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60 pages 2 hours read

Deanna Raybourn

A Curious Beginning

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

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Chapters 18-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 18 Summary

Veronica wishes to rush through the London streets, but Stoker forces a leisurely pace, reminding her that haste will draw attention. Stoker reveals that it was not Rosemorran who left the key to his gate. As they prepare to enter Rosemorran’s property, a woman exits. She identifies herself as Lady Cordelia Beauclerk, Lord Rosemorran’s sister. She is Stoker’s Cornwall contact, and Stoker is astonished to find her in London. She returned to “be of more use” to Stoker (187). Cordelia leads them through the eccentric decorations of her brother’s estate to the secure Belvedere property. A maid named Sidonie approaches with an obvious excuse, eagerly eyeing Stoker.

Veronica, Stoker, and Cordelia enter the Belvedere, which hosts an enormous room full of art and zoological specimens. Cordelia laments the “acquisitive” nature of the men in her family, whom she wishes would turn their collection into a museum for the public. They have tea while Cordelia and Stoker argue over Cordelia’s return to London. Stoker dislikes the risk to Cordelia in helping him from London, but she insists on providing aid.

Cordelia promises she never suspected Stoker as involved in the baron’s murder. She then explains to Veronica that Cordelia and Stoker know one another through Max, who shared Rosemorran’s love of art. Veronica asks about Rosemorran’s reaction to Max’s death, annoying Stoker with the implication that Cordelia or Rosemorran might have been involved in the murder. When Cordelia avows her innocence, Veronica believes her. She claims Rosemorran is too “vague and oblivious” to commit murder (193).

Cordelia asks about proving Stoker’s innocence, frustrated when she learns that his only alibi, Veronica, will be dismissed due to her sexual experience. She reports that Max was found bludgeoned by a fossil, one Stoker recognizes as being always present on Max’s desk. Max’s housekeeper received a head injury and remembers nothing of the attack. Cordelia advocates for waiting before telling Rosemorran of their presence and encourages them to explore the collection and rest. Cordelia pulls Veronica aside and instructs her to distract Stoker “by whatever means necessary” to stop him from turning to alcohol, which he misuses in times of stress (197). When Veronica returns to Stoker, however, they discuss their intent to solve the crime themselves, rather than waiting for others to do so.

Chapter 19 Summary

Despite having few facts, Stoker and Veronica develop their theory: Max was killed in a crime of passion, as the weapon was something immediately on hand. The killer was a man because Max was tall, so it is unlikely a woman would have the combined height and strength to bludgeon him. Stoker seems despondent over the likelihood of tracking the killer with this little information, and Veronica gives Stoker alcohol to calm him, directly contradicting Cordelia’s warning.

Stoker, citing a mistrust of the police, starts his search in the baron’s study. Meanwhile, Veronica will work to ascertain motive. Stoker suggests Max had few personal connections, but Veronica rebuts that Max seemed to be in love with Veronica’s mother, based on how he spoke of her. This could be significant motive. Stoker has a key to Max’s house, so they plan to go inspect the study that night. Cordelia arrives with food, immediately discerning their plan to investigate and gives them a revolver.

That night, they go to the baron’s house. Veronica finds the place ominous, causing Stoker to tease her about ghosts. A strange scent leads Veronica to discover caraway seeds, which Stoker knows Max disliked. Stoker finds a book in Italian, a language Max did not read. They open it to find it hollow, a packet of letters concealed inside. They hear a noise indicating someone else is entering the house. Veronica hides the letters in her pocket, and they attempt to sneak out, but Stoker bumps into something in the dark, revealing their position. The intruder grabs Veronica, but Stoker yanks her free, tearing her stitches, and they escape while another unseen person shoots at their pursuer.

The caraway scent—both on the intruder and in the study—causes Veronica to suspect that the intruder was de Clare because she remembers the smell on his breath when she met him. They wonder if de Clare was, as he said, a friend of the baron’s and protecting Max’s house, or if he is a villain who was seeking to catch Stoker or Veronica. Stoker believes the former, Veronica the latter. She faints from blood loss from her ripped stitches.

Chapter 20 Summary

Veronica regains consciousness at the Belvedere. Stoker repairs her stitches, lamenting Veronica’s propensity for trouble. They hesitate over the packet of letters, enjoying the anticipation, before opening it to find headlines about an Irish actress named Lily Ashbourne. The resemblance confirms her as Veronica’s mother. A letter to Max suggests that Lily loved Veronica’s unnamed father, but he abandoned her after she fell pregnant, as he planned to marry someone else. An obituary from 1863, when Veronica was nine months old, dates Lily’s death, though her burial in a Catholic cemetery suggests Lily did not die by suicide. Another article proves Lily’s birth name Mary Katherine de Clare, meaning de Clare is Veronica’s uncle.

They find a photograph with Lily holding baby Veronica, who in turn holds her velvet mouse, Chester. In another photograph, baby Veronica wears the same clothes but is posed with Aunts Nell and Lucy, who are named via the photograph and articles, Nan and Ellie Williams. Veronica wonders why the aunts changed their names and possibly Veronica’s, as well, since Lucy only refers to her as “Baby.” Stoker wonders if Veronica’s father was an aristocrat who risked money and reputation by acknowledging his affair and resulting child with an actress.

