‘About Martin Andromikey,’ answered Sally. ‘Think of him, James. Think what he did to your father – to Old Andrew and his wife.’
James sank wearily into a chair and pressed the tips of his fingers together. ‘Yes,’ he said heavily. ‘Poor father. But you know, Sally, he’s been rewarded now, hasn’t he? Think of the firm. Think of it.’
‘He paid dearly enough for it, though, didn’t he?’ put in Sally, her eyes pools of brown.
James passed a hand across his brow. ‘Ah well,’ he said slowly, ‘it’s all over now. All the worry and trouble I mean. Still, I’d like to know where Martin is.’
Martin Andromikey himself was still mouldering in a watery grave, but the bogus Martin, alias Richard Soleway, was seated in an old armchair. He sat gazing into the dying embers that had been a fire and wondered. Now and then a more healthy coal would leap into sudden life and throw the watcher’s face into sharp relief.
‘Gasper Liverwick,’ he murmured, ‘Victor Radenstone, Rupert Bigarstaff – they’ve all gone. And it will be me next.’ His head nodded as if stressing the remark.
A coal fell into the grate, dangerously near the carpet, but he paid no heed. His hand went to his pocket bringing forth a key. Slowly he got to his feet and made his way to a cabinet that lay set in the wall. Click, the lock released its steely grip, and the door was open. Putting his hand inside, Richard brought forth a small oblong box. This he also unlocked and drew out an envelope. It was addressed in yellowish writing to Ernest Led whistle. He stumbled once more to his chair clasping the confession to him. Once more he took to musing. And as he fell asleep there was a smell of smoke in his nostrils.
Neighbours of Richard Soleway’s were rudely awakened that night by the shout of ‘Fire’. Standing in their groups, unable to stop its course, they watched the flames spread. And when the morning came, and the charred ashes were blown softly in all directions the unrecognisable body of Richard was found. In his hand was a bundle of ashes. So Richard Soleway perished, and with him his confession.
CHAPTER 43
And now, dear readers, I have reached the end of my story, and all that remains is for me to put down my pen and first think of a suitable patching up. I will now gather the loose threads of my story together and ease your minds on a few things.
First, James Ledwhistle settled down happily secure in the knowledge that his son would enter the business. Jane Ledwhistle received vaguely poetical letters from Robert Straffordson and wondered. Young Ernest grew into a fine young man, and eventually married, later having 5 sturdy sons to his credit. So, to finish on a faintly sad note, let us journey to St Carthage’s, where lie the graves of 4 men. The ivy rustles softly, and on the air steals the sound of an organ. And looking upward through the arch of trees, with the sea beyond, we find that there are no clouds in the sky.
18th August 1946 Begun June 1st, 1946
A Biography of Dame Beryl Bainbridge
Dame Beryl Bainbridge is regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific British novelists of her generation. Consistently praised by critics, she was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize five times, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W. H. Smith Literary Award, and twice won the Whitbread Award for Novel of the Year.
Bainbridge was born in Liverpool in 1932 to Richard Bainbridge and Winifred, née Baines. Her father acquired a respectable income as a salesman but went bankrupt as a result of the 1929 stock market crash. Later in life, she reflected on her turbulent childhood through her writing as a cathartic release. She often said she wrote to make sense of her own childhood.
Despite financial pressures, the Bainbridges sent their children to fee-paying schools. Beryl attended the Merchant Taylors’ girls’ school, and had lessons in German, elocution, music, and tap-dancing. At the age of fourteen, she was expelled, cited as a “corrupting moral influence” after her mother found a dirty limerick among her school things. She then attended the Cone-Ripman School at Tring, Hertfordshire, but left at age sixteen, never earning any formal educational degrees.
She went on to work as an assistant stage manager at the Playhouse Theatre in Liverpool, which would become the basis for one of her Booker-nominated novels, An Awfully Big Adventure, a disturbing story about a teenage girl working on a production of Peter Pan. She successfully worked as an actress both before and after her time at the playhouse. As a child, she acted in BBC Radio’s Children’s Hour, and before the birth of her first child, she appeared on the soap opera Coronation Street on Granada Television.
