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-- OR -- Frank Moulton, prospector, traveller, and man of leisure, can also be seen in these previous issues of Electro-Graphic Monthly courtesy of his literary agent Brad Keefauver: |
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Letter From Frank Moulton The Dark
Lantern League Clubrooms Fellow League members, As the weather has made long walks a pleasure thanks to the change of seasons, I’ve taken quite a few rambles down to Saxe-Coburg Square, trying to get a feel for the place so that I might relate something of interest to you all. Somehow the deeper secrets of the Square have continued to elude me, and while I could write you one dandy essay on laurel bushes and which are the healthiest in Saxe-Coburg, I think I’ll spare you that. My investigations of the square were not without some peripheral moments of interest and amusement. After one visit, I was having coffee and a sandwich at the Vegetarian Restaurant around the corner when I struck up a conversation with a young East Indian student named Mohandas. As neither of us had been in England long, and were both struggling to fit in with all the little eccentricities of our British cousins, we had a lot of notes to compare. Mohandas was going whole hog at trying to learn as much of the culture as possible. He had taken violin lessons, gotten his bridge-playing down, and was still struggling to part his hair in a most English fashion. Yet the one place where Mohandas was definitely holding the line was his refusal to succumb to the lure of British beef. While not much of a Vegetarian myself, I still fondly remember the taste of American steaks and told him he wasn’t missing much. I had heard good things about McFarlane carriages, and visited a few times with old man McFarlane about building me something of my own design. "Wheeled nightmare" was about the nicest term he used to talk about my idea of a carriage, and the words "monster" and "idiot-wagon" could be heard among less-repeatable phrases. At some point he did talk me into ordering a nice landau for my wife . . . but not without a special feature or two of my own inspiration. I’ll have to bring it around to the League clubrooms when it’s done. But all my recent travels haven’t been limited to the Saxe-Coburg area. After reading Mrs. Dunbar Gibson’s recent letter, I undertook to see if that St. Clair fellow was still begging, despite his promises not to. While the more bustling parts of the City have many beggars, it is an easy thing to spot "Hugh Boone" when one is looking for him. I took a seat on the pavement next to him, just so’s we could have a friendly chat without disturbing his business too much – though I think my presence did decrease his take somewhat. "The money is just too good!" Boone/St. Clair admitted, following quickly with, "How many people did Mrs. Gibson tell?" As Neville St. Clair is no stranger to the Dark Lantern League, I mentioned her letter and her concerns, as well as the little-known fact that Sherlock Holmes was the lease-holder on our clubrooms just off Baker Street, and that he did wander through on occasion when he thought no one was around. This made him a little nervous, and I left him to ruminate upon his own business and went on my way. Perhaps next month I might pay a call on Clay's House of Compassionate Correction and Culture to see the charity work going on there. Vaya con
dios, |
