A Villa in France

by J. I. M. Stewart

  ‘You are nothing of the kind.’

  ‘Well, certainly old enough to be his aunt.’

  ‘Then you mean you’ve now come to feel a protective affection for him; that he has been revealed as a kind of endearing lame dog to be helped over his stile?’

  ‘That expresses it not badly, I suppose.’ Penelope seemed well content to settle promptly for this picture of things. ‘Bernie is terribly vulnerable, you know. I see now that his perkiness – which I expect you met with – is an index of that. And I don’t feel he really has much confidence in himself as a painter.’

  ‘Listen, Penelope.’ They had now crossed the lawn and entered the living-room. ‘You are surprised that Bernie submitted to being turned out by me. Well, that’s an index of something, too. We’ve got, so far, only to the fringes of the story.’

  ‘The story?’

  ‘One of Fulke’s stories – devised by him, mounted regardless of expense, and with Bernie in an entirely wicked part that makes him something quite other than a lame dog. It may be hard for you to believe it without material evidence. And there was such evidence. Only I’ve destroyed it. Look over there.’ Gaston pointed to the fireplace.

  ‘Charles, whatever is all that mess?’

  ‘A lot of mildly indecent photographs, which aren’t very important except as a means of dismissing Bernie Huffer. But also the scenario for a revolting story, or perhaps one-act play.’

  ‘But why ever have you burnt them?’

  ‘I just thought them not fit for you to see. I suppose I have an old-fashioned mind. All the same, I mean to tell you the whole thing. And at once. Or as soon as you’ve made tea.’

  They drove away together in Penelope’s car on the following morning. For a time it was in silence, and then Penelope spoke.

  ‘Charles, there’s something I must say. You ought not to have had that cheerful little bonfire yesterday – if only because the things you destroyed were, after all, my property.’

  ‘Good heavens, Penelope! You can’t—’

  ‘I don’t mind about what you called the scenario. But didn’t it occur to you that it might interest me to have a look at the little procession of Bernie’s predecessors? All those golden boys.’

  ‘Such an idea decidedly didn’t come into my head.’

  ‘Of course not. But I’m really trying to make a serious point. Women shouldn’t be thought of as flapping around in search of protection. It’s a bad basis for relationships.’

  ‘Yes – only I didn’t think of you as flapping around.’

  ‘Dear Charles.’ Penelope paused on this. ‘I don’t believe I’m ever going to like that house again.’

  ‘Probably not. But I hope you won’t see the drama we’ve wound up here as all tragedy.’

  ‘It certainly hasn’t occurred to me to view it as comedy.’

  ‘I hope you’ll come to do so. It has had its murky side, no doubt. But, Penelope, I’d like it to finish as comedies do.’

  ‘With a happy ending?’

  ‘Yes.’

  For some minutes Penelope offered no rejoinder to this. When she lid speak, it was to some effect of gaining further time.

  ‘I suppose, Charles, that I can decently sell Le Colombier?’

  ‘Certainly – and for a lot of money. But nothing like the money you’d get for its contents.’

  ‘I’d not care for that at all. I’d feel like some virtuous heroine in Trollope who is rewarded with a huge fortune at the end of the story.’

  ‘You can sell all, and give to the hungry. There are plenty of them round the globe. And that’s what would suit my book.’

  ‘Your book, Charles?’

  ‘I’d feel less like that other sort of character in Trollope, who pursues a lady for her cash.’

  ‘Oh, dear! Do you realise, Charles, that we’ve got ourselves into rather an awkward situation?’

  ‘Isn’t that precisely what we’ve got out of?’

  ‘You know very well what I mean. You have put me under a great obligation to you. I’ve admitted I was getting fond of Bernie, although it wasn’t – I’m quite sure it wasn’t – in the way Fulke designed. But the end of Fulke’s little fancy would have been very horrible, all the same. You’re like a knight who has rescued a princess from the spell of the sorcerer.’

  ‘I don’t know that anything of that kind happens in Trollope.’

  ‘It happens in romances of a different order. And the knight gets his princess as a matter of common form.’

