The Mystery of Table Mountain
Book One of A TrilogyBy William PostAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 William Post
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4490-2119-1 Chapter One
It was May in New England in 1870 and the weather was splendid. Sunlight splashed through the large windows of our classroom giving it both light and warmth. Professor Butler was about to terminate his lecture when he was interrupted by an unusually loud knock at the door. His displeasure over the interruption was shown by the scowl on his face as he walked toward the door and stepped outside. He reappeared momentarily and motioned for me to come to the door. His expression had changed considerably. The color had drained from his face. As he closed the door behind him he put his hand on my shoulder. Tears began to spill from his eyes and he trembled.
In a voice I could barely hear, he said, "James, it's your father, he's been killed."
I was stunned. Professor Butler had been a close friend of my father's since before their college years and the news of his death had devastated him.
As the news began to penetrate my brain, I blurted, "What happened?"
"The message didn't give any details. It just said that Paul had been killed in Richmond and that you were to leave for Raymond Manor today. Old Tom will meet you at the station and drive you. The twins and Callie left this morning."
The twins were my younger sisters and Callie was their governess. Callie had been with the Raymond family for nearly forty years and was considered a member of the family. She and the twins lived in New York City with father where he had run his business since shortly after mother passed away.
We shook hands, and he said, "I'll follow you tomorrow, James. I must make arrangements for someone to finish my classes next week and give the final examinations. I will also see that you get credit for all your work so you won't have to return until next semester."
I thanked him and went to my room to pack. I left a note for my roommate, Ted Davis. It read:
Ted,
My father has been killed. I must return to Raymond Manor at once. I will join you in Pittsburgh in approximately two weeks, if possible.
Sincerely, James
Ted's father was the superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division of the Penn Central Railroad Company. He had given us work with the railroad for the past two summers and we were to report for work in three weeks. After nine months of intense study, Ted and I were burned out mentally and always looked forward to physical work.
On the train to Richmond father's death began to sink in. Until now I had been numb from the shock. I had just moved and done the necessary functions by rote not really accepting the loss of my father.
Now sitting alone the loss became very real and I began to weep uncontrollably. After a few minutes I was able to control myself. I told myself that I must straighten up and start thinking about the twins. During the summer I would move Callie and the twins to Cambridge and they could live with Ted and me. That would require a large house. I would need to be a father now and do my best to raise the twins as father and mother would have wanted.
My thoughts then turned to mother who had died ten years ago when the twins were born. The doctor had told us how weak mother was from the loss of blood. She just seemed to get weaker and weaker until eight days later she just slipped away. The loss of mother flooded over me again like it was yesterday and I cried as I had as a nine year old boy.
I don't remember going to sleep, but during the night I awoke thinking of father. I recalled how happy he and mother had been. I remembered how he sometimes stared at me. When I would ask him why, he would tell me that I reminded him of mother. My heart would ache for him at those times as I realized he had never fully recovered from the sorrow of her death.
I was blessed with a good brain and father saw to it that I attended a prestigious prep school near Boston. I so wanted to please my father that I worked very hard at my studies and achieved a reasonable amount of success graduating third in my class.
Father knew many of the professors at Harvard. He graduated twenty-seven years previously with his best friend, Henry Butler. Henry Butler, now Professor Butler, had finished first in their class and stayed on at Harvard and eventually became head of the Natural Science Department. I had spent many evenings with Professor Butler and his wife, Ruth. I was quite fond of them and they me. Their only child, a son, had died of influenza when he was three so Professor Butler called me his replacement son.
Now I was heading home to Raymond Manor, a place where I had spent half of my life. A place that had brought joy to the Raymonds for decades. Many things had changed at the manor and I wondered if there would ever again be the happiness there we once enjoyed.
About a year ago my mother's younger brother, Regus Collender, had asked father if he could be the overseer of Raymond Manor. He had made a good case for himself as he had been running a large plantation for investors from England and according to his account had turned a nifty profit for them. Father's overseer, Shelton Meyers, had run Raymond Manor for twenty years. Meyers had met with a fatal accident while in Richmond buying farm equipment. The constable had said it looked like foul play, but nothing could be proved.
Father was in need of an overseer and Uncle Regus was available so he was hired. Uncle Regus had moved to Raymond Manor and was occupying the overseer's house that father had built for Shelton Meyers and his wife.
Raymond Manor had the largest mansion in Virginia according to my grandfather. He had built it to impress my grandmother and it apparently worked because they were married there.
Grandfather had lived in England and inherited a thriving business from his father. He had enhanced the business with the help of his cousins to the point that he lived comfortably. When he was twenty-eight years old he came to America on holiday for an adventure. After a month he fell in love with the Virginia countryside and decided to stay. He opened an office in Richmond and continued to prosper.
When father graduated from Harvard he entered the business with his father. Their business was importing and exporting goods with many countries. I had majored in foreign languages on the advice of my father as I planned to work with father when I graduated from Harvard. I now spoke French, Spanish and Latin fluently.
Father had come through the war without suffering the losses others had because the war had enhanced his business. Although Raymond Manor had lost money it kept its head above water by the ingenuity of Shelton Meyers and Owen Taylor, our legal advisor. Raymond Manor, although a large plantation, just cut back on its cotton production as the resource of hired help decreased. Father had sold most of the slaves grandfather had purchased when he saw the inevitability of war. He gave freedom papers to the slaves he kept and offered them jobs. Shelton Meyers hired what help he could and planned the size of his crops accordingly. Because communication was next to impossible during the war, father had left the running of Raymond Manor to both Shelton Meyers and Owen Taylor.
The rhythmic motion of the train worked as a tranquilizer and before I knew it I was asleep. I had a terrible nightmare of father needing...
