‘You can be sure of one thing, Mrs Barnham,’ said Mrs Wandle calmly to the medium, ‘this will be your last séance.’ She turned to Mrs Vardy. ‘Come, Charlotte, let us take the child to safety.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
‘And so I once again found myself at the Town Hall,’ said Dr Hamid, as he and Mina enjoyed a light luncheon brought to them on a tray on the day following Mr Merridew’s report. ‘Have you ever encountered Mrs Barnham?’
‘I have heard of her and her curious machine and select circle. But of course she would never have admitted me to her séances.’
‘And yet, whenever there is some drama in Brighton concerning a medium exposed as a swindler, I cannot help thinking that you have had a hand in it in some way.’
‘I don’t believe I have anything to confess,’ said Mina, helping herself to cheese tart and cold roast chicken. ‘But do tell me how the fraud was found out.’
I was summoned to attend to Mr William Cobbe, the banker. He had been attending a séance at the home of Mrs Barnham and was being held in the cells. Mrs Barnham and her servant a Miss Stone, were also there. They had been brought in by a Mr Eve, one of their circle, who had called for the assistance of a constable. It was hard for me to make out precisely what had occurred, although I imagine the newspapers will report it in due course. The two ladies were being held in separate cells in the females’ corridor. My task was solely to examine Mr Cobbe, to see if he was fit to be interviewed. His face was bruised and bloodstained, and for reasons best known to himself he was refusing to sit down. He was shaking with the indignity of his position and claimed at first that he had suffered a fall.
‘This is a remarkable injury from a simple fall,’ I observed, since my immediate impression was that he had been struck with a weapon of some kind, but was unwilling to admit it.
‘Oh it was more than just one fall,’ said Mr Eve. ‘There’ll be marks on his body too.’
‘Well if you must know, it was that horrible woman Mrs Anscombe!’ exclaimed Mr Cobbe. ‘She made all sorts of allegations against me and then attacked me with a poker! Has she been arrested? She should be charged with assault and battery! I shouldn’t be here, I am the victim of her crime!’
‘He is confused, of course,’ said Mr Eve, with a shake of his head. ‘There were reliable witnesses to the event, of whom I am one, and we all agree on the facts. Mr Cobbe tripped and fell against the fire irons. In trying to pick himself up he stumbled and fell again. Several times.’
‘That is an outrageous lie!’ Cobbe retorted. ‘I demand to be released at once! Where is my solicitor? I have friends in high places, and they will be notified of this! It is a conspiracy against my good name!’
‘The solicitor is on his way,’ said the constable, ‘and once the doctor has finished you can tell everything to the Chief Constable.’
I cleaned and dressed the wound on Mr Cobbe’s head and was able to satisfy myself that it was unlikely to prove dangerous. ‘You have been fortunate. There will be a great deal of swelling and bruising, but no serious damage. Now then, where are your other injuries? Your back or your limbs? Or elsewhere?’
Mr Cobbe went even redder in the face. ‘Never mind about that!’ he barked.
‘Come on then, sir,’ said the constable, ‘the Chief Constable will see you now.’
‘Are you sure this is necessary?’
‘This way, sir.’
Mr Cobbe, still protesting loudly was conducted from the cells and led upstairs to the offices. ‘You’ll see!’ he exclaimed, turning and shaking a fist at Mr Eve, ‘I’ll be out of here within the hour! I know things! I know things that they’ll be very pleased to hear! I know all about the Maritime Queen! And then I’ll come after you all!’
‘I hope they didn’t set him free,’ said Mina.
‘No. He’ll be appearing before the magistrates first thing tomorrow morning. I have no details of the charges, but Mr Eve told me that Mr Cobbe behaved in a most outrageous manner and cannot hope to escape a conviction. He also told me that your friend Mr Merridew was there and had some means of throwing light on a situation which had previously been hidden in darkness. But Cobbe claims to have secret information which he will try to make use of to reduce his punishment or escape it altogether. The name Maritime Queen was mentioned quite often. Mr Cobbe seemed to think that the police would be very interested in that.’
A letter from Mr Phipps was delivered to Mina that afternoon.
Dear Miss Scarletti,
You will be interested to know that I called on Captain Bulstrode recently and showed him the photograph of the members of the Brighton Yacht Club. His memory was very sharp indeed and his eyesight no less so. It was not a period in his life that he wished to recall but he was able to identify all the men in the picture, including the club secretary Mr Sutherland, and a Mr Vardy who was at the time employed by Mr Westbury senior as his confidential clerk. As we know Mr Westbury senior resigned from the club over concerns about the Maritime Queen Insurance Company, but Mr Vardy did appear there from time to time, and was friendly with Mr Taylor who it is believed is a distant cousin.
Incidentally, Captain Bulstrode expressed a considerable dislike of Mr Cobbe. According to him Cobbe has always professed to be a virtuous and charitable individual, but Bulstrode had a strong impression that the opposite was the case. There was some scandal in the past about his patronage of an orphanage. No details ever emerged, and nothing was ever proved, and it seems that the matter was regarded as settled when Cobbe resigned. Bulstrode speculated at the time whether funds had been embezzled, but he had no information to share,
Yours faithfully
R Phipps
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mrs Charlotte Holt, the lady formerly known as Mrs Vardy, sat with Mina Scarletti, holding a handkerchief over her eyes, the tea and cake that had been Rose’s best efforts at consoling the visitor’s distress, remaining on the table at her side, untouched. She had arrived barely holding back her tears, and once in Mina’s company had finally allowed herself to sob lengthily and without restraint.
Slowly, she recovered her composure. A small glass of sherry was offered and accepted, and after a while Mina’s patience was rewarded and Charlotte began her story.
All was damp and grey and cold in Seabourne churchyard as I stood at the foot of my husband’s grave. Mrs Wandle had shown me to the place. She had not entered the graveyard, but stood at the gate, maintaining a respectful distance. At that moment I could not bring herself to look at or address my erstwhile friend. My mind was reeling from the things I had been told, my husband’s second life, and the gross betrayal by a woman for whom I had once felt such a sisterly affection.
There were no longer any doubts in my mind. The pain of not knowing was gone, but only to be replaced by the pain of knowing the truth, and I realised that this could be just as great if not more.
I had read the letter Jasper had written to me on his deathbed, in which the writing although weakened by illness was certainly his, the contents an additional confirmation. He had asked forgiveness not only for himself but for Mrs Wandle, who, he said had only kept his secret because he had begged her to; Mrs Wandle, whom I had come to call Emily, the woman who had befriended me under false pretences, spied upon me, harboured my missing husband in secret, and failed even to bring me to his bedside when he lay dying. Could any of those acts truly be forgiven? Mrs Wandle had pleaded with me, even as I touched the very garments Jasper had worn the last time I saw him, and which had been carefully preserved, and the crumpled photograph he had once held against his breast. She had asked me to believe that although our friendship had not begun as such things ought to have done, it had become in time as genuine as any friendship could be. There was another thing that I could not bring myself to speak of, the sense that this woman who spoke of Jasper with such gentleness and affection, had during the seven years and more that they had lived together, become as a second wife.