Feb. 8 Feb. 9
That morning Lya attended Mass, while Quentin attended Anglican services. Alisa slept in at Brown's Hotel , ordering a champagne breakfast in bed. Nell, Niles, and Dan'l visited Highgate Cemetery to take more photographs of places where corpses had been found connected with the "Egyptian Murders".
Alisa ordered the concierge to wire flowers to Count Kurasov in Paris, as he recovered from the assassination attempt aboard the Mauretania.
Scott checked out of the Midland Grand Hotel and checked in to the Russell Hotel. At this point, only Alisa and Rupert were staying at Brown's Hotel, and Quentin was staying at the Carlton Hotel .
That afternoon, Quentin took a taxi from the Carlton to Brown's Hotel, where he picked up Alisa. The taxi then proceeded to the Russell Hotel, where Lya (disguised as Maud) got in. The trio then directed the cabbie to drive to Miles Shipley's home (6 Canonbury Road) in Islington , a quiet north London suburb.
The Shipley house at 6 Canonbury Road was a two story brick Victorian building in a respectable neighborhood. All of the windows were curtained and nothing of the interior could be seen. Quentin knocked at the door of the house and waited. After about a minute, he knocked again. Alisa asked if Quentin had telephoned that they would be visiting this afternoon and was told "No". Just as the group was about to depart, the door opened and the investigators were greeted by an elderly woman ("Mum"), who asked if they had come about purchasing a painting. Quentin stated that he was a doctor and interested in purchasing something for his waiting room. "Mum" then asked them to wait a moment and went to fetch her son, Miles. When Miles came to the door he seemed confused and lethargic, as if he had just awakened from a deep sleep. "So, you want a painting, huh?" Miles then told the group to follow him to his studio, while "Mum" went to prepare some afternoon tea. Questions from the investigators were shrugged off, as they followed Miles up the stairs to a locked door.
Miles unlocked the door and took the group inside his studio, a poorly-lighted garret with a skylight that had been painted black. He explained that he liked to paint by kerosene lamp. A canvas on an easel showed preliminary sketches for a new work. A nearby table contained brushes, paints, and palettes. Shipley pointed toward four stacks of paintings leaning against a wall. "Take a look, find a painting you want. They're all for sale". He then stumbled over to a corner and slumped into a chair.
Quentin, Alisa, and Lya began examining the paintings. If anything, The Scoop had downplayed the revolting and disgusting nature of some of the subjects, although some of the paintings showed real artistic insight. Of particular interest to the group was "Cosmic Unfolding", an apocalyptic vision of the annihilation of a galaxy. Quentin was attracted to one called "Guts", showing a human torso being torn apart by a pair of scaly, clawed arms. He commented that everything was anatomically correct and set it aside for purchase. Alisa and Lya noticed a painting called "African Dawn", showing a stepped pyramid on a savannah surrounded by hundreds of worshippers. In a sudden flash, Lya noticed that the worshippers were wearing masks and beating drums identical to ones she had seen in the basement of the Ju-Ju House! Another painting showed dinosaurs hunting ragged humans dressed in modern clothing in a prehistoric setting, while yet another ("Arms Race") showed nothing but various bloody limbs. The cumulative effect of viewing these ghastly and depraved paintings seemed to affect Lya greatly, Alisa somewhat, and Quentin very little.
At that point, "Mum" arrived and served tea with biscuits. Quentin whispered to Alisa that "Mum" was "too normal" and to be on guard. Lya seemed quite upset and asked to be shown to the loo. She quickly left the room, while Quentin sipped tea and Alisa hid a biscuit in her purse for analysis.
Alisa and Quentin were told by Miles that the price for each of the paintings was £30. Quentin replied that he would purchase "Guts", "Cosmic Unfolding", and "African Dawn", and paid Shipley £90. "Mum" interjected that "Mr. Crowley" had thought Miles' work visionary and mind-wrenching.
Meanwhile, Lya, certain that something strange was afoot, used the opportunity to search Shipley's room, where she found a small lacquered box containing a syringe and a vial of a green liquid. This confirmed her suspicion that Miles was a drug addict. Looking through the kitchen and parlor she found stacks of newspapers (British and foreign) as well as scientific journals such as the "Cambridge Journal of Theoretical Physics", the "Journal des Instituts für Luft- und Raumfahrt", and the "Sociedade Para Aumentar Humana a Consciência". Odd reading material for an old woman and her drugged-out artist son! Lya then proceeded to the basement, where she noticed a strong animal odor, as if some creature had been kept there. Lya found more bundles of newspapers and magazines amid the usual boxes and broken furniture. She picked up one of the journals and rolled it into a cylinder as a makeshift club.
