The Two-Part Commission

This thread follows Anthony Cade from accepting Jimmy McGrath’s paired errands to completing them while becoming entangled in a royal murder.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Tour Guide’s Exit

A Job in Bulawayo Restless Employment Anthony Cade meets his old friend James(Jimmy)McGrath while working as a tour guide in Bulawayo. His joking impatience with regular work makes the temporary job seem like another stop in a life built around chance and movement. A Sudden Opening James(Jimmy)McGrath offers Anthony Cade a paid commission in England. The job promises both money and an escape from routine, exactly the combination Anthony Cade is inclined to accept.

The Manuscript Errand

The First Commission James(Jimmy)McGrath explains that Count Stylptitch’s memoirs have been entrusted to him for delivery to publishers in London by October 13. A thousand-pound payment is attached, with a quarter promised to Anthony Cade for carrying out the errand. A Political Shadow The manuscript is not merely a parcel: its publication may disrupt plans to restore the monarchy in Herzoslovakia. Anthony Cade accepts before he knows how much danger the memoirs will attract.

The Letters from Africa

A Second Obligation James(Jimmy)McGrath reveals a bundle of letters inherited from a dying acquaintance, Dutch Pedro. Their single useful clue is the word “Chimneys,” and their apparent intimacy makes careless delivery dangerous. An Errand of Conscience Anthony Cade agrees to find Virginia Revel and return the letters to her personally. What begins as a favor to a friend will soon connect him to the blackmail plot, the murder investigation, and Chimneys itself.

London’s First Warnings

Unwanted Attention Anthony Cade arrives in London under James(Jimmy)McGrath’s name and is approached by Baron Lolopretjzyl, who offers increasing sums to suppress the memoirs. Soon afterward, an armed intruder claiming membership in the Comrades of the Red Hand tries to seize them. The Stakes Rise A hotel waiter, Giuseppe Manelli, also shows suspicious interest in Anthony Cade’s papers. The pair of commissions has become a contest involving rival political forces and a manuscript Anthony Cade has not yet properly read.

A False Delivery

The Publisher’s Representative A caller claiming to represent Balderson and Hodgkins persuades Anthony Cade to hand over the manuscript, promising a receipt and payment. Anthony Cade complies, apparently completing the commission before its deadline. The Errand Reopens The supposed representative is later identified as Prince Michael Obolovitch in disguise, and the manuscript has been stolen rather than delivered. Anthony Cade must recover it, while James(Jimmy)McGrath’s promised payment and the political secret behind the memoirs remain unresolved.

Three weeks before the Chimneys murder

The evening of their Bulawayo meeting

Later that same evening

October 5, shortly after Anthony Cade reaches London

The morning after the hotel attack