  ‘So he does.’

  ‘But, Charles, we’re not in that sort of story. So it’s awkward. You once asked me to marry you, and I said I was never going to marry again. I believed it at the time, but it was a terribly rash thing to say.

  ‘Penelope—’

  ‘So you see why it’s awkward. You can’t possibly ask me again now. There would be an unexpressed clause latent in your proposal. “Look what I’ve got you out of.” Something like that. And don’t tell me you haven’t been seeing the difficulty.’

  ‘I’ve been seeing nothing else since I came away from Mallows.’

  ‘But there’s a solution.’ Penelope had slowed down the car rather abruptly – but perhaps only because ahead of them there was a cross-road without a passage protégé. ‘It just entails my taking a small unfeminine initiative. Will you marry me?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then it’s settled.’ And Penelope, although now accelerating again took a hand from the wheel and for certain moments laid it lightly on Charles Gaston’s knee.

  Works of J.I.M. Stewart

  ‘Staircase in Surrey’ Quintet

  These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

  The Gaudy (1974)

  Young Pattullo (1975)

  Memorial Service (1976)

  The Madonna of the Astrolabe (1977)

  Full Term (1978)

  Other Works

  Published or to be published by House of Stratus

  A. Novels

  Mark Lambert’s Supper (1954)

  The Guardians (1955)

  A Use of Riches (1957)

  The Man Who Won the Pools (1961)

  The Last Tresilians (1963)

  An Acre of Grass (1965)

  The Aylwins (1966)

  Vanderlyn’s Kingdom (1967)

  Avery’s Mission (1971)

  A Palace of Art (1972)

  Mungo’s Dream (1973)

  Andrew and Tobias (1980)

  A Villa in France (1982)

  An Open Prison (1984)

  The Naylors (1985)

  B. Short Story Collections

  The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories (1959)

  Cucumber Sandwiches (1969)

  Our England Is a Garden (1979)

  The Bridge at Arta (1981)

  My Aunt Christina (1983)

  Parlour Four (1984)

  C. Non-fiction

  Educating the Emotions (1944)

  Character and Motive in Shakespeare (1949)

  James Joyce (1957)

  Eight Modern Writers (1963)

  Thomas Love Peacock (1963)

  Rudyard Kipling (1966)

  Joseph Conrad (1968)

  Shakespeare’s Lofty Scene (1971)

  Thomas Hardy: A Critical Biography (1971)

  Plus a further 48 Titles published under the pseudonym ‘Michael Innes’

  Select Synopses

  Staircase in Surrey

  The Gaudy

  The first volume in J.I.M. Stewart’s acclaimed ‘A Staircase in Surrey’ quintet, (but the second in time), ‘The Gaudy’ opens in Oxford at the eponymous annual dinner laid on by the Fellows for past members. Distinguished guests, including the Chancellor (a former Prime Minister) are present and Duncan Pattullo, now also qualified to attend, gets to meet some of his friends and enemies from undergraduate days. As the evening wears on, Duncan finds himself embroiled in many of the difficulties and problems faced by some of them, including Lord Marchpayne, n
ow a Cabinet Minister; another Don, Ranald McKenechnie; and Gavin Mogridge who is famous for an account he wrote of his adventures in a South American jungle. But it doesn’t stop there, as Pattullo acquires a few problems of his own and throughout the evening and the next day various odd developments just add to his difficulties, leading him to take stock of both his past and future.

  Young Pattullo

  This is the second of the ‘A Staircase in Surrey’ quintet, and the first in chronological order. Duncan Pattullo arrives in Oxford, destined to be housed off the quadrangle his father has chosen simply for its architectural and visual appeal. On the staircase in Surrey, Duncan meets those who are to become his new friends and companions, and there occurs all of the usual student antics and digressions, described by Stewart with his characteristic wit, to amuse and enthral the reader. After a punting accident, however, the girl who is in love with Duncan suffers as a result of his self-sacrificing actions. His cousin, Anna, is also involved in an affair, but she withholds the name of her lover, despite being pregnant. This particular twist reaches an ironical conclusion towards the end of the novel, in another of Stewart’s favourite locations; Italy. Indeed, Young Pattullo covers all of the writer’s favourite subjects and places; the arts, learning, mystery and intrigue, whilst ranging from his much loved Oxford, through Scotland and the inevitable Italian venue. This second volume of the acclaimed series can be read in order, or as a standalone novel.