Back in the garret, Quentin then noticed another door and asked Miles what was behind it. Miles snapped back that it was none of his business. "Mum" interjected that it was a painting for a special customer. Quentin immediately became interested in the mysterious painting and offered to pay double what the special customer had offered. Miles told Quentin to "shove off"! "Mum" suggested that it would be all right to at least let Quentin view the painting, and Miles reluctantly unlocked the door.
Behind the door was a small, windowless closet containing a large painting on an easel, covered by a sheet. Miles removed the sheet and asked Quentin and Alisa what they thought of the painting. It depicted a swampy landscape , infested with serpents. In the center of the scene was a stone altar on an island. As they examined the painting, Alisa and Quentin seemed to notice the scene becoming three-dimensional: the waters of the swamp rippled, the serpents slithered, and the heat and humidity from the swamp was almost palpable. A true masterpiece!
Alisa quickly averted her gaze from the painting and kept her eyes on "Mum", who was observing the group from a corner of the room. "Would you like some more tea, dearie" she offered. Quentin tried to get Miles to sell him the painting, offering ever-increasing sums of money, but Miles kept directing his gaze back toward the painting, as he pointed out yet another detail.
After a few minutes, Alisa noticed that Quentin had stopped talking. Looking over toward Miles, she was surprised to find Quentin missing. Miles mumbled something about him having gone out the back way. Alisa quickly scanned the closet and could see no other doors. "Mum" suggested that Alisa look at the painting and see if she liked it as much as Quentin. Glancing briefly at it, Alisa was shocked to see a painted figure resembling Quentin standing on the island next to the altar!
At that point, Alisa stepped back into the garret and was horrified to see that "Mum" was changing shape, from an elderly lady into a serpent-like, scaly humanoid! As the serpent-creature lunged at her, Alisa quickly drew a .38 revolver (which she had smuggled past customs) from her purse and fired at the creature, wounding it badly. Alisa then turned and ran down the stairs and out the door, where she expected to find Lya but instead saw no one.
Lya, still down in the basement, had noticed a path among the clutter leading to a section of basement wall. As she was about to examine it, she heard a gunshot. Lya ran back up the stairs and outside, where she found Alisa, still clutching her .38 revolver. The two of them then hurried down the street and hailed a passing cab. "Take us to Scotland Yard!" cried Lya.
After proceeding about a mile, the cabbie noticed Alisa's revolver and overheard the frantic conversation about "serpent-men", "monsters", "drug addicts", "I had to shoot Mum!", and "Quentin's gone into the painting!". At that point the cabbie stopped and ordered Alisa and Lya out of the cab before speeding away. Fortunately, they were within a few blocks of King's Cross railway station, where Lya found a policeman and told him that their friend Quentin had been kidnapped!
The policeman drove Alisa and Lya back to the house on Canonbury street, where they found the front door still standing open. Proceeding upstairs, they discovered the body of Miles in one corner of the garret, his neck broken, and green paint (ichor?) splashed about the room. "Mum" and Quentin were nowhere to be found. The policeman began writing up a description of the crime scene, as Alisa informed him that Quentin had purchased three of the paintings. Lya telephoned New Scotland Yard but was informed that Inspector Barrington was out. "Send someone anyway", Lya shouted before hanging up.
As the policeman inventoried the paintings, he looked at the painting of the swamp-altar with fascination. Alisa noticed that the figure of Quentin was still there but had moved to one edge of the island. "Now that's real life-like, ain't it", said the bobbie, just before being pulled into the painting, to the horror of Alisa and Lya!
Deciding that this all might be difficult to explain to the police, Lya and Alisa grabbed Quentin's three paintings as well as the swamp scene and left the house. Hailing another cab, they said "Russell Hotel" and remained in stunned silence throughout the ride.
They arrived at the hotel to find Nell and Niles drinking martinis in the lounge. Alisa immediately ordered tea with brandy for herself and Lya, who was mumbling something about "three policemen in three weeks".
Meanwhile, Rupert and Scott spent the afternoon at the British Museum reading room, where they found Charles Fort in his usual carel. An old acquaintance and publisher of Fort's, Rupert brought greetings from another mutual friend, Ted Dreiser . Rupert explained that they would like to discuss the Carlyle Expedition, the Ju-Ju House, and the Egyptian Murders with him. Fort invited Rupert and Scott back to his apartment at 39A Marchmont Street a few blocks away.
