The Poisonous Seed: A Frances Doughty Mystery (The Frances Doughty Mysteries)
Page 35
One afternoon, as the last of the February chills departed giving way to a balmier March, Frances was completing the last of the packing together with Sarah, who was leaving it to the very last moment before she sought another place. Frances felt humble to see how very few possessions she actually had. One small trunk would take her effects and there were some books in a bundle and that was all. Unexpectedly, there was a knock at the front door and Sarah answered it. She brought back a card, with the name of Algernon Fiske, M.A.
‘He wants to see you on a personal matter of express importance,’ she said.
‘I do not know Mr Fiske, but you may show him into the parlour,’ said Frances.
Mr Fiske was a respectable-looking man of middle age, who swiftly removed his hat and shook Frances warmly by the hand.
‘It’s an honour to meet you Miss Doughty. You are quite the sensation in these parts!’ he said.
‘I expect that will pass,’ said Frances politely. ‘What can I do for you, Mr Fiske?’
‘I am here on behalf of the Board of Governors of the Bayswater Academy for the Education of Young Ladies. Our school provides instruction appropriate for the daughters of professional gentlemen.’
‘Oh,’ said Frances, hopefully, assuming that she was to be offered a post. ‘I have no experience of teaching young ladies, but I am more than willing to do so if you wish.’
‘Ah, no, that is not the reason I am here,’ said Fiske in embarrassment. ‘The fact is, there is a matter of some delicacy, a strictly private matter, which needs to be looked into, and we feel it requires a lady’s touch.’
Frances was quite taken aback. ‘Am I to understand, Mr Fiske,’ she said at last, ‘that you wish to employ me as a detective?’
He nodded emphatically. ‘That is exactly it!’ he exclaimed. ‘The reputation of the school is very much at stake, but it would not, we feel, be appropriate to allow male detectives to question our girls.’
‘I really don’t know what to say,’ said Frances, ‘I have never even thought of—’
‘You would be paid a generous daily rate,’ he interrupted, ‘with all necessary expenses, the first week payable in advance.’
The more Frances thought about it, the more impossible it seemed, but he was so engaged by the idea that she felt she had to find a gentle way of sending him away disappointed. ‘I am truly sorry, but—’
He mentioned a figure. Frances was shocked into silence.
‘Of course, if that isn’t enough, it could be increased,’ he added.
Frances suddenly saw stretching ahead of her two quite distinct lives, one of genteel idleness in which she was dependent upon the kindness of her uncle, and one of diligence and even danger, in which she was answerable to no one but herself. The advance fee offered by Mr Fiske would be more than enough to pay a month’s rent of a small but comfortable apartment sufficient for a single lady and her maid. She settled back in her chair and folded her hands on her lap. ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘if you were to begin at the beginning.’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Strychnine, first isolated in 1818, is a highly poisonous alkaloid extracted from the seeds of the strychnos nux vomica tree. It has a very bitter taste. As little as half a grain has been known to be fatal. Medical professionals and pharmacists would have called it by its Latin name, strychnia.
In apothecary’s measure, one fluid ounce was the equivalent of 29.6 ml, and there were eight drachms to the ounce. One grain was 1/480 of an ounce.
While William Doughty’s chemist’s shop is fictional, as are most of the characters in this book, many of the people and locations including the public buildings, streets in Bayswater, the Redan public house, and Paddington Green police station, are real.
William Whitely, a Yorkshire draper, opened his first shop on Westbourne Grove in 1863, and by 1880 his empire had expanded to a row of ten shops, the frontage lit by bright blue lamps known as Jablochkoff candles, with further large premises around the corner in Queen’s Road (later renamed Queensway). In January 1880, he was locked in a dispute with Paddington Vestry regarding the conversion of eight houses on Queen’s Road into warehouses and shops.
In 1880 many Paddington inquests were held at Providence Hall. Dr William Hardwicke (1817–1881) was the coroner for Central Middlesex.
Benjamin Day was a Paddington curate who looked after the parish of St Stephen’s for the vicar, Revd T.J. Rowsell whose court appointments meant he had duties elsewhere.
Isabella Skinner Clarke, who lived in Paddington, became in December 1875 the first woman to pass the major examination of the Pharmaceutical Society, although she was not admitted to membership until 1879.
Sam Lynn, chemist, appears in the 1881 census at 123 Queen’s Road.
William Powell Frith (1819–1909) was a popular artist.
The tragic death of Lilian Selina Holt was reported in the January 1880 edition of The Chemist and Druggist.
Dr John Whitmore (1821-August 1880) was the public analyst for Marylebone.
John Sadleir (1813–1856) was a Member of Parliament, banker and property dealer. He suffered massive losses, raised money on forged papers, and milked the Tipperary Bank of funds. When his crimes were exposed he committed suicide.
Leopold Redpath (1816–1891) was a clerk who defrauded the Great Northern Railway of some £220,000 by falsifying the books and selling fake stocks. He was transported for life in 1857.
Albert de Rutzen, (1831–1913) was for many years the chief magistrate of the London police courts. He was knighted in 1901.
Harry Benson was part of a gang of fraudsters who induced people to place enormous wagers on fake horse races. In 1877 he received a sentence of fifteen years, but was released on licence in 1885.
Chas and Barstie are of course fictional characters, although they may bear a slight resemblance to two people of similar name who are brilliant sports!.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda Stratmann is a former chemist’s dispenser and civil servant who now writes full-time. She lives in Walthamstow, London.
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion
Cruel Deeds and Dreadful Calamaties: The Illustrated Police News 1864–1938
Essex Murders
Gloucestershire Murders
Greater London Murders: 33 True Stories of Revenge, Jealousy, Greed & Lust
Kent Murders
Middlesex Murders
More Essex Murders
Notorious Blasted Rascal: Colonel Charteris and the Servant Girl’s Revenge
The Crooks Who Conned Millions:True Stories of Fraudsters and Charlatans
Whiteley’s Folly: The Life and Death of a Salesman
COPYRIGHT
This book is dedicated to the two people who inspired ‘Chas’ and ‘Barstie’ with appreciation and affection, and my thanks for taking it in such good part!
First published 2011
The History Press
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This ebook edition first published in 2011
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© Linda Stratmann, 2011
The right of Linda Stratmann to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 6391 9
MOBI ISBN 978 0 7524 6392 6
Original typesetting by The History Press
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