Stoker argues that Veronica’s father might have loved Lily and been forced by circumstance to abandon mother and child, his comment vaguely suggesting his own past pain. Veronica, however, suspects her unknown father murdered Lily to avoid scandal. Overwhelmed by all this new information, Veronica elects to sleep. Stoker cautions her not to hide her feelings, as this will only exacerbate her pain.

Chapter 21 Summary

The next morning, Veronica wakes to find Stoker gone. She goes outside, where she is tackled by Betty, the property’s guard dog. Rosemorran is close behind, distant and unsurprised to find Veronica on his property even after she claims to be “trespassing.” Stoker arrives, and the two explain Stoker’s role as suspected murderer. Veronica is pleased when Rosemorran immediately disbelieves Stoker could be guilty. Rosemorran is far more eager to discuss Stoker’s elephant restoration and shows Veronica to an incredible butterfly collection while the men discuss the project.

Cordelia enters, confessing that she invited Stoker and Veronica to the Belvedere and gave them the key. Stoker lies, telling her they found nothing in Max’s house. Cordelia invites Stoker and Veronica to stay in the main house, but Stoker prefers the Belvedere. When the siblings depart, Veronica asks why Stoker lied; he claims it is “too soon” to confide in Cordelia. Stoker and Veronica return to the puzzle of the relationship between Veronica’s birth and Max’s murder. Stoker wagers a guinea that he will prove the connection.

Chapter 22 Summary

Stoker, who has a sweet tooth, goes to a candy shop with Veronica. On their way back to Rosemorran’s property, they are attacked by a “gang of ruffians” (232) who have been instructed to kidnap Veronica. They cover her head with a sack and put her on a boat. They sail for some time, Veronica uncertain if Stoker is also in the craft. When the sack is finally removed, she sees de Clare, who apologizes for the “necessity” of kidnapping her. Landmarks indicate they are near Greenwich. Stoker is on the boat floor, apparently unconscious but alive. One of the men working on the boat is “Silent John,” who ransacked Veronica’s cabin.

De Clare claims he has information for Veronica, but Stoker begins having a seizure, interrupting him. De Clare instructs Silent John to drop Stoker, still bound, overboard. Veronica pulls out her revolver; when John attempts to grab it, she stabs him in the arm with her hatpin. She dives into the water after Stoker but realizes that her heavy clothes threaten to drag her under. Stoker, unbound and uninjured, grabs her and cautions silence. They swim for the nearby Naval College, de Clare in pursuit. Their escape seems impossible, especially with the weight of Veronica’s heavy skirts, but Mornaday arrives in a boat at the ideal moment.

Mornaday reveals that he is actually Inspector Mornaday, a policeman who has been unofficially investigating the baron’s murder and attempting to keep Veronica safe. He confirms that he chased de Clare away from the baron’s house, thus confirming it was de Clare who pursued Veronica and Stoker, but he cannot tell them more without risking his position at Scotland Yard. His primary concern is Veronica’s safety, which he feels is most secure with Stoker, despite Stoker’s position as a murder suspect. Mornaday alludes to Stoker’s “family history” as containing “unnecessary bloodshed” (240), angering Stoker.

Mornaday is politically ambitious; he believes his superiors to be wrong about Stoker and Veronica and wants to prove it. He joined the traveling show by claiming to be in love with Veronica and bribing the professor. He likewise bribed Salome for information. Veronica and Stoker evaded him when they fled the traveling show, but Mornaday rediscovered them when they broke into Max’s house. His contacts told him of de Clare’s boat rental, which led Mornaday to follow and ultimately rescue Veronica and Stoker. He drops them off at London docks and urges them to leave England and to “forget whatever [they] think [they] may know about Ireland” (243). Veronica lets Mornaday think she plans to follow his advice but immediately confides to Stoker that she intends to stay in London and solve the case.

Chapter 23 Summary

En route back to the Belvedere, Stoker laughs over Veronica’s comprehension of a signal he gave via Morse code during his “seizure.” She calls the signal unsubtle but decent “for a first-timer at abduction” (245). Stoker is astonished that Veronica has been abducted “heaps of times” (246). Stoker laments losing his sweets in the river, while Veronica rues the loss of the revolver, her hat, and her hatpin. Chester has survived, and her compass is potentially damaged, but Stoker endeavors to fix it.

Veronica discusses Aunt Nell’s intense hatred of the compass, sparking Stoker’s curiosity. They pry it open to find a key, engraved with the word “BOLOXST,” which means nothing to Veronica. They review what they know. Stoker cites the de Clares as an important Irish family. They conclude that if Aunts Nell and Lucy were hiding baby Veronica, it was likely from her father, especially if he was involved in Lily’s death. He may have known the aunts’ adopted names, as Max did; when Veronica put the notice of Aunt Nell’s death in the paper, it may have attracted her father’s attention as well as Max’s and de Clare’s. Stoker opines that Veronica’s family may have been on opposing sides of the Catholic-Protestant divide. Stoker puts forth the possibility that de Clare and Veronica’s father were together involved in Max’s murder, which Veronica finds unlikely.