Fort's apartment was filled with shoeboxes containing his notes on mysterious and unexplainable events. After hearing Rupert's story, Fort told them that his primary interest was in things that "science" could not explain. He showed them a clipping about Jackson Elias he had noted several years ago. He conjectured that the body of the policeman reportedly killed in the Ju-Ju House fire could have been a victim of a type of "spontaneous combustion" that was fatal yet left no apparent outward marks. After spending an hour discussing other matters, Fort invited Scott and Rupert to accompany him and his wife Anna to the movies that night. They agreed to rendezvous at the British Museum at 7:30 that evening.
Returning to the Russell Hotel, Rupert and Scott found Alisa, Lya, Nell, Niles, and Dan'l in the lounge, with four paintings under wraps. At that point Professor Fairwether returned from a delightful afternoon at Greenwich, where he had made meteorological observations on both sides of the Prime Meridian and concluded that windspeed was invariant with longitude.
Alisa suggested the group go back to Nell's room to discuss the day's events. While Alisa recounted the shocking story, Lya kept to herself in a corner, writing something in longhand. Nell examined the swamp-painting. She noticed the bobbie standing near a stone altar but did not perceive any unusual effects. From a critical standpoint, she thought the painting quite good technically, but rather overdone. Scott and Rupert then left.
Lya then spoke up, asking if Alisa and Dan'l noticed anything unusual about "African Dawn". After examining the painting, both of them discovered previously repressed memories from their imprisonment in the basement of the Ju-Ju House of similar masks and drums.
Based on her readings in the occult (and the special insight that sometimes accompanies temporary insanity) Lya speculated that "Mum" was actually a creature called a Serpent Man, or Valusian. This race of super-scientists and wizards lived before the Ice Ages. The scientific journals must have belonged to the Serpent Man, who was here as a time traveller to learn about this epoch and its technologies. Miles must have been a front man, addicted to drugs that gave him visions of other realities. Alisa thought that the Serpent Man must have killed Miles before entering the painting and returning home. Fairwether said that he had read something about Serpent Men once. Examining the painting, he speculated that it depicted a swamp in the Permian geological era, based on the type of vegetation and cloud formations.
Lya then asked Alisa where she got the revolver. Alisa explained that she had packed several weapons in her baggage. If the items were found by British Customs, she would blame the mixup on her secretary back in Boston. "And probably her personal assistant, too", said Lya, who thought that Alisa had reacted to all of the recent events with amazing calmness.
Rupert and Scott met Charles and Anna Fort at the British Museum and then went to see a movie called The Lost World , about dinosaurs living on an isolated plateau in the Amazon. Fort pointed out the numerous inaccuracies during the film. Afterwards, Rupert asked him about Quentin's disappearance. Fort told them about a somewhat similar occurrence in 1810 involving the British ambassador to Prussia, who disappeared while walking around his carriage. Rupert also asked about Aleister Crowley and was told that he was a drug addict and con-man who claimed to have occult powers. Fort thought that Crowley had lived in Sicily at one time but had recently returned to London.
Returning to the hotel, they found that the group finishing up dinner, which they had ordered via room service. Lya was still writing over in the corner. In answer to his question, Niles told Rupert that Aleister Crowley had once frequented the Cafe Royal in Mayfair. He suggested meeting there for lunch tomorrow.
Scott then insisted on viewing all four paintings. He did not notice anything "three-dimensional" about the swamp-scene nor did he see a painted figure of Quentin or a policeman. Rupert examined the painting and agreed with Scott.
At that point there was a knock at the door. Alisa opened the door to find a bellboy ("Satchell") delivering another double brandy and soda for Lya and a bottle of Macallan scotch whiskey for herself and the others. Satchell asked if he could join the party. Rupert suggested showing the swamp painting to the boy to see if he perceived it as three-dimensional. The bellboy was curious and lifted the covering. Something about the painting frightened him, and he threw down the money and ran screaming from the room, with Scott in close pursuit.
Scott caught up with the bellboy in the lobby. Satchell told the bell captain that "weird things" were going on in that room. Scott told the bell captain that Satchell had been rude and impertinent to them. Satchell was fired on the spot, and the bell captain apologized to Scott. Satchell kicked Scott in the shins and ran away, giggling maniacally, into the foggy night.
After that, Alisa ordered the paintings covered up and hidden beneath Niles' bed, before any other unfortunate consequences happened. Niles offered to box up the paintings in the morning and have them put in storage. Everyone thought this was a good idea. The group considered calling Quentin's hotel to see if he had returned but decided not to, as this might connect them to his disappearance.
