THE HISTORY OF A MYSTERY

_IT is now necessary to retrace our steps a little in order to fully cover the period separating Proctor's earliest "loving study" from his final volume, Watched by the Dead.

  Reference was made in the last chapter to a contribution in the Cornhill Magazine for March, 1884, entitled "The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Suggestions for a Conclusion." This purports to be written from the point of view of a reader, on internal evidence only, and, as the first attempt to solve the problem in accordance with Forster's statement, it calls for some consideration at our hands, quite apart from the circumstance that Proctor specially selected it for attack. A considerable portion of the article is devoted to the superfluous question of Jasper's guilt, but, having established that proposition to his complete satisfaction, the author proceeds to consider the more subtle difficulties of the plot. The sole mystery, we are told, lies in the method of concealing the crime. Jasper contrives to obtain the Sapsea key while in temporary possession of Durdles's bundle, and either takes a cast then and there, or substitutes a false key, with which he may have come prepared. "If the substituted key," says the theorist, "were not precisely similar to the real one, it would not open the tomb, which would be all the more advantageous to Jasper." In what way the inevitable detection of such a fraud would benefit the choirmaster's plans is not at all clear, and the writer does not explain further. Lime, of course, is placed in the tomb, and the strangled Edwin is cast into it. Datchery, who, as "Gillan Vase" suspected, is a professional detective in the employ of Grewgious, prevails upon the opium woman to permit his presence at the den on the occasion of Jaspers next orgy, and the gallant Mr. Tartar, in sailor rig, likewise attends to furnish additional proof. As in John Jasper's Secret, the criminal unwittingly discloses his crime before interested company, whereupon a search for the body is instituted, and pursued with the aid of the stonemason's peculiar faculty for discovery. The stones of the betrothal ring are found and identified by Grewgious and Bazzard; the chain of evidence is completed by Durdles, Deputy, Puffer, and others, and Jasper is brought to justice. All the principal characters fare according to Forster, excepting Neville, who is allowed to live and "begin the world anew."

  Early in 1885 a well-known paper, The Weekly Budget, included in its contents the opening chapters of a serial tale by Mrs. C.A. Read, called The Welfleet Mystery. According to the preface, "the story may be termed an outgrowth of Dickens's last work. The first half necessarily follows the plot of Edwin Drood very closely, although it has been the writer's aim to vary the characters, incidents, and conversations, so that they may not seem simply a tame repetition to those who have read the great master's work"

  Certainly tameness is not an obvious failing of this production. If one might judge from the rude illustration of Welfleet Cathedral and graveyard on a moonlight night--with John Knight (Jasper) muffled, like Monks, in a long cloak, and listening in apparent dismay to the inopportune pleadings of a mysterious female who is certainly not the Puffer--one might be disposed to consider the story of a very wild and thrilling character indeed. The text, too, reminds one of the cheap sensational literature of the time rather than recalls the mature work of our great novelist. All the familiar figures of the original story revel, in these pages, in a complete change of name, and their personal characteristics are distorted, perhaps in accord with that circumstance.

  In September, 1887, the Belgravia Magazine returned to the subject, but this time the celebrated mystery was employed for the purposes of a short story. Mystery on Mystery, by Edward Salmon, is the supposed narration of an author of recognized "Dickensesque" powers, who is editorially commissioned to write a conclusion. He accepts, but is deterred from his task by the appearance of Dickens's ghost, which utters a solemn protest. How little Mr. Salmon's author penetrated into the real mystery is evident from the statement that at the end of a week's study he had "spotted" the murderer, and discovered where the body was hidden. To "spot" the criminal is no great feat. As Mr. Marzials says in his Life of Dickens: "Guilty, guilty, most certainly guilty. Let the judge put on the black cap and Jasper be devoted to his merited doom."

_WHETHER Watched by the Dead was generally regarded as a satisfactory solution, or whether public interest and individual ingenuity alike declined after that work appeared, the fact remains that for many years no further attempt was made to revive the subject of this alluring problem. The smithy which had so long resounded to the ring of hammer on anvil, as links were forged to complete the unfinished chain, became silent and dark. The links themselves, powerless to "hold and drag," lay neglected, and almost forgotten, all of them covered with the rust of time, and many well-nigh hidden beneath the dust of obscurity.

  Nevertheless, further work remained to be done. In June of the present year Mr. J. Cuming Walters published his now well-known little book in green covers, Clues to Dickens's Mystery of Edwin Drood, setting forth therein an entirely new theory. This solution, at once surprising in its nature and admirable in its presentment, fully admits the Forster explanation of Dickens's intentions, and at the same time furnishes abundant evidence of the novelty and ingenuity which were promised by the great author at the outset of the story. It is a noteworthy fact that the first serious inquirers into the mystery handled the very thread or clue which Mr. Walters has operated so successfully; and it is, perhaps, still more strange that the two deductions should be so widely different.

