Charlotte House Affair 01 - My Particular Friend

in love. It is as simple as that. But I am poor and I knew I could not support Violet as she ought. However, she had the house and some unclaimed property and we decided that I should travel to Dorchester and see if I could conclude her affairs there. #
    ‘But then I learned that Gascoigne did not die that day and that he was determined to find Violet. My own efforts on her behalf further alerted him and I returned to Bournemouth. However I worried that my actions might lead him to Violet and so we decided to come here and marry as soon as possible —however we were not quick enough. Gascoigne came here and began his search for her, but then we thought of a way that we might send him away.’
    ‘Yes,’ Charlotte said, ‘and your plan involved me. Thank you for your consideration.’
    He looked down at his feet. ‘I am sorry, but I have heard something of your reputation. We thought if we could have you on our side it would help convince him that Violet had left me as she had left him. And it need be something extraordinary to call attention to her disappearance.’
    ‘Ah, you see Jane the need for my meddling to remain unknown. Soon I should be forced to adopt disguises if I hope to remain effective.’
    ‘Well you were certainly convincing, Mr Simms,’ Mrs Fitzhugh said. ‘I consider myself an able judge of character and yet you deceived me.’
    ‘Do not judge yourself too harshly, Margaret,’ Charlotte said. ‘I think Mr Simms has a great deal of experience playing to an audience.’
    ‘I do, Miss House, and yet it appears I was unable to deceive you.’
    ‘You took direction a little too well. I assume you have worked on the stage?’
    ‘I have done, yes. And I am sorry to have deceived you, but it was worth it to free Violet of that man.’
    ‘Now on to practical matters,’ Charlotte continued. ‘I assume you have left a false trail? Where has Mrs Brown—I think Margaret we shall continue to call her that—supposedly gone?’
    ‘I have left instructions for any correspondence to be forwarded to me in Cardiff,’ Mrs Brown said. #
    ‘And there the trail would run cold?’
    She shook her head. ‘My sister is there. She should take rooms there in my name and will leave further instructions for mail to be forwarded again.’
    ‘Oh, well done,’ Charlotte said. ‘Now as to the switch. You paid some chairmen to make the switch?’
    It was now Mr Simms’s turn to shake his head. ‘No, as I said I am too poor for that. I am afraid I am not a principled man. Upon my arriving in a new city, I find it worthwhile to make friends with chairmen and carriage drivers. It has in the past provided me useful information, not always for good purpose.’
    ‘As it has for me,’ Charlotte said. ‘So you had befriended them and spun them the same tale.’
    ‘Yes, I convinced them to help by telling them the tale. No money changed hands.’
    ‘And the woman in the chair, what was her name?’ Mrs Fitzhugh asked.
    I made to look through my notebook for the information but Charlotte supplied, ‘Mrs Mulberry I think it was.’
    ‘She was their fare and not an accomplice. It was a necessary part of the plan, you see,’ Mr Simms said.
    ‘Yes, the chairmen you tricked would have noticed an empty box. And from my own researches, I know that you were not accosted by pickpockets.’
    ‘What about the bruise?’ Mrs Fitzhugh asked.
    He opened his mouth to answer but Charlotte spoke first. ‘You were one of the delivery-men.’
    ‘What does that have to do with it?’ I asked.
    Again Mr Simms was to answer when Charlotte said, ‘You were in a hurry to beat the chairmen to their destination. You fell in your pursuit.’
    ‘It might be as well to let Mr Simms tell his own story, Charlotte,’ Mrs Fitzhugh chided her.
    ‘I do apologize. Please, what were you to say, Mr Simms?’
    ‘Uh, you are correct. I fell in my rush. I made up the story of the pickpockets to justify my injury and delay.’
    Charlotte smiled at his words and Mrs Fitzhugh rolled her eyes.
    ‘What are you to do with us, Miss House?’ Mrs Brown asked quietly, interrupting Charlotte’s satisfaction.
    My friend looked at her steadily but she held Charlotte’s gaze. I wondered at my friend’s dilemma and hoped that she would not let her pride stand in the way.
    ‘Do? I will not do anything. I will not aid you in your deception nor will I expose you.’
    ‘Don’t be horrid, Charlotte,’ Mrs Fitzhugh said.
    ‘I am not being horrid; I