Rupert and Alisa returned to Brown's Hotel by taxi.
The next morning, Rupert, Alisa, Lya, and Nell met at the Russell Hotel, then walked several blocks to the Penhew Foundation , at 35 Tottenham Court Road, near the British Museum. The Penhew Foundation occupied both stories of a High Victorian brick building, with an elegantly-detailed facade.
The interior foyer was decorated in a tasteful yet opulent style, with Egyptian motifs. An oil portrait of Sir Aubrey Penhew hung on the north wall. Lya gave her business card to the receptionist and explained the purpose of their visit. The receptionist then escorted the group to the office of the director, Edward Gavigan. There they waited for a few minutes while Gavigan's secretary informed the director that they had arrived.
An intelligent and polished man in his mid-fifties, Gavigan greeted the investigators cordially and invited them into his office. Gavigan was dressed superbly in a suit from Bond Street and was wearing a wristwatch (still a relatively new item in 1925). He spoke with a distinctly British "upper-class Oxbridge" accent, with precise diction and an impressive vocabulary. His office was paneled in dark cherrywood and decorated with Egyptian art works. Lya noticed a strong, modern floor safe, its door slightly ajar, in one corner. Nell noticed a book shelf containing reference works by Budge, Breasted, and other Egyptologists.
Gavigan offered the group Turkish coffee and baklavas, then asked the purpose of their visit. Lya explained that she was a journalist from Enigma magazine in Boston investigating the fate of the Carlyle Expedition. Since Sir Aubrey Penhew had been a member of the Expedition, she wanted to ask Mr. Gavigan some questions. Gavigan was open and forthcoming and provided the following information from his notes:
Mr. Roger Carlyle had met an African woman in New York, who told him that she possessed knowledge about a shadowy period in Egyptian history between the 3rd and 4th dynasties. Since Sir Aubrey ahd also been especially interested in this period, he was willing to put together an expedition for Carlyle. The expedition was funded entirely by Carlyle and nominally under the auspices of the Penhew Foundation, although Roger Carlyle insisted on making all of the major decisions, "on advice from the African woman".
The Carlyle expedition arrived in London April 20, 1919. At that time Gavigan met the "African woman" and noted the strong influence she was exerting over Roger Carlyle. He advised Sir Aubrey to cancel the expedition, but he refused. After so many years away from Egypt Sir Aubrey was anxious to return to the field.
After leaving London on April 28, the Carlyle Expedition arrived in Cairo on May 4. From May 11 to 21 they excavated at Giza, from May 23 to 31 at Saqqara, and from June 1 to June 30 at Dashur. There was no real plan for the excavations - everything occurred at the whim of the "African woman". Although a few interesting objects were found, no real insights into the period were obtained.
At that point, the "African woman" disappeared with the Expedition's ready funds - almost £500. Roger Carlyle counted the loss of the money as insignificant, but he was deeply affected by the treachery of his lover.
At that point, Miss Hypatia Masters (the expedition's photographer) suggested that the party spend the summer months in the relatively cool Kenyan uplands, affording her a wonderful opportunity to photograph African wildlife. Once there the group injudiciously entered dubious territory, and paid for it with their lives. The vast share of the Expedition records were lost there as well, for Sir Aubrey took them along to work on, while matters were still fresh in his mind.
In answer to a question from Nell, Gavigan stated that the Foundation had sponsored four more expeditions to Egypt since 1919. Currently, an expedition led by Dr. Henry Clive of the University of Durham was at Memphis.
In answer to a question from Alisa, Gavigan stated that Sir Aubrey had been declared legally dead following Erica Carlyle's visit to Kenya and the action of the courts in New York declaring Roger Carlyle dead.
In answer to a question from Nell, Gavigan stated that the objects discovered by the Carlyle Expedition were being cataloged by Dr. Ali Kafour of the Cairo Museum. The items were of minor importance, compared to the recent discoveries by Howard Carter (did Nell detect a touch of envy in Gavigan's voice?).
In answer to a question from Lya, Gavigan stated that the "Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh" was something dreamed up by a hack newspaper reporter and certainly had no existence in the real world. Such irresponsible sensationalism does real harm to the serious advancement of Egyptology.
In answer to a question from Rupert, Gavigan stated that Sir Aubrey had sent back occasional letters from Egypt, but since they contained matters of a personal nature they could not be shown to anyone outside the Foundation.
