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The Mystery of the Jade Spear
The Mystery of the Jade Spear
From "The Chronicles of Addington Peace", etext prepared by Joe Horvat.
Book Excerpt
mile. They had plainly not been washed that afternoon.
"Thank you. Have you discovered the owner of this spear?"
"No, sir; I wish I could."
"Have you tried Cullen or Miss Sherrick?"
"No, sir," said the Sergeant, looking blankly at the Inspector.
The little man walked to the fireplace and touched the electric bell. In a few moments the door opened and a fat, red- faced man walked in. There was no mistaking the attitude and costume of a British butler.
"Colonel Bulstrode was a collector of jade?" said the Inspector in his most innocent manner.
"Yes, sir."
"I noticed the specimens in the hall. Well, Cullen, have you ever seen this spear amongst his trophies?"
The man glanced at it and then shrank back with a shiver.
"It's the thing that killed him," he stammered.
"Exactly. But you do not answer my question."
"There may have been one like it, but I couldn't swear to it, sir. The Colonel would never have his collection touched. He
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The Mystery of the Jade Spear: Home Magazine of Fiction, January 1905 (pp. 79-88). In this sixth and final episode (Chapter 8 in the book edition), one Colonel William Bulstrode is inadvertently killed by his brother, Anstruther Bulstrode following a dispute over the ownership of a valuable jade spear. The surname of both the victim and culprit might be derived from Bulstrode Park in northwest Buckinghamshire. This is the site of a former house that was built for the infamous ‘Hanging Judge’, George Jeffreys (1645-1689). He was the son of John Jeffreys (1608-1691), a notable Royalist during the English Civil War (1642-1651). Bertram Fletcher Robinson was a history graduate with a special interest in the English Civil War and he is known to have visited Buckinghamshire. The use of the Christian name Anstruther is also noteworthy because it was later used by PG Wodehouse within a short story entitled The Love That Purifies (1929), which was republished in Very Good, Jeeves (1930). Wodehouse collaborated with Fletcher Robinson on at least four separate occasions between 1904 and 1907 and 'Mr. Anstruther' remains one of his most notable incidental characters. Moreover, there is also a repetition between the Christian names of Bertram Fletcher Robinson and the famous Wodehouse character, Bertram Wilberforce Wooster.
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