VI

by Wilkie Collins

The address Mrs. Todd gave me led me to a boarding house on a respectable street near Gray’s Inn Road.

When I knocked, the door was opened by Mrs. Clements herself. She didn’t seem to remember me at first and asked what I wanted. I reminded her of our meeting in the churchyard at Limmeridge, right after my conversation with the woman in white. I made sure to mention that I was the one who helped Anne Catherick escape from the asylum, as Anne had said. This was my only way to earn Mrs. Clements’ trust. As soon as I brought it up, her eyes lit up with recognition, and she invited me into the parlor, anxious to know if I had any news about Anne.

I knew I couldn’t tell her the whole truth without also discussing the conspiracy, which would be too risky to share with a stranger. I focused on not raising any false hopes and explained that I was there to find out who was truly responsible for Anne’s disappearance. To ease my own conscience, I added that I had little hope of tracing her and believed we might never see her alive again. My main concern was to bring to justice two men I suspected of luring her away, men who had caused me and some dear friends a great deal of pain. I left it to Mrs. Clements to decide whether our interests aligned, despite our different motivations, and whether she would be willing to help me with any information she had.

At first, the poor woman was too confused and shaken to fully grasp what I was saying. She could only respond that I was welcome to anything she could share in gratitude for the kindness I had shown to Anne. However, since she wasn’t very quick to speak with strangers, she asked me to guide her on where to start.

From experience, I knew that the clearest narrative from someone unaccustomed to organizing their thoughts is one that begins at the beginning, so I asked Mrs. Clements to tell me what had happened after they left Limmeridge. With careful questioning, I led her through the events until we reached the point of Anne’s disappearance.

Here’s what I learned:

After leaving Todd’s Corner, Mrs. Clements and Anne traveled to Derby, where they stayed for a week because of Anne’s condition. They then moved to London, living in the lodging where Mrs. Clements was staying for over a month. However, issues with the house and the landlord forced them to find a new place. Anne’s fear of being discovered in London grew, and it began to affect Mrs. Clements as well. Eventually, Mrs. Clements decided to move to a more secluded location in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where her late husband had spent his early years. His relatives lived there and had always treated her kindly, so she thought it would be wise to seek their advice.

Anne refused to return to her mother in Welmingham, as she had been taken to the asylum from there, and she feared that Sir Percival would find her again. This concern weighed heavily on Mrs. Clements, and she realized it wouldn’t be easy to change Anne’s mind.

In Grimsby, Anne’s health began to deteriorate. Her illness started soon after the news of Lady Glyde’s marriage was published in the newspapers, which Anne learned about through the press.

The doctor who was called to see her quickly diagnosed a serious heart condition. The illness lingered, leaving her very weak, and it returned multiple times, though with less severity each time. They stayed in Grimsby for the first half of the new year, and they might have remained there longer if Anne hadn’t suddenly decided to return to Hampshire to seek a private meeting with Lady Glyde.

Mrs. Clements did everything she could to stop Anne from pursuing her dangerous and inexplicable plan. Anne offered no real explanation for her determination, only that she felt her time was running out and that she had something urgent to share with Lady Glyde, no matter the risk. Her resolve was so strong that she declared she would travel to Hampshire alone if Mrs. Clements refused to accompany her. The doctor, when consulted, warned that opposing Anne’s wishes could trigger another serious illness, possibly fatal. With this in mind, Mrs. Clements reluctantly agreed to let Anne have her way, though she was filled with dread about what lay ahead.

During their journey from London to Hampshire, Mrs. Clements learned from one of their fellow travelers that he was familiar with the Blackwater area and could provide her with valuable information. She discovered that the only safe place for them to stay, away from Sir Percival’s residence, was a large village called Sandon. This village was about three to four miles from Blackwater Park—the very distance Anne had walked each time she had been seen near the lake.

For the few days they managed to stay in Sandon without being discovered, they rented a room from a respectable widow who had a bedroom to let. Mrs. Clements worked hard to ensure the woman remained discreet, at least for the first week. She also tried to persuade Anne to write to Lady Glyde instead of confronting her directly, but the failure of the anonymous letter sent to Limmeridge had made Anne determined to speak in person this time, and she was resolute about going alone.

Despite her concerns, Mrs. Clements secretly followed Anne each time she went to the lake, though she never got close enough to the boathouse to see what happened there. When Anne returned for the last time from that dangerous area, the strain of walking such long distances, combined with the emotional turmoil she had been experiencing, led to the very outcome Mrs. Clements had feared. The old pain in Anne’s chest returned, along with other symptoms of her previous illness, and she collapsed into bed at the cottage.

In this crisis, Mrs. Clements knew from experience that the first priority was to calm Anne’s anxious mind. The next day, she set out for the lake, hoping to find Lady Glyde—who, as Anne had said, would likely be taking her daily walk to the boathouse—and persuade her to return to the cottage discreetly. However, upon reaching the edge of the plantation, Mrs. Clements encountered not Lady Glyde, but a tall, stout older gentleman holding a book—Count Fosco.