  Readers of Edwin Drood will freely admit that the seventh chapter of that work gives a vivid impression of the character of Helena Landless. Her past history and present demeanour are set forth in detail too clear to be lightly disregarded. The authors of John Jasper's Secret, a sequel now nearly thirty-five years old, duly noted Helena's early essays in male impersonation, and dispatched her, once more in boy's attire, to Jasper's opium haunt in London. Mr. Walters sees in Miss Landless the capacity for a much more difficult task, and is firmly of opinion that he has laid his hand upon the real Mr. Datchery, white wig and all. With the double motive of protecting Rosa, and of vindicating the fair fame of her brother, Helena thus establishes an unsuspected watch on Jasper's movements, and, having accumulated her share of the evidence, contrives to lure the criminal to the scene of his evil deed, as suggested by the most significant of the cover illustrations. Mr. Walters conceives that Neville Landless receives his death-blow whilst protecting his sister, and so gives Jasper a double claim to the gallows.

  It is no part of our present purpose to enter into details which are readily accessible to all, but a few words of criticism will be in keeping with the methods we have adopted throughout this review.

  The most important objection to be offered is, of course, the enormous difficulty of such an assumption as is suggested. It certainly requires the exercise of considerable imagination to picture a young and lovely girl successfully masquerading as an elderly man. But the standard of real life should not be applied too inflexibly. Probably no one ever succeeded in evading detection by the stage device of a false beard hooked round the ears, yet we have Rokesmith, in Our Mutual Friend, donning and doffing an oakum wig and whiskers with facility and security.

  But if we are to admit Mr. Walters's theory, we ought to know why Datchery, "alone and unobserved," was apparently unable to find Mrs. Tope's, notwithstanding the "fatally precise" directions of the Crozier waiter. Tope was the verger, well-known in the city. Helena had lived for six months in Cloisterham, and must have been as fully aware of the situation of Tope's and Jasper's as of the cathedral itself. We ought also to be able to explain why Datchery rushed into Jasper's presence so impatiently, as though courting detection. One would think that Helena would postpone a meeting with the enemy until she and others were familiarized with her disguised self. Further, it behoves us to inquire whether Miss Landless would not greatly fear a disastrous meeting with Mr. Crisparkle, and, finally, whether Datchery was wise to impress upon Cloisterham his determination to "settle" in the city, knowing that frequent journeys must be taken to the country of the Magic Beanstalk.

  To all these queries Mr. Walters may be able to furnish satisfactory answers. Meanwhile we take leave of his little work with the firm conviction that it marks the high-water level of Drood solutions, and is deserving of unstinted praise.

  After a preliminary canter in the pages of Longman's Magazine for September, Mr. Andrew Lang seated himself more firmly on the Drood hobby-horse by the issue, in October, of a small volume of argument in opposition to that of his immediate predecessor. The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot claims to be an endorsement of Proctor's theory--with variations. It may seem ironical to congratulate the author upon a variation which goes far to overset the theory. Nevertheless Mr. Lang has knocked away the strongest prop of his adopted solutionist by means of a discovery of the first importance. It has hitherto been supposed that the extraordinary attitude of Grewgious towards Jasper at the memorable interview after Drood's disappearance is only explainable on the assumption of Edwin's return to life; but now a new and sufficient reason is apparent. "I have just left Miss Landless," says the old lawyer pointedly, and we wonder how it is that the keen Proctor and others after him failed to note so significant a remark Rosa, we know, had been reticent with her guardian, but Grewgious could learn from Helena sufficient to make him suspect the possibility of worse behind. The angular man disclosed to Jasper a piece of news and this now stands out vividly, not as the beginning of Drood's scheme of punishment, but as an ingenious test of Jasper's guilt. Taken by surprise, the criminal fell, and the worst suspicions of Grewgious were realized. Mr. Lang vigorously attacks other difficulties, but, like Proctor, he cannot satisfactorily patch the great flaw of Neville's abandonment to the execration of the world. It will not do to say that Edwin could not come forward until his evidence was complete. He had no need to "come forward." A word in Neville's ear would have changed despair into joy; but that word was certainly never spoken.

  At the eleventh hour, information reaches the writer concerning a unique solution, properly belonging to the early days when The Cloven Foot made its appearance in America. About six months after the death of Dickens, there was produced, at the Surrey Theatre, London, a drama in four acts, by Mr. Walter Stephens, bearing the same title as the work on which it is founded. The author, by means of free transposition, managed to condense into the compass of a few scenes all the important features of the half-told tale. The tragic event of the play is brought about within the gloomy vaults of the cathedral, where Datchery and Durdles witness Jasper's efforts to cast Rosa into the pit containing Drood's remains. The Buffer effects a timely rescue and when he removes his wig, we are surprised to find that Neville Landless has been working out his own deliverance. Jasper takes a large dose of opium, and, as officers enter to apprehend him, he falls--presumably to slow music.