  Memorial Service

  This is the third novel in the Oxford quintet entitled ‘Staircase in Surrey’. Duncan Pattullo returns in middle age to his old college. The Provost is heavily engaged in trying to secure a benefaction from a charitable trust which the old and outrageous Cedric Mumford influences. One significant complication is the presence in college of Ivo Mumford, Cedric’s grandson. He is badly behaved and far from a credit to the college. His magazine, ‘Priapus’ proves to be wholly objectionable. Stewart explores the nature of the complicated relationships between the characters with his usual wit, literary style and intellectual precision and turns what might otherwise be a very common and ordinary situation into something that will grip the reader from cover to cover.

  The Madonna of the Astrolabe

  In the fourth of J.I.M. Stewart’s acclaimed ‘Staircase in Surrey’ quintet the gravity of a surveyor’s report given to the Governing Body is the initial focus. The document is alarming. The Governing Body, an assembly of which Pattullo was in awe, was equally awed by the dimensions of the crisis revealed. It would seem that the consideration was whether there would literally be a roof over their heads for much longer. The first rumblings from the college tower brings the thought well and truly home to Pattullo. ‘Professor Sanctuary,’ the Provost said evenly, ‘favours the immediate launching of an appeal . . .’ And so it begins . . . In J.I.M. Stewart’s superbly melding of wit, mystery, observation and literary prowess a gripping novel develops that will enthral the reader from cover to cover. This can be read as part of the series, or as a standalone novel.

  Full Term

  The final volume in the ‘A Staircase in Surrey’ quintet. Duncan Pattullo is coming to the end of his term as ‘narrator’ and is thinking of re-marrying, although his former wife continues to cause difficulties. His intended is also providing gossip for the college, but that is as nothing compared to the scandal caused by Watershute, an eminent nuclear physicist. His misdemeanours range from abandoning his family and conducting an affair in Venice, to being drunk at High Table. However, things get very serious when he appears to be involved in activities that might amount to treason. An interesting and convoluted plot, which is a fitting end to this acclaimed series, is carried forward with J.I.M. Stewart’s hallmark skill and wit. Full Term can be read in order, or as a standalone novel.

  Other Fiction

  Andrew and Tobias

  The Feltons are a family with a long lineage stretching back beyond the Norman Conquest. They now have a daughter, Ianthe, but prior to her birth Tobias, or Toby, was fostered and then adopted as their heir after he had miraculously survived the sinking of a refugee ship by a German U-Boat. Then, someone who is clearly Toby’s twin turns up as an under-gardener. He had been fostered by a Scottish couple, now dead. There is now general and disturbed confusion on everyone’s part – including the boys themselves. Stewart explores magnificently the nature of the complicated relationships, including those from outside of the family such as Toby’s lover; the irony of the situation; and the many ramifications of class and culture in the absurd situation the characters find themselves.

  Avery’s Mission

  Bannerman is a schoolmaster on his way to Florence to do some research. On the plane, he meets a recent pupil, Avery Brenton, who is travelling to see his divorced father. However, Avery is young and naïve and is being unwittingly used by his domineering mother. Bannerman finds himself being drawn into matters. Avery’s father is working on a lifetime study of Italian art and is not that pleased to see him. Enter Mrs Mountpatrick, a friend of Avery’s mother, along with another youth who is helping his father. Very soon, a delightfully entangled and complex situation develops, only to be exacerbated by the arrival of Avery’s mother, a dominatrix who uses sex-appeal and a natural upper class manner to exert her will. The tale is told by Bannerman as narrator and is full of suspense to delight the reader right up to the unexpected end.