At that point Alisa began coughing and asked to be excused. Outside the Director's office, Alisa casually asked the secretary if she had read any of the correspondence from Sir Aubrey. The secretary said that she had not been employed at the Foundation at that time. Alisa gave her a business card and said to contact her if she came across anything interesting.
Back in the office, Lya asked if Jackson Elias had spoken to Gavigan. The Director said that Elias had indeed talked to him, but had spent much of the conversation raving about dark gods, monsters, and pyramids. Gavigan asked Lya not to sensationalize the involvement of the Foundation in the Carlyle Expedition or to indulge in "lurid and morbid speculation" about the deaths of the Expedition members, out of respect to their memories. Lya promised to write an accurate story and to stress the important role played by the Penhew Foundation in modern Egyptology.
With that, Gavigan took the group on a tour of the Penhew Foundation's Egyptian collection on the second floor. He showed them scale models of Giza, Saqqara, Dashur, and Memphis, and explained the evolution of pyramid construction, from the Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara, to the Bent Pyramid at Dashur, to the Great Pyramid at Giza. He also showed them numerous artifacts - mummy cases, statues of seated scribes, ushabtis, musical instruments, and other interesting items from the Old Kingdom.
After about an hour, Gavigan took the group back to his office and told them that he had to leave for another meeting and wished them well in their research. After he left, the group lingered by the secretary's desk. Rupert came down with a coughing fit and asked the secretary to help him find the gentleman's room. This distraction gave Lya, Nell, and Alisa the opportunity to quickly look through Gavigan's office. Inside the floor safe was a stack of pound notes. The top of his desk was clean, although in a drawer Lya found a flask of Lagavulin. Nothing related to the Carlyle Expedition could be found.
Nell decided to remain in the Penhew Museum and make sketches of interesting artworks, while Alisa, Lya, and Rupert went on their way.
Meanwhile, Niles spent the morning arranging for a shipping firm to crate the four Shipley paintings and deliver them to Barings Bank for storage, along with a letter from Alisa. Dan'l spent the morning in bed with a cold. Prof. Fairwether took an excursion to the Roman ruins at Verulamium. Scott spent the day the British Library, studying the Clavis Solomanus. At the end of the day Charles Fort came up to him and gave him a magazine clipping about Aleister Crowley. On the way back to the Russell Hotel, Scott thought he was being followed by Satchell the ex-bellboy but could not be certain.
Alisa and Rupert decided to pursue the lead regarding Aleister Crowley by having lunch at one of his former haunts, the Cafe Royal on Regent Street, along with Niles. A generous tip to a waiter yielded the following story:
"One evening Crowley came into the Cafe Royal wearing an Inverness cloak that he believed made him invisible. When a waiter came up to take his order, he was so miffed that he took off the cloak and flung it into a corner, revealing that he was wearing absolutely nothing underneath except for a golden butterfly necklace. He still owes the Cafe a tab of £25. Are you friends of his?"
They also learned that Crowley also frequented a place called the Gargoyle Club in Soho.
Rupert returned to Brown's Hotel and sent a telegram to New York to confirm that his newspaper had paid Nell and Lya for working at the Opera Gala. Alisa continued visiting her clients. Niles took a stroll in Hyde Park.
Lya took the train back to Southampton, where she met with Mr. Edmonds from the Cunard Line. She was satisfied to find that all of Prof. Patterson's possession seemed to be there, including the framed mirror, jars of herbs and incense, and leatherbound books. She included a note to his next-of-kin in Philadelphia offering to purchase any items they wished to sell and to contact her via Prospero Press.
Nell remained at the Penhew Foundation the rest of the day, making detailed sketches of the city layouts and artworks - as well as a floorplan of the building and the location of various offices, in case the group might need to make a return visit some evening....
The group rendezvoused at the Russell Hotel at the end of the afternoon. At Scott's suggestion, they decided to have dinner at a nearby pub (The King's Head). Rupert suggested that the group travel to Lesser Edale to find out what was behind the recent killings, as described in The Scoop. No one else was interested - Lya and Nell argued that they were already in enough danger, while Alisa wanted to find out what happened to Quentin. Prof. Fairwether stated that the weather in the Derwent Valley was of little interest to him.
Nell asked if Charles Fort kniew any former employees of the Penhew Foundation.
After dinner, Alisa telephoned the Carlton Hotel and learned that Dr. Santiago was scheduled to present his paper at the medical conference tomorrow morning at 10 AM. She resolved to go there and see if he (or someone impersonating him) showed up.
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