Sunday 9 March 2014

VIII: To London!

The following day, Brindleton manages to get the diary back into its rightful place, through a combination of unusual requests and his gammy leg/arm/heart playing up due to whatever mysterious ailment he sustained during "the war". You then head to the Tyne docks, where Kitson's boat is moored, and set off.

Within a few days you are moored on the Thames with rooms at Brindleton's Badminton Club.

14 comments:

  1. Plenty of time floating around in a cabin, free time to translate this damned diary! I was so sure that I was on to something...

    [How has the translation come on?]

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    1. The deciphering is going to take some time. It's a substitution code, but to transliterate everything (the diary is fairly long) will take time. The first entry reads as follows:

      "A silhouette of a man appears. Behind a veil of some kind, so I could not see clearly. He is reaching out with a key.

      Beyond him the black sky, and stars. Planet-like orbs. I gain the horrible sense that somehow he intends to threaten me. But I do not know what it is he is threatening me with."

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    2. So if Hodgkiss has the cipher now (i.e., a means to translate each symbol into the correct Roman letter) then can he round up a gaggle of literate vagabonds and have them transcribe it? Many hands make light work, what!

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    3. Brindleton will be happy to oblige as soon as he's done with the art dealer stuff. In the meantime his valet can help- he trusts his completely.
      ...are we sure it's a diary? Are there dates, and if so what period do they cover?

      I wonder if this is the Baron's hand or not. In the evening, after seeing the gallery people and (hopefully) one or two buyers, B will check the enlistment records at the Army and Navy Club to see if the Baron was ever in the military (if he doesn't happen to know the Baron's history, rank etc offhand).

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    4. Yes, there is a date on the first entry. It's for April 13th, 1896.

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    5. Brindleton knows already, without having to check, that the Baron was indeed in the army. He missed out on the Crimea, but you believe he was involved in the Second Opium War or something else out East.

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    6. Leaving aside the content of the diary, is there anything that Hodgkiss can deduce from the nature of the cipher? Does it suggest that it was written by the Baron, based on what we know of him?

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    7. Tough to know, really, just based on the cipher. It's written in what looks like fountain pen ink, for what it's worth.

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  2. Brindleton takes Blake to visit Hermann Adler. The latter is a short, bespectacled man who speaks with a thick German accent. He knows his art - as far as Brindleton can tell, of course - and seems reasonably happy to talk to potential customers. He says that Defernex only recently became well known, but has already become very fashionable indeed. Adler knows of 24 paintings by the man, all of which he has personally sold, and he is waiting for the "next masterpiece". He tells Brindleton that Defernex values his privacy, and that he is the only seller who he regularly deals with.

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    1. "well how did you come to know of the man? I hear he's holed up in some sort of mountain shack!"
      "And do you have any on hand now? Or photographs of the ones you've sold? Does he do commissions?"
      "I say it's all very exciting! Tell me, who discovered him? Who would you say is his greatest fan? If we were to try to organize a show here, at the Academy or the Albemarle, on whom should we prevail about loaning their pieces?"
      ...this would all spund better coming from Blake, while Brindleton looks around. Are we at his gallery or home? Any sign of an interest in the occult? Anything odd? Any sign of where the ledgers might be kept?

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    2. You're in his gallery. It's full of contemporary art - post-impressionist and expressionist stuff. Most of it very vivid and colourful and somewhat eerie in feel.

      In answer to your questions, Adler tells you that he heard of Defernex from an old military man who'd been travelling in France, and had to go and search the fellow out for himself. But since Defernex is so reclusive her never takes commissions, but paints prodigiously; Adler's expecting some new pieces in the next month.

      The Baron Charles Segovia, up in Newcastle, is a major collector, but there are others around, especially in London. The famous ballerina, Matilda Kshesinskaya, who lives in London, has also bought from Adler, as has the owner of the Covent Garden Opera Company, James Conway.

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    3. There is a back office where ledgers *might* be kept. A room just behind the main gallery area.

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    4. OK. Conway and Kshesinskaya are excellent leads - they both probably keep open salons and it shouldn't be too hard to get an invitation. Brindleton asks if Adler's had any trouble - has there been any anti-Defernex muttering or shock - and has anyone ever returned a Defernex after buying?

      Then, with no paintings on hand here, he sets off to try to get that invitation to a salon. He'll ask his club mates at the Badminton for an invitation to call on both Conway and the ballerina - dropping rumours about trying to get a Defernex show going if necessary. He wants to get to see their paintings.

      Finally, what is today's date, and when did the Baron get the painting? Does everything match up (painting then diary) or is this evidence the Baron was doing something odd before the painting arrived? And just how long has the girl been in this state?

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    5. He says that no, there haven't been any complaints. The opposite, if anything.

      The date is now March 23rd. Everything seems to match up, at least with the information you have available. Update to follow!

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