The Count studied her for a moment before asking if she was expecting anyone. Before she could respond, he mentioned that he was waiting with a message from Lady Glyde but wasn’t sure if she was the person he was meant to speak with.

At this, Mrs. Clements shared her purpose with him and begged him to help ease Anne’s anxiety by delivering his message through her. The Count readily agreed. He explained that the message was crucial: Lady Glyde urged Anne and her friend to return to London immediately, fearing that Sir Percival would discover them if they lingered any longer near Blackwater. She planned to head to London soon herself, and if Mrs. Clements and Anne would go there first and provide their address, they would hear from her and see her within two weeks or less. The Count added that he had already tried to warn Anne directly, but she had been too startled to let him approach her.

Mrs. Clements responded with a mix of alarm and distress. She wished nothing more than to take Anne safely to London, but there was no hope of moving her from the dangerous neighborhood, as she lay ill in bed at that moment. The Count asked if Mrs. Clements had called for a doctor, and when he learned that she had hesitated out of fear of drawing attention in the village, he revealed that he was a medical professional. He offered to accompany her back to see what could be done for Anne. Trusting him, especially since he had been entrusted with a secret message from Lady Glyde, Mrs. Clements gratefully accepted his offer, and they headed back to the cottage together.

When they arrived, Anne was asleep. The Count was taken aback by her appearance, clearly astonished by how much she resembled Lady Glyde. Mrs. Clements assumed he was simply shocked by Anne's illness. He wouldn’t let her wake Anne; instead, he asked Mrs. Clements questions about Anne's symptoms, examined her, and lightly touched her pulse. Sandon was large enough to have a grocer’s and a druggist’s shop, so the Count went there to write a prescription and have the medicine prepared. He returned with it himself, explaining that it was a powerful stimulant that would surely give Anne the strength to endure the journey to London, which would only take a few hours. The medicine was to be given at specific times that day and the next. By the third day, he assured her, Anne would be well enough to travel. He arranged to meet Mrs. Clements at the Blackwater station to see them off on the midday train. If they didn’t show up, he would assume Anne was worse and would come to the cottage immediately.

As it turned out, no such emergency arose.

The medicine had an extraordinary effect on Anne, and Mrs. Clements was able to reassure her that she would soon see Lady Glyde in London. On the appointed day, just shy of a week in Hampshire, they arrived at the station. The Count was waiting for them, chatting with an elderly lady who also seemed to be traveling to London. He kindly helped them into the carriage and reminded Mrs. Clements not to forget to send her address to Lady Glyde. The elderly lady didn’t travel in the same compartment, and they didn’t notice what happened to her when they reached the London terminus. Mrs. Clements found respectable lodgings in a quiet neighborhood and wrote to inform Lady Glyde of their address, as promised.

More than two weeks passed without a word.

Then, one day, the same elderly lady they had seen at the station arrived in a cab. She said she came from Lady Glyde, who was staying at a hotel in London and wanted to meet with Mrs. Clements to arrange a future meeting with Anne. With Anne present and urging her to go, Mrs. Clements agreed to the meeting, especially since she wouldn’t be gone for more than half an hour. The two women left in the cab. After a short drive, the lady asked the cab driver to stop at a shop before reaching the hotel, saying she needed to pick up something she had forgotten. She never returned.

After waiting for a while, Mrs. Clements grew anxious and instructed the cab driver to take her back to her lodgings. When she arrived, a little over half an hour later, she discovered that Anne was gone.

The only information she could gather from the household staff came from a servant who had opened the door to a boy from the street, who had delivered a letter for “the young woman who lived on the second floor,” where Mrs. Clements stayed. The servant had handed over the letter and then gone downstairs. Five minutes later, she saw Anne open the front door and leave, dressed in her bonnet and shawl. Anne must have taken the letter with her, as it was nowhere to be found, making it impossible to know what had persuaded her to leave the house. It must have been something compelling, as she would never venture out alone in London without a strong reason. If Mrs. Clements hadn’t known this from experience, she would never have left in the cab, even for just half an hour.

Once she could gather her thoughts, Mrs. Clements’s first instinct was to go and inquire at the Asylum, fearing that Anne had been taken back there.

The next day, she made her way to the location Anne had told her about. When she arrived, she was met with disappointing news. It seemed her inquiry had been made just a day or two before the real Anne Catherick had been safely taken to the asylum, and they informed her that no one by that name had been brought back there.

Feeling frustrated, she decided to reach out to Mrs. Catherick in Welmingham, hoping for any information about her daughter. Unfortunately, the response was the same—no news, no sightings.

After receiving that reply, she felt completely lost, with no idea where to turn next or what steps to take. Since then, she had remained in the dark about the reasons behind Anne’s disappearance and the fate of her story.