In a flash of inspiration, Veronica realizes BOLOXST must stand for Bank of London, Oxford Street branch. Veronica’s desire for knowledge leads to another vague reference to Stoker’s family history. He explains only that he and his family are estranged. When Stoker annoys Veronica by claiming Mornaday only helped out of sexual interest in Veronica, Veronica compliments Mornaday’s looks to annoy Stoker in return. Stoker leaves, irritated.

Chapter 24 Summary

Stoker remains irritable through dinner with the Beauclerks. Nevertheless, Veronica enjoys the dinner, despite Rosemorran’s sexist dismissal of Cordelia’s mathematical accomplishments. Cordelia offers Veronica use of the estate’s firearms if she needs to replace the lost revolver, framing Veronica’s adventures as “striking a blow” for all women (258).

That night, at the Belvedere, Veronica contemplates Stoker as a potential sexual partner. Curious, she asks Stoker about his sexual habits; he is flustered but tells her it has been several years since he last had sex. Veronica assesses him “a romantic.” Stoker wishes to drop the subject, so they do, leaving Veronica quietly pondering her admiration for Stoker’s code of ethics.

The next morning, Veronica finds a young girl lurking in the Belvedere’s collection. She identifies herself as Lady Rose, Rosemorran’s daughter. Rose recognizes Stoker, greeting him happily. Cordelia appears and sends Rose back to the main house. Cordelia reveals that she will spend the day with Rose and her brother, Arthur, though traditionally Rosemorran would spend time with his children on Sundays. Instead, he prefers to make Sunday his “day of contemplation,” a comment that causes Veronica to criticize “the perfidy of men” after Cordelia leaves (266). Stoker counters that Cordelia likes managing the household and children, but Veronica does not believe him. Veronica laments patriarchy, and Stoker asserts himself as in favor of giving women more rights.

Veronica wonders if Stoker and Cordelia were ever romantically involved. He insists they have only ever been friends and will never become romantic, implying that he likes women similar to Veronica.

Chapters 18-24 Analysis

In this part of the text, Veronica and Stoker return to London and begin attempting to solve Max’s murder in earnest. The personal connection between the two somewhat-reluctant detectives is in flux in this portion of the text. When they first return to London, they do so with the intention of clearing Stoker’s name, as he has been named the chief suspect in the case. Increasingly, however, they learn that the case has more to do with Veronica than with Stoker, thus shifting the relationship between them. While Veronica returns to London partially as a show of support to Stoker, whom she now regards as an ally, she is less comfortable when he agrees to stay in the country as a show of support to her. When she suggests that he flee without her, meanwhile, he is offended that she would think him so dishonorable and disloyal. This demonstrates that though it is circumstance that first led each of the two amateur detectives to pursue Max’s murderer on their own, they increasingly remain involved due to their personal attachments—to each other, to Max, and, in Veronica’s case, to her birth family.

This personal attachment proves materially important in the discovery of clues. When Veronica and Stoker break into Max’s house in Chapter 19, Stoker discovers the packet of papers about Veronica’s mother because he knows that Max did not speak Italian. Though the novel offers a suggestion that this clue might have been discernible to another detective—it was, the narrative notes, the only Italian-language book in Max’s library—Stoker’s quick discovery indicates that it is his personal knowledge of and affection for Max that makes him best suited to investigate. This indicates that Stoker’s decision to seek out allies in this portion of the novel in Lady Cordelia and her brother, Lord Rosemorran, was wise; depending on allies is further crucial when de Clare captures Veronica and Stoker. Veronica trusts Stoker’s Morse code message enough to leap into the Thames after him.

When personal histories are shown to be liabilities, meanwhile, the novel suggests that this is a failure of Victorian society, not of the characters themselves. In Chapter 18, for example, Cordelia wonders why Veronica does not just provide an alibi for Stoker. However, she recognizes that Veronica would never be accepted as a witness when Veronica admits that she and Stoker were together overnight (though not involved in any sexual or romantic activity) and that Veronica has had sexual partners in the past. Veronica’s progressive attitudes toward sex cause her to be, in the eyes of Victorian society, entirely unreliable. This issue is relevant historically and to the plot. If Veronica were able to clear Stoker’s name with a quick report to the police, the pair would have no further reason to investigate, and the novel would have no further reason to continue. Historically, however, it continues the novel’s conversation about The Role of Women in the Victorian Society, which is included as part of the text’s broader portrait of the time period.

These historical differences branch beyond sexism. Scientist Veronica, for example, notes how many scientists in the Victorian era considered the existence of ghosts and spirits to be a scientific possibility. This illustrates how “science” may have represented different ideologies in Veronica’s day compared to modern times. Additionally, Veronica’s refusal to take Stoker’s reported history of alcohol misuse seriously suggests an archaic view on the potential dangers of depending on alcohol to handle emotional turmoil. The references toward the political unrest between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland prove most crucial to this section’s depiction of history, insofar as concerns the plot, as they foreshadow the novel’s turn from murder mystery to political intrigue that it makes in its final chapters.

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