  The Aylwins

  This novel yields high comedy and mystery surrounding an Oxford College, told by a schoolmaster narrator, and written by J.I.M. Stewart, himself an Oxford Don and master of dry wit and surprise. Supported by his wife, Arthur Aylwin’s desires to be Provost of the College – so much so he is prepared to give up a University Chair so as to achieve it - but there are family scandals and other prejudices and situations to deal with. The reader is drawn into the closed, but convivial atmosphere of college life, described by Stewart himself as ‘impressively circumstanced in relation to the outside world’. The finale nonetheless takes place in Perugia, after an unexpected meeting.

  Bridge At Arta

  Lady Cameron and Charles Hornett had been married some fifty years before, but Hornett has now forgotten all about it. Embarrassment is therefore evident when they find themselves as part of a party holidaying in Greece. Meanwhile, the Balmaynes realise they nothing about Roland Redpath, who is about to marry their daughter, but he is in fact the son of their onetime dishonest butler. But that isn’t the end of it, as yet more shocks and surprises are forthcoming as the story unfolds. In other stories in the collection there is a hitherto unknown Wordsworth manuscript and sensational development with regard to Coleridge. We are also taken to Vienna and to a rural location in an effort to reveal the identity of an arsonist. Full of wit, humour and suspense, these stories bear all of the hallmarks of the expected first class Stewart penmanship.

  Cucumber Sandwiches

  In ‘Laon and Cythna’ scandals are to be avoided following the death of Lord Lucius, but what emerges is more mysterious – the legend of a past relative who fell in love with a peasant girl, and a more recent deathbed confession by the heir’s mother. This is a ‘ghost’ story in the best traditions of that genre. In ‘Cucumber Sandwiches’ an Oxford don’s researches put him on the trail of a youthful indiscretion of a famous Victorian novelist. In ‘The Men’ we meet another don who strays into what he perceives as the alarming world of young people, whilst in ‘A Change of Heart’ strange and macabre events follow the grafting of a finger and thumb, from another patients amputated arm, when Michael Firth awakes in hospital after a car accident.

  The Guardians

  Willard Quail, an American citizen, re-visits Oxford many years after leaving the University so as to look after railroad and other businesses following the death of his father. Now, he meets old acquaintances, such as a former tutor, old Dr. Stringfellow, and comes into contact with a convoluted and seemingly connected bunch of people as he pursues the Fontaney Journals. Quail’s motive and purpose in making th
e journey may not be immediately apparent, but with his usual wit and skill J.I.M. Stewart leads the reader to the story’s satisfying conclusion. As for Quail? Well, he returns to New York. Mission accomplished?

  The Man Who Won The Pools

  Phil Tombs’s wins almost a quarter of a million pounds. Many try to take for a ride and relive him of his new found fortune, but Phil is no fool, and he makes an enterprising and amusing hero as he learns the social nuances and the power of money, going from one adventure to another with what has been described as ‘proletarian gusto’. In this entertaining novel, J.I.M. Stewart depicts the social pitfalls for an ordinary person assuming riches and how basic instincts and sense prevail so as to permit him to weave his way through.

  The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories

  In ‘The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories’ an emissary from Scotland Yard visits Freddie Seston in Venice, who happens to have bumped in to an old school friend, now a QC. Freddie is the supposed secret author, under a pseudonym, of a string of novels. Now, a murder has been committed using the same methodology as in one of the books. The only problem is, that title has not yet been published …. In this, and three other stories within this volume, J.I.M. Stewart does not disappoint, writing with his usual clarity and wit, along with the mystery and surprise readers have become accustomed to through the titles published under the his own pseudonym of ‘Michael Innes’.

  Mark Lambert’s Supper

  Mark Lambert, one of the finest authors of his generation, is dead and his final masterpiece is missing. Dauncey and Lambert’s daughter both believe it to be in Italy, but in an effort to recover it there they face adventure and secrets never dreamed of. How far away is danger? This is a masterly work from J.I.M. Stewart, with all of his expected twists and turns for the reader, right up to his usual satisfying end.