While at the playhouse, Bainbridge met Austin Davies, an artist and set painter. They married in 1954 and had two children together, Aaron and Jojo. They divorced in 1959, and she then moved to London. There, she began a relationship with the writer Alan Sharp, with whom she had a daughter, Rudi. Sharp left Bainbridge at the time of Rudi’s birth.
In 1957, she submitted her novel, Harriet Said, then titled The Summer of the Tsar, to several publishers. They all rejected the manuscript, citing its controversial content—the story of two cruel and murderous teenage girls. She then published two other novels, A Weekend with Claude and Another Part of the Wood. Her real success, however, came when she befriended Anna Haycraft, an editor, writer, and the wife of Colin Haycraft, owner of the Gerald Duckworth publishing house. This friendship marked a major turning point in her writing career. Anna loved Harriet Said, and Gerald Duckworth published it in 1972 to critical acclaim, establishing Bainbridge as a fresh voice on the British literary scene.
After the success of Harriet Said, the Haycrafts put Bainbridge on retainer and found her a clerical job within the company. During her time working for the Haycrafts, Bainbridge wrote several novels, all positively received by critics, some of which were adapted into films—An Awfully Big Adventure, Sweet William, and The Dressmaker.
Bainbridge’s earlier novels were often influenced by her past. The characters from The Dressmaker were based on her aunts, and A Quiet Life drew from her relationship as teenager with a German prisoner of war. Her 1974 novel, The Bottle Factory Outing, was inspired by her real experience working part-time in a bottle-labeling factory.
In 1978, Bainbridge felt she had exhausted her own life as a source of material and turned to history for inspiration, beginning a new era in her career. She discovered a diary entry of Adolf Hitler’s sister-in-law and based her first historical novel, Young Adolf, on Hitler’s supposed vacation to Great Britain. She wrote other books in this genre—Watson’s Apology, Every Man for Himself, The Birthday Boys, Master Georgie, and According to Queeney. At the time of her death, she was writing The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress, about a young woman visiting the United States during Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, which was published posthumously.
In addition to her work as a novelist, Bainbridge was also a journalist, frequently contributing to the Evening Standard, and she was the regular theater critic at the Oldie.
Over the course of her career, Bainbridge became a literary celebrity, and was named a Dame of the British Empire in 2000. She remained in the same home on Albert Street in Camden until her death in 2010.
Beryl Bainbridge with her mother Winifred in Formby, Liverpool, circa 1938.
Bainbridge with her husband at the time, Austin Davies, on their wedding day in Liverpool, England, 1954.
Bainbridge with her friend Washington Harold in California, 1962.
Bainbridge at her home in Albert Street with Davies and their two daughters, Jojo and Rudi in 1969.
Bainbridge in the back garden of her home in Camden Town in the 1980s.
Bainbridge speaking at a literary event in the early 1980s.
Bainbridge in a bath chair while spending time with her daughter and grandchildren outside her home in NW1, circa 1988.
Bainbridge in her home in NW1, smoking next to a mannequin of Neville Chamberlain, circa 1992.
Bainbridge in her home at NW1, circa 1992.
Bainbridge with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, where Bainb
ridge was damed, in 2001.
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.
Mum and Mr Armitage first published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. 1985
‘Eric on the Agenda’ first published in Bananas 1975
‘The Man from Wavertree’ first published in the Liverpool Daily Post 1976
‘Evensong’ first published in Unnatural Causes by Javelin Books 1986
‘Poles Apart’ first published in The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories 1987
‘The Beast in the Tower’ first published in Penguin Books 1994
‘Kiss Me, Hardy’ first published in Penguin Books 1994
Filthy Lucre first published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. 1986
This collection first published in Penguin Books 1994
Copyright © 1975, 1976, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1994 by Beryl Bainbridge
Cover design by Drew Padrutt
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3996-3
This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Collected Stories Page 28