Half an hour later Toby, coming upstairs to get ready for dinner, stuck his head into Andy’s room.
‘I say,’ he said, ‘I’ll tell you a funny thing. There’s a bloody great bottle of champagne on a table near the bottom of our staircase.’
‘Och, that was Howard.’ Andy had forgotten about the champagne, which was careless of him. But he wasn’t at a loss. ‘He got muddled, and thocht the-day was his sister’s birthday. And then he minded better, but he’s forgotten tae pit it back again.’
‘I’ve a good mind to liberate it.’ Toby said this without conviction, for he was thinking of something else. And suddenly he sat down on Andy’s bed. ‘Andy,’ he said, ‘there’s something that I ought to have told you about already. It’s something tremendous that Ianthe and I discovered about ourselves when I went to Cambridge. It still almost bewilders me, and I expect it will stagger you, just as it did me. But, you see, it’s heavenly too. We’re in love and always have been. It’s as strange and it’s as simple as that. We’re going to get married just as soon as we can.’
Andy felt no occasion to be staggered, but he managed to mingle a small measure of surprise with his congratulations. Then, and very judiciously, he went to collect the forgotten magnum of champagne and return it to the cellar.
The important thing, Mrs Warlow came to see, was what various people didn’t know. Poor Elma, when taxed by her disillusioned suitor, must have seen nothing for it but to admit to the moral misconduct that was costing her Felton House, but nobody except Howard and Elma herself knew anything about what must have been a painful scene. Howard didn’t know that anybody except Andy had penetrated to the fact of the so-sadly shattered project of marriage. Toby knew people had been saying Howard might marry, but he had no idea that Elma had been his choice, or that Andy had seduced Elma (if it was to be called that) simply for the purpose of manufacturing a block-buster such as no gentleman would have thought of. All these ignorances were conducive to things settling down.
Andrew Auld, however, didn’t settle down. He was pretty sure that, although he had saved Howard Felton from making an unco gran’ fu’ of himself, he wasn’t going to be forgiven in a hurry for the manner in which he had been obliged to go about it. So Andy obeyed a summons from his auntie to come and manage certain affairs in Glasgow for an indefinite period. Toby, although other things were on his mind, was very upset, and made various stipulations about correspondence and reunion. Ianthe wondered whether Andy had a further reason for discreetly departing. And Andy, indeed, when he did depart, murmured to her that he’d be back when her bairns were safely around her – this perhaps with a dash of Scottish sentimentality pardonable in the circumstances. As for Howard, he was very subdued for a long time. In fact, he didn’t fully cheer up until Ianthe presented Toby with a son, and Felton in consequence with a Felton heir, albeit through the female line. Colonel Motley remained single, and Mrs Warlow eventually took over the Mill House.
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, now 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
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.
Mungo’s Dream
Mungo Lockhart goes up to Oxford and find himself sharing a room with the Honourable Ian Cardower, who is heir to a rich title and estate. Unimpressed by rank or riches, Mungo is nonetheless wary in his exchanges with Cardower, and this is reciprocated. However, the two do become good friends and Cardower takes Mungo on visits to his parents’ home, to visit the head of the family, Lord Audlearn at Bamberton Court – a stately home in the grand style – and then to Mallachie, the true family seat, where the eldest son Lord Brightmony lives in splendid isolation, save for his companion; Leonard Sedley, sometime novelist. All seems well, except for Mungo noticing the interest shown by the family in a young Scots boy of uncertain parentage. The story takes on an obvious twist with the usual suspicions and uncertainties mounting, lawyers being called in, and general acrimony, but the final crisis and confrontation is of a surprising nature and an unusual explanation unfolds. On the way, Stewart of course introduces sub-plots and high comedy in his usual literary style. The novel is thought provoking, teasing, and thoroughly entertaining and fascinatingly descriptive of the various locations; Oxford, Perugia in Italy, and Scotland.
Open Prison
The Head of House at a minor public school, Robin Hayes, has to break the news that his solicitor father has been found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to two years in an open prison. He now feels he needs to prove himself afresh, but complications arise when another junior pupil turns out to be the grandson of the judge who passed sentence on his father. Nonetheless, the boys do form a relationship. A strange intervention in Robin’s life comes with generous gifts of cash from his uncle, who is also seemingly similarly supporting his father. This, however, is only the background to a typical Stewart mystery. There occurs a double kidnapping, the father suddenly and inexplicably rejects his son, the son goes to pieces and there are sufficient sub-plots to provide enough twists and turns to grip the reader as the final twist in the tale develops.
Palace of Art
Gloria Montacute is in Venice, having temporarily removed herself from England following the death of her mother and inheriting a great collection of art treasures. The monetary value of these is of no consequence to her – she has previously worked in a lowly capacity in a London hospital and possesses a strong sense of social responsibility which outweighs any material wealth. This is in stark contrast to her dead mother who did not really appreciate the ‘art’, but viewed the treasures as rapidly soaring investments. Dealers gather and salivate, and one of them sends a handsome young man to Venice. Jake, Gloria’s cousin, and Henry, a neighbour, also pursue her. Gloria harbours suspicions that this be because of her inheritance. The conclusion is as much a surprise as we have come to expect from Stewart’s novels, on this occasion weaved by Gloria herself in a splendidly romantic manner. With wit and humour, yet with a vein of seriousness running throughout, Stewart manages to bring all of the characters to life and grip the reader right to the end.
Parlour Four and Other Stories
A small boy is kind someone disabled, with unexpected consequences. A young lover presents a ring found on a French beach to the girl of his dreams, but doesn’t appreciate its history and value. Meanwhile in Oxford the Bodleian Library is mysteriously empty, whilst one of the dons very unwisely turns to writing fiction, but becomes a bestselling author. And in yet another tale, a cruel ending brings the absurdity of death into sharp focus. All of the stories in this collection focus on life’s ironies and absurdities and are told with Stewart’s usual wit and wisdom, with due attention to detail.
Non-Fiction
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy was considered a Victorian sage, but not everyone fully appreciated his worth and genius. T.S. Eliot stated that Hardy wrote ‘as nearly for the sake of self-expression as a man well can’ and that the outcome was not to be described as ‘particularly wholesome or edifying’. J.I.M. Stewart famously defended Hardy against these charges in a paper and has now expanded his views in this comprehensive biography. Stewart’s work is not, however, any form of apology for Hardy; he critically examines the life and work of the genius that emerged from humble origins and notes that he often wrote sensationally and outside of his own social experience. This volume describes the genesis of Hardy’s more famous works, along with the minor ones, and shows how the biographical background influenced his writing. What emerges is a picture of Hardy the artist, carefully building a symmetry in his works, along with immense narrative powers, and developing a deep understanding of rural life and community. Attention is also given to Hardy’s poetry and the manner in which this is distinguished from others poets of the age. This is a masterful biography from a man who in turn was an author and scholar of high literary ability and reputation.
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