run along with Nanny Marsh.”
Alicia regarded her mother and father with clear blue eyes. “Yes, Mama,” she said, with a dutiful curtsey. “Good-bye, Mr. Dodgson. Thank you for everything you have done.” She reached up and drew him down to her level again, planted a kiss on his cheek, and whispered, “But some day I shall speak out, and I shall stand for Parliament!”
Nanny Marsh took her politically inclined charge in hand and marched her off to the train, leaving the grownups to make their farewells.
Dr. Doyle shook his head, half in amazement, half in amusement. “That is a young lady who will do what she has a mind to,” he declared.
“Yes, she is a very determined person,” Mr. Dodgson said.
“Well, then,” Dr. Doyle began. The shriek of a whistle and his wife’s urgent pull on his coat reminded him that his train was about to depart. “Mr. Dodgson, would you do me the honor of reading my manuscript?”
“You may send it to me at Eastbourne,” Mr. Dodgson said. “But the opinion you will get will be that of Mr. Dodgson, Lecturer in Mathematics, and not that of Mr. Lewis Carroll.”
“Arthur!” Touie’s voice urged him.
“That is all I ask.” Dr. Doyle waved, and was gone.
Mr. Dodgson turned to his friend Henry, who had stood silent during the conversation with the Marbury contingent.
“Surely you are not going to keep up the acquaintanceship with that young man?” Henry protested, as he led his friend to the train that would bring him back to his Eastbourne lodgings.
“I don’t see what harm it could do to encourage him in his literary leanings.”
“He’s not … quite …”
“Henry! Young Dr. Doyle is, perhaps, a bit enthusiastic.”
“He’s a pushing young particle, to quote Mr. Gilbert’s play,” the Rector fumed. “A Scot, and a practicing physician, not a consultant.”
“But he will send me his manuscripts,” Mr. Dodgson said, with a smile. “And I will read them and give some advice, which he may or may not take. Yes, I shall correspond with him. After all,” he gave his friend the clinching argument, “he is Dicky Doyle’s nephew, you know.”
AFTERWARD
Lord Richard Marbury lost his seat in Parliament when the Liberal Party lost the General Election in November of 1885. He was returned to Parliament twice more. During the interims, he wrote tracts and spoke against the white slave trade and other abuses of children. He died in 1901, of a heart attack brought on by overwork.
Lady Pat remained in the Grosvenor Square house with her daughter, Alicia, until the zeppelin attacks during World War I sent her back to Kinsale in 1916. She died there in 1921.
Edward Kinsale retained his Parliamentary seat through several elections, largely on the strength of his commitment to Irish Self-Rule. He was knighted by Edward VII in 1905, and died the following year in a hunting accident.
Miss Alicia Marbury endured a tempestuous season or two as a debutante. She received several offers of marriage, but accepted none of them, to the great despair of her mother. (It was thought that she had given her heart to her cousin, Captain Lord Bertram Marbury, who was killed in South Africa relieving Mafeking.) Instead, she became a member of several organizations devoted to bettering social conditions, swearing that she would continue her father’s work. She came into her own in 1914, when she organized women’s labor forces in factories, and used her social connections to improve working conditions for women everywhere. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1920. She never married, but continued her charitable work until her death in the Blitz in 1941.
Kitty remained with Alicia Marbury during her debutante years. She married one of the footmen from Waltham Castle (said footman then became Dame Alicia Marbury’s butler and general factotum). She and Alicia cast the first votes by women in Waltham Village. Her son, Alexander, holds the seat for Waltham, for the Conservative Party.
Geoffrey Upshaw and Julia Harmon were tried and convicted of conspiracy in the death of William Keeble. Geoffrey Upshaw was sentenced to ten years in Dartmoor Prison, where he died of pneumonia brought on by the unhealthy climate and conditions in the prison. Julia Harmon served her term at Pentonville Prison for Women; when she was discharged, she joined her family in Canada, where she died during the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1919.
No mention was ever made in the Press of the abduction and subsequent return of Miss Alicia Marbury.
Mr. Dodgson went back to Eastbourne and resumed his regular round of writing, occasional lectures, and study at Oxford.
Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle returned to Portsmouth, where he practiced medicine and wrote sensational fiction for popular magazines.
Mr. Dodgson and Dr. Doyle were to meet several times more—but that, as they say, is another story.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The events of July and August of 1885 are a matter of public record. The series of sensational articles in the Pall Mall Gazette appeared; the Reverend Mr. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote a letter to Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister, and another which was published, both decrying the articles; protest meetings were held across England; and General William Booth collected over five thousand signatures to a petition, which he presented at Westminster.
The Criminal Amendment Bill passed, by the barest of majorities, on August 29, 1885. Among other things, it raised the age of consent for girls from twelve to sixteen years of age, made pandering a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment, and decreed prison sentences for sexual acts between males.
Mrs. Martha Jeffries was a noted Madam. Her various houses of prostitution were patronized by the most noble and notable gentlemen. Her release from a brief prison sentence occurred as described. She died in her bed, at an advanced age. Her funeral was attended by many of her most faithful patrons.
Dr. Doyle and Mr. Dodgson actually never met. This story is an exercise in “what if.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This novel would not have been written without the encouragement of many people. Especially important to me were:
Keith Kahla, my editor, who made a suggestion at a Convention;
Marvin Kaye, my mentor and friend, who asked me to write a story;
Cherry Weiner, my agent, who took a chance on a voice over the telephone;
and always …
Murray Rogow, my husband, who has always been with me when I needed him.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1998 by Roberta Rogow
Cover design by Kathleen Lynch
ISBN: 978-1-4976-7095-2
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The Problem of the Missing Miss Page 26