by G. M. Best
Mrs Grantly, overcome with emotion, burst into tears, and her husband quickly moved to comfort her. Blake reached out and took the note from Trollope’s hand. He quickly read its contents and then looked at the others. ‘It’s signed Elizabeth Mather and, with Mrs Grantly’s permission, I think you should all hear this,’ he said quietly.
‘I care not who hears what she has to say. She’s destroyed us all!’ she groaned in reply.
Blake read the letter again but this time out loud:
Dearest daughter – for that is what you are – please forgive me. I have experienced such joy in watching you grow up surrounded by nothing but love and kindness. No mother could be prouder than I am of what you have become – a dutiful daughter, a loving sister, a worthy wife, a kind mother. I never intended to harm so many innocent people but I loved you too much and one sin led to another. I say that not as an excuse for my actions but as an explanation. Nothing can excuse what I have done. I know that now.
God knows I have suffered enough in my life but I’ve also witnessed great kindness, especially in this house. I could not have wished for a better master than the man who became your loving father. I have repaid his kindness ill and I welcome an end to all my deceit. I saw from Mr Trollope’s face that he knew my true identity when he arrived today. I end my life so that you and Eleanor and Mr Harding are spared the horror of a trial with all the adverse publicity that would attend that.
Please tell your father – for he has earned that title by action if not through blood – that I truly repent of what I’ve done these past few days but not of entrusting my child to his care. I can’t repent doing that, even if it means I have to face all the torments of hell. I hope he will find it in his heart to pray for me. Please tell Eleanor that I loved her as much as I loved you. I hope that she will find as good a husband as you have found. She deserves no less.
I pray that Mr Blake will have the kindness not to tell the world what led to my actions. He can say that poor Mrs Winthrop was struck down by a madness – a madness that led her first to kill others and then herself. Then no one need know that you are my child and there will be no scandal. There will simply be a momentary stir and all will be soon forgotten.
Please forgive me, and, if you can’t do that, please forget me. Live as if I had never been. I don’t know whether a woman who has sinned as much as I have can offer a blessing to anyone, but, if God is willing, let my blessing fall on you and those you love.
Blake handed the letter to Dr Grantly. ‘I suggest, sir, that you destroy this. Let there be no evidence of the link between your wife and the dead woman. As far as I’m concerned this case is closed. Mr Bold can certify that Mrs Winthrop was not in her right mind and I’ll report to the outside world that a woman’s insanity was responsible for three murders. Madness requires no motive for what has taken place here.’ He turned to Trollope and added, ‘Do you agree with my conclusions on this case, sir?’
Trollope smiled. ‘You’ve expressed my feelings on the matter with admirable precision, Mr Blake.’
Nothing was said by Mr Harding or his daughters but their faces bespoke their gratitude.
AFTERWORD
THE WRITING OF THE WARDEN
The release of Inspector Blake’s information on the three murders at Hiram’s Hospital kept tongues busy in Barchester for a number of days. Many reasons were invented as to what might have driven the housekeeper insane. None came remotely near the truth. Her prediction proved correct. It was not long before the story soon ceased to be news. People’s minds turned to other issues that were taking place in the city and in the country.
The lives of all those connected with Hiram’s Hospital appeared to return to normal. Mr Harding resumed his duties as warden and was pleased to receive into his care three new bedesmen to replace those who had died. Miss Harding and Mr Bold continued to see each other although Dr Grantly and his wife remained opposed to the young doctor as a prospective suitor. All of them avoided speaking of their former housekeeper but that did not mean that she was forgotten. How could she be? Her love – and the actions that had stemmed from it – had touched them all forever.
Unfortunately scandal of another form was soon to affect Mr Harding. The issue of the use of John Hiram’s money resurfaced because the deaths of Thomas Rider, Jeremiah Smith and John Gaunt paved the way for Abel Handy to achieve a victory over Benjamin Bunce. The former stonemason persuaded the majority of the new body of bedesmen into signing a petition against the Church’s wrongful use of the money from Hiram’s legacy. Anyone wanting to know more about what happened can read Anthony Trollope’s novel, The Warden, which was published in 1856. However, they will find there are no references in that book to the existence of Catherine Farrell or Mrs Winthrop. Trollope had no need to disclose the secret that had so nearly destroyed the lives of Mr Harding and his daughters. Indeed, he took the precaution of altering the age of Mrs Grantly in his novel and making it appear as if she were much older than Eleanor and the real mother of her husband’s children. In that way he knew none could possibly link her with either of the dead women.
The Warden achieved the success that Trollope’s earlier books had been denied. As a consequence he ceased his work for the Post Office and become one of the most popular novelists of the late nineteenth century. Five of his later novels contained further stories about events in and around Barchester, or, as it is more commonly known, Salisbury.
By the same author
Wuthering Heights Revisited
Oliver Twist Investigates
The Jacobite Murders
© G.M. Best
First published in Great Britain 2015
ISBN 978 1 910208 34 2 epub)
ISBN 978 1 910208 35 9 (mobi)
ISBN 978 1 910208 36 6 (pdf)
ISBN 978 1 910208 08 3 (print)
Buried River Press
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