The Nine Tailors

The performance goes off without a hitch, and Wimsey rings his bell with precision. Shortly afterward, Venables is called away unexpectedly to the deathbed of Lady Thorpe, the wife of the lord of the manor. Wimsey learns a bit about the Thorpe family, which has fallen on hard times. At the marriage of Lady Thorpe and Sir Henry, a priceless emerald necklace was stolen from a wedding guest named Mrs. Wilbraham. Though two men stood trial for the crime, the jewels were never found. The Thorpe family felt responsible and sold off much of their property to pay for the uninsured gems. Wimsey learns that one of the thieves died years earlier, while the other was recently released from prison.

Once their car is repaired, Wimsey and Bunter motor out of town, crossing paths with a vagrant looking for directions to Fenchurch St. Paul. He says he is a car mechanic who wants to find work there, but Wimsey is skeptical. As he tells Bunter, “You can always tell an old lag by his eyes, Bunter. Excellent idea to live down the past, and all that, but I hope our friend doesn’t put anything across the good Rector” (66).

Two months later, spring arrives in marshy East Anglia, and life proceeds at its usual pace. Sir Henry experiences poor health after the loss of his wife, and he worries about their 15-year-old daughter Hilary being left with little money. She is a spirited girl and insists she can earn a living by writing novels. Hilary also has an interest in change ringing.

She wheedles Jack Godfrey, one of the ringers, to let her watch while he greases the bells in the tower. He cautions her about the dangerous motion of the giant bells if they aren’t secured properly. Each one has a name: Gaude, Sabaoth, John, Jericho, Jubilee, Dimity, Batty Thomas, and Tailor Paul. Batty Thomas has a particularly bad reputation for causing accidents. Jack says, “Batty Thomas has killed two men, and while it’s quite understandable as there was carelessness both times or it wouldn’t have happened—well! I wouldn’t like to take any risks, like I said” (78).

Hilary wanders around the belfry, exploring idly until she notices a slip of paper lying in a corner. It is a letter, but the contents ramble incoherently and refer to fairies and Erebus. When Hilary shows the note to Godfrey, he advises her to take it to Venables later.

A few days after that incident, Hilary loses her father to sickness. The church’s bells toll a sequence known as Nine Tailors, which indicates a death in the parish. The number of chimes will tell the gender and age of the deceased. Mr. Gotobed, the church sexton, prepares to dig Sir Henry’s grave beside his wife. Much to the custodian’s surprise, he finds a corpse lying on Lady Thorpe’s coffin. After calling in the local constable and doctor, it is determined that the body belonged to the vagrant who came to town at New Year’s.