Shrines of Gaiety

Frobisher meets Gwendolen at Paddington Station. They have to be careful that nobody sees them meeting, or the Cokers will know that Gwendolen works for Frobisher. In fact, the reader will later learn that Nellie is well aware of the link between Gwendolen and Frobisher; Nellie’s hired man Landor follows Gwendolen and witnesses her meeting with Frobisher. During their meeting, Frobisher invites Gwendolen on an outing in his new motor car—she agrees. Frobisher is delighted.

Nellie has a secret meeting with Oakes in the park. Oakes approached Nellie after she was released from Holloway, offering to be her informant: “For a regular sum of money he would ‘keep an eye’ on his new Chief Inspector for her. Frobisher was a menace” (371). This is just a front. Nellie knows the truth: Oakes is a spy for Maddox. Nellie thinks about “[w]hat fools Maddox and his disciples were” (372). Oakes tips off Nellie that there will be a raid on the Foxhole that evening; Nellie realizes that Maddox must have organized the raid and told Oakes to tell Nellie about it, so that Nellie would trust Oakes. Nellie sees through the scheme.

This chapter also reveals the fact that Nellie already knows that Gwendolen is worked for Frobisher: “Gwendolen had been spotted by one of the Forty Thieves in the back of a car with Frobisher outside Holloway on the morning of Nellie’s release” (374). Nellie has known all along. Nellie was happy when Gwendolen got involved after the shooting at the Amethyst and used it as an excuse to hire Gwendolen and keep her close. Nellie has asked Landor to follow Gwendolen.

The one mystery Nellie hasn’t yet cracked is who Azzopardi is and what he wants. Nellie visits an old friend who tells Nellie that Azzopardi is Joe Spiteri, a common thief: “Rumour has it that all the loot he’d stolen was stashed somewhere but he was never able to retrieve it. Jewellery, mostly, from a big job at the Ritz” (378). Nellie realizes that the jewelry she stole from the dead landlady was part of Azzopardi’s hidden loot, and that Azzopardi knows that Nellie took it: “He was after revenge” (379).

Oakes tells Maddox about his meeting with Nellie and reassures Maddox that Nellie has no idea she’s being double-crossed. Oakes also tells Maddox about Frobisher’s search for Freda, and reveals that Freda is a dance hostess at Nellie’s clubs. Oakes also tells Maddox about Edith’s abortion. Maddox is shocked as he realizes that Edith wasn’t in the hospital for blood poisoning—and that she hid the real reason from him. Maddox notes to himself that Oakes is becoming overly familiar: “He worried that the sergeant was starting to act on his own rather than following orders” (382).

Gwendolen takes a day off from her new job managing the Crystal Cup to join Frobisher on their motor car outing to Oxford. They conclude their day by watching a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Frobisher is disappointed when it’s time to drive home.

Things are looking up for Freda. She’s dancing for Nellie and making money. Also, she runs into a childhood friend, Vanda. Vanda is a sex worker in London and invites Freda to live with her. On a late-night walk home from Nellie’s club, Freda is grabbed by a drunken man, but manages to escape.

Ramsay attends the “baby party” that he received the invitation to in Chapter 9. The party has adults dressed like and acting like babies; drinks are being served called “Mother’s Milk” (409). Ramsay reflects on other contemporary examples of wild parties. At the party, Ramsay runs into Vivian who is dressed as a matador (he’s going to another party afterward). Vivian tells Ramsay that his novel is done but that nobody has seen it. Vivian also tells Ramsay that Azzopardi is looking for Ramsay. Ramsay realizes that Azzopardi must have some kind of hold over Vivian: “Quinn had a taste for some queer things—perhaps Azzopardi supplied them. Or blackmail. A man like Quinn invited blackmail” (413).

Ramsay meets Azzopardi. Ramsay tells Azzopardi he’ll pay him the money he owes him, but “Azzopardi didn’t want money. He wanted something that he considered to be much more valuable. He wanted paper” (415)—meaning, as is revealed later, the paperwork for Nellie’s clubs (like the title deeds of ownership or leases and more) so he can steal them. Ramsay leaves Azzopardi and is walking down the street when he sees someone dressed as a mummy.

The narrative flashes to Vivian’s point of view. Vivian is also on the late-night streets when he’s approached by the person dressed as a mummy. The mummy stabs Vivian in the stomach.

The narrative jumps back to Gwendolen and Frobisher, returning from their day trip to Oxford. After some car troubles, Frobisher tells Gwendolen that he’ll get her home by midnight. Gwendolen replies, “Before the car turns into a pumpkin” (419). As they continue the drive home, Frobisher reveals—for the first time, to Gwendolen—that he has a wife. The narrator proclaims: “The spell was broken” (420). Frobisher and Gwendolen barely talk the rest of the way home; Gwendolen is clearly annoyed. Back in her room above the Crystal Cup, Gwendolen is surprised when Niven knocks at her door. She invites him in for a drink.

Gwendolen wakes up, hungover, to the doorbell ringing. It’s Nellie. Thanks to Landor’s spying, Nellie knows that Niven went into Gwendolen’s room the previous night. Nellie feels betrayed: “Niven, of all people, what was he playing at? First Maddox and Edith making an unlikely pairing and now Gwendolen Kelling and Niven. Were all her children betraying her, one by one?” (426).

Edith goes for a walk in the park, where she meets an unnamed man. The reader will later learn this is Frobisher. The interaction between Edith and the mystery man is conveyed by the scullery maid, Phyllis, who followed Edith to the park. Phyllis goes to Nellie to tell Nellie what she saw.

The narrative jumps back to tell of Edith’s meeting with Frobisher from Frobisher’s perspective. Edith tells Frobisher “about Inspector Arthur Maddox” (439). Edith tells Frobisher that Maddox was her secret lover. Edith also tells Frobisher that Maddox has been skimming money from the Cokers’ clubs—and that Maddox and his crony, Oakes, are running a sex work ring, targeting girls whom “no one would miss”: “[g]irls who had run away from home, girls from orphanages, girls from the street, girls from dance schools, girls lured with promises of a clean bed and a square meal or a transformation in their fortunes” (440). Edith also reveals that Mrs. Darling is a “procuress” and an “abortionist” (441). When Frobisher asks Edith if she’d testify to all this in court, she says no. He wonders why she told him. Edith replies, “[s]o that you know everything, of course. You’re the detective, it’s up to you to find the evidence. Maddox is about to seize our clubs, Chief Inspector. More power, more money, more girls” (442).

In this chapter, Frobisher also learns of a new body pulled from the Thames—a matador. The reader knows it’s Vivian Quinn. He also figures out the identity of one of the girls pulled out of the Thames previously, the one with the locket and the one silver shoe. The dead girl’s name was “Minnie” (435). Her mother comes to the police station to report Minnie missing and is able to identify her based on the locket, which Frobisher still has.