The Mystery of Fitzjames Manor

©2015 Richard Humphreys

The Find-Outers visit Fitzjames Manor and are very quickly embroiled in a new mystery that has its roots in the distant past. With the help of a couple of old friends, Fatty and the Find-Outers piece together the clues and are led finally to an astonishing discovery.

Chapter 14: Eunice Makes Her Own Plans

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Once home, Fatty went straight to the telephone and called the Superintendent. He gave his name and waited to be connected.

'Frederick,' came the familiar, cheerful voice. 'How are you?'

'I'm very well, thank you, Sir,' Fatty said.

'Lady Fitzjames tells me you're interested in her recent robbery,' the Superintendent continued. 'Have you come up with anything yet?'

'We've got a few ideas we're mulling over,' Fatty said, not wanting to give too much away at this stage. 'But there's something I need your help with, which is why I'm telephoning.'

'Goon and Pippin have also come up with a few ideas, as well. You'd better hurry if you want to solve this one before they do,' the Superintendent said with a laugh. 'Now then, how can I help?'

'Well,' Fatty began, 'it's like this. We believe the person who carried out the robberies is looking for something, something valuable, that's possibly hidden in Fitzjames Manor.'

'That's interesting, Frederick,' the Superintendent said. 'And what leads you to that conclusion?'

'The fact that the things were all broken up,' Fatty said, still keeping his cards close to his chest. 'Also, we think it's just possible that an ancestor of Lady Fitzjames' husband, Sir Henry Fitzjames, may have hidden some valuables to prevent his son from squandering everything when he inherited the estate, and left clues as to their whereabouts and it's these clues that the robber is looking for.'

'My word, Frederick, your brain has been busy,' the Superintendent said. 'And have you uncovered any of these clues?'

Fatty hesitated to commit himself. 'Well, we're not sure, yet, Sir. When we are, I'll let you know. But I need to ask if you have any information about someone called Monty Chivers? He's the son of Lady Fitzjames' secretary and is distantly related to the family.'

'Monty Chivers,' the Superintendent repeated the name a couple of times, 'that name does ring a bell,' he said, 'but I'll have to get back to you. Anything else?'

'No, Sir, that's it for now,' Fatty said.

'I'll call you back within the hour,' Superintendent Jenks said and rang off.

For the next hour, Fatty felt very restless. He collected his notes from the shed and took them up to his bedroom where he read through them all again. He looked at the message found in the puzzle box again, put it down and then picked it up and studied it yet again. There was nothing more to be learnt from it, however. It was just the two dates and the possibility that they referred to the star-sign Aquarius. But what could it mean? He took out one of his reference books and looked up star-signs. The symbol for Aquarius was The Water Carrier. Was there an old well in the grounds of the manor in which something had been hidden? Houses had wells in the olden days, could that be what the clue is hinting at? What else could it mean?

Fatty was interrupted in his deliberations by the sound of the telephone ringing. He rushed down to the hall to answer it. It was Superintendent Jenks.

'I've looked up our records on Monty Chivers,' he said, 'and I can tell you that he has served time in prison for theft but was released six months ago, since when we have no further record of him. So I'm afraid, that's not much help.'

'I see,' Fatty said. 'Do you have a description of him?'

'Let me see,' Superintendent Jenks said. 'Five foot eight inches, slim build, brown eyes, well spoken. Not much of a description, I'm afraid.'

'Apparently, he went to university, any idea what he studied?' Fatty asked. He had expected more from the police records and felt disappointed.

'Can't help you there, I'm afraid. But he did run an antiques shop for a while in Windsor and was an actor for a time working in rep. Oh, one more thing,' the Superintendent added, 'he suffers from alopecia, which means he has no hair.'

This last revelation made Fatty catch his breath. All feelings of disappointment suddenly evaporated.

'Well, thank you, Sir,' he said, trying hard to contain his excitement. 'I'll get back to you as soon as I've checked out a few things.'

Superintendent Jenks laughed. 'This extraordinary boy,' he thought. 'Like a dog with a bone, he won't let go of a mystery until he's seen it through to its conclusion. What a detective he'll make when he's older.'

'Be sure you do that, Frederick,' he said. 'And pass on my regards to the others when you see them.'

'Oh, I will, Sir,' Fatty said. 'Goodbye for now and thanks for the information.'

He put the receiver down and looked at Buster. 'This mystery is coming to the boil nicely,' he said and bent down to stroke the little Scottie. 'The pieces of the jigsaw are finally fitting together. But the most important piece is still missing.'

Just then the garden door burst open and Eunice appeared looking rather cross. 'Well, thank you very much for leaving me behind, Frederick,' she said. 'The others are all so cliquey and virtually ignored me. The only one who spoke to me was Ernest and he didn't have anything interesting to say.'

'Sorry Eunice,' Fatty said. 'But I really did have to do some thinking on my own.'

'Well, I can help if only you'd let me. After all, wasn't it I who rescued you once, or have you forgotten?' she asked.

'No, Eunice, I haven't forgotten and you're never going to let me forget it, either,' Fatty replied.

'And I found the message in the puzzle box, or have you forgotten that also?' Eunice said, her face going rather pink.

'Really Eunice,' Fatty said. 'That's typical of you to claim credit for something Buster discovered!'

Eunice was now angry. 'That silly dog just dropped the box down the stairs,' she said, her voice rising to a shout. 'I was the one who found the message and it's the best clue we've got so far. All you do is swank around pretending to be Sherlock Holmes.'

