THE BLENKINSOP CHRONICLES
When actress Arabella faces an unwelcome engagement, Reuben Blenkinsop-Greene stages an audacious deception to secure her escape.
Reuben Blenkinsop-Greene, elder brother of the rather singular Gideon, had been invited to Strathmuir Hall to carve the magnificent pumpkins arranged along the length of the orangery.
By midnight, he had also managed to carve a substantial hole in the matrimonial ambitions of the Fanshawe family.
Lady Arabella Fanshawe, an aspiring actress of considerable beauty, was being pressed into marriage with Sir Humphrey Pottle, a wealthy baronet whose conversation rarely ventured beyond grouse and railway timetables.
“I’d sooner marry the gardener,” she confided to Reuben.
“Does he know?”
“Don’t be absurd.”
Reuben, whose theatrical talents were by no means confined to the stage, proposed a solution.
At Lady Morag’s Halloween soirée, he would perform a disappearing act. Arabella would enter a cabinet, vanish, and escape through the servants’ passage to a waiting motorcar.
By morning, she would be in London, auditioning for the West End.
The performance began at eleven.
Reuben, dressed as Sweeney Todd, flourished a gleaming theatrical razor before inviting Arabella into the cabinet.
The doors closed.
A scream rang out.
When Reuben opened them, the cabinet was empty.
Biffy dropped his champagne.
“Good God! He’s done away with her!”
Lady Fanshawe shrieked. Sir Humphrey went pale.
“An illusion, Uncle,” Reuben explained.
But the audience was unconvinced, particularly when Sir Humphrey discovered a lady’s shoe beneath the cabinet.
Biffy began to fear the worst.
Reuben, improvising magnificently, declared that Arabella had been spirited away by forces beyond mortal comprehension.
The soirée ended in pandemonium.
Later, as Reuben congratulated himself on a successful rescue, Sir Humphrey appeared beside him.
“Capital performance, young man. Most convincing.”
Reuben stiffened.
“You’re not angry?”
“Angry? Good heavens, no. I’ve been trying to escape that engagement for months.”
Reuben stared.
Sir Humphrey lowered his voice.
“Between ourselves, I’m rather fond of the gardener.”
A Note from the Author: Reuben is my grand-nephew, a budding actor whose love of performance and instinct for the dramatic inspired his place in the Blenkinsop family. The photographs are shared with his family's permission.
New to Strathmuir Hall?
Meet Reuben's younger brother, Gideon Blenkinsop-Greene, whose choice of Halloween attire proves rather unfortunate when a long-departed relative comes calling.
First published in Fiction Shorts on Medium.