Wilmington, NC 10 - Much Ado About Murder

materials. Anything that could be construed, and very often misconstrued, as a threat to the monarch had to be destroyed.
    “Playwrights were particularly vulnerable. The theatre was the only real mass entertainment. And I’m guessing that for some reason Walsingham decided Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Won was seditious and a threat to the queen. No doubt the censors were assigned quotas by Walsingham . Thus, he’d have something threatening to report back to the queen. It would have been your ancestor’s job to destroy the play.”
    Dalton said, “But according to my great-grandfather, Edward was a lover of the theater. He could not bring himself to destroy Shakespeare’s play. So he secreted it away somewhere, and claimed it had been burned. The family was sworn to secrecy. For generations the play remained hidden.”
    “Until Dalton Montjoy !” Spenser exclaimed. “He brought the play here prior to the American Revolution. That was the time of King George, mad King George as he was known. The first Dalton would have wanted to remove the play from England and from . . . well, who knows what fate at the hands of the mad King.”
    “But wouldn’t Shakespeare have kept a copy of his play?” I asked.
    “A hand-written copy?” Spenser said. “I rather doubt it. You see, Shakespeare had no real interest in publishing his plays. He was merely interested in their performance. He left it to others to publish his plays after his death. In fact, it is extraordinary that his Last Will and Testament makes no mention of his body of work at all. Reading his will, you’d never know that he was the Bard of England. Very strange indeed.”
    “But what about the copyright?” Melanie asked. “Who owns the copyright?”
    Spenser answered, “I’d have to say no one. A copyright is good for only seventy-five years. After that, the work is in the public domain.”
    I had a flash of insight. “ I just figured something out. Those letters from the inscription on the back of the Thalian Stone. They were the letters ‘e’, ‘o’, and a capital ‘W’. Those letters are in Love’s Labour’s Won .”
    “Good thinking, Ashley!” Binkie exclaimed.
    “But why was that title inscribed on the back of the Thalian Stone?” Cam asked. “Where no one would ever see it? They couldn’t have known that Washington D.C. would experience a rare earthquake.”
    Binkie shrugged his shoulders. “If I may hazard a guess. I’d say it was an act by your ancestors, Dalton, simply to provide them with a sense of satisfaction.”
    “That’s possible,” Dalton said. “The Montjoys were involved in raising funds to create the stone. Expecting that no one would ever see the back of the stone, they may have had the inscription added for reasons of personal gratification, as you suggest, Binkie . After all, the play had been hidden. They didn’t know where it was. The descendants had never seen it. They only knew of its existence through family stories.”
    Ray had remained silent until this point. “Would you all listen to yourselves? We are sitting here discussing the discovery of a lost Shakespearean play! How incredible is that? I think the question we should be asking ourselves is what are we going to do with the play?”
    “But who does it belong to now?” Cam asked.
    “I’d say this is a case of ‘finders’ keepers’,” Spenser answered.
    Dalton offered, “It was found on your property, Jon and Ashley. So is it yours or mine?”
    “It’s your family’s treasure,” I said. “I think it belongs to you.”
    “Wouldn’t it belong to Shakespeare’s descendants since it was taken from them?” Aunt Ruby asked.
    “There are no descendants,” Spenser said. “Shakespeare’s line died out after a few generations.”
    “How extraordinary,” I said. “I had no idea.”
    “I think that since your family preserved it, Dalton,” Aunt Ruby offered, “and they were founders of the Thalian Association, we should give it to the association.”
    Binkie patted her hand. “Excellent idea, my love.”
    “I have a suggestion to offer,” Spenser interjected.
    “Let’s hear it,” Cam said.
    “If you decide you want the Thalian Association to have the play, I think you should consider giving it jointly to them and to the University. The University has resources the association does not. Scholars, like myself, for example. Furthermore, the University lawyers can handle the legal matters.
    “But here’s what