Fatty was also angry now. 'Well, if that's the way you feel, there's no more to be said. I'm going down to my shed and I don't want to be disturbed, so don't creep down in ten minutes asking me if I want a game of chess because the answer will be, no thank you!'

With Buster following, he brushed past Eunice and went out through the garden door.

'I never want to play another game of chess with you as long as I live,' Eunice shouted after him and stamped her foot. 'Boys,' she said and rushed up the stairs to her room.

Still feeling angry, Eunice slumped down onto her bed. 'I've never met anyone with such a high opinion of themselves,' she thought. 'And fancy implying that his precious Buster is a better detective than I am. That boy needs to be taken down a peg or two.' She gave a big sigh and picking up the book on the history of Peterswood that she had borrowed from Mr. Trotteville, began to flick through the pages without much interest. 'If only I could solve the mystery before Frederick,' she thought, 'that would teach him and then, perhaps, I'd get a little more respect from the others.'

She rested the book in her lap and began to go over things. 'The big clue was Aquarius, but what could it refer to?' she asked herself. 'The Water Carrier, that's the symbol it's represented by.' She frowned. 'That seems to ring a bell,' she thought. 'I've seen something like that recently, a figure with a pitcher on its shoulder. That would be a water carrier, but where did I see it?'

She picked up the book again, turning to the pages that dealt with Fitzjames Manor and began to read, but there was nothing there about any water carriers. She turned to the centre of the book where there were some old photographs of Peterswood in days gone by. There was a photograph of the High Street with horse drawn carts and little boys wearing flat caps. Another was of punts on the river filled with men in straw boaters and striped blazers and women dressed in crinoline, carrying parasols. The last was an engraving that showed the front of Fitzjames Manor with the gravelled forecourt, the legend underneath said it was made in 1800. The house was surprisingly unchanged, but the forecourt looked different. In the centre was a small circular lawn in the middle of which stood a fountain. The picture was small and it was not possible to see the details very clearly, so she opened her shoulder bag and pulled out a small magnifying glass. Using this, she examined the picture very carefully. Quite suddenly, she recognized the fountain. She had seen it before, but not in front of the house. She carried the book into the light by the window and could just make out the figure in the fountain, a kneeling figure with a pitcher on its shoulder! 'That's it,' she thought. 'That's what I remember seeing in the centre of the maze.'

She rushed to the door. 'I must let Frederick know what I've discovered,' she thought, but stopped with her hand on the doorknob. 'No, I won't tell him. Not yet, anyway.' She sat down again on the edge of the bed and picked up the book. 'The fountain must have been moved to the maze after this engraving was made in 1800. That may mean that the treasure was buried in the centre of the maze and the fountain was placed directly over it, marking its spot.' Eunice's reasoning seemed to make admirable sense and she felt extremely pleased with herself.

Now, what was she to do?

It was five o'clock and Fatty had called a meeting for six thirty. 'Well, I won't be going to their meeting,' she thought. 'They don't like me much anyway and it'll only be Frederick talking endlessly about this clue or that clue and the others will just nod their silly heads and agree with everything he says. Mr. and Mrs, Trotteville are out this evening playing Bridge, so there'll only be Frederick at dinner and I'll tell him I'll be spending the evening in my room as I have a headache and don't want to be disturbed.'

But Eunice had already decided that she was not going to spend the evening in her room. She had decided to go up to Fitzjames Manor and look at the fountain in the maze. If she could solve this mystery single-handed, she would show Fatty exactly what she was capable of and that girls were just as clever as boys when it came to detective work. When Fatty and the others were in the shed, she would borrow Fatty's bicycle and go up to the manor. It would only take thirty minutes to get there and she would take a trowel from the gardener's shed with her to do some digging. She imagined the look on the others' faces when she presented them with a box of treasure. Yes, that's what she would do. It all seemed very exciting!

At five thirty she went down to the dining room. Fatty was already there, and looked up when she came in, giving her a weak smile, which she ignored. She sat down opposite him and unfolded her napkin. 'Oh, by the way, I won't be coming to the meeting this evening,' she said. 'I have rather a headache and I think I'll have an early night instead.' She looked across the table at him. 'And I don't want to be disturbed,' she said in a very pointed fashion.

Jane brought in the dinner and laid it down. 'Please yourself,' Fatty said tucking into his chops. 'Then it's only fair that I tell you what Superintendent Jenks told me on the phone this afternoon,' he continued. 'I was going to tell everyone at the meeting, but as you won't be there, you'd best hear it now.'

Eunice said nothing, not wanting to appear too interested.

Fatty continued: 'He said that Mrs Chivers' son Monty has spent time in prison and that he ran an antique shop for a while.' He looked at Eunice across the table.

'Really?' Eunice replied in a bored voice without looking up from her meal. 'And what about this Aquarius clue?' she asked wanting to know whether Fatty had worked it out yet.

He shrugged. 'Don't know yet,' he said. 'Perhaps someone will come up with some suggestions at the meeting.'

Eunice gave a little laugh. 'I doubt it,' she said disparagingly. 'All they ever do is wait for you to come up with suggestions.'

'That's not fair,' Fatty said loyally. 'Why, we've solved lots of mysteries together and they've always been joint efforts.'

Eunice looked across the table at him. 'Whatever you say, Frederick,' she said, and then added sarcastically. 'As always, you're right, of course.'

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, and when they had finished, Eunice went up to her room and waited for the coast to clear.

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