George Lomax and the 9th Marquess of Carteret: Political Arrangements and Pressure Relations

George Lomax and the ninth Lord Caterham are joined by political necessity rather than shared interests. Lomax needs Chimneys for confidential negotiations over Herzoslovakia’s monarchy and oil concessions; Caterham, who dislikes both politics and politicians, agrees largely because Lomax makes refusal difficult. Their arrangement turns Caterham’s private house into a political venue, then places its owner on the edge of a crisis he would rather leave to others.

The Uneasy Arrangement

Lomax approaches Caterham with the claim that the British government cannot afford a scandal over the Herzoslovakian question. The oil concessions, he insists, must go to a British company. His urgency contrasts with Caterham’s dry observation that political matters are always presented as delicate. For Lomax, however, the stakes are immediate: Prince Michael Obolovitch is expected at the end of the week, and the arrangements are to be conducted at Chimneys under the appearance of a shooting party.

Caterham has inherited more than a country house. His predecessor, the eighth marquis, had made Chimneys famous through political influence and celebrated gatherings; the ninth marquis resents the assumption that the estate remains a kind of national resource. He would prefer to go abroad rather than host Lomax’s gathering. Lomax dismisses the idea, and Caterham’s attempted escape is further frustrated when Lomax retains hold of his coat lapel during their conversation. Caterham finally gives in, telling Lomax to arrange the affair himself.

The practical plan relies on concealment by social convention. Lomax will stay at the Abbey, less than seven miles away, rather than formally join the house party. He also proposes bringing in a few outsiders to make the gathering look genuine, suggesting that Lady Eileen Brent enlist young guests who are not politically discerning. Caterham agrees without showing much interest in the reasoning. His role is less that of political partner than of an accommodating host pressed into providing the setting.

The Stakes Behind Chimneys

The negotiations concern a possible restoration of the monarchy in Herzoslovakia, a republic since the uprising that overthrew the royal government and killed King Nicholas IV and Queen Varaga. The political past matters to Lomax’s plan: supporters of restoration are prepared to offer the crown to Prince Michael, who has the backing of the British government. In return, Michael is prepared to grant concessions to Herman Isaacstein’s company for a loan of roughly a million pounds to establish him on the throne.

The arrangement depends on discretion, and Count Stylptitch’s memoirs threaten to disrupt it. Lomax warns Caterham that their publication at this particular moment could ruin the restoration project. Caterham, who sees reminiscences as popular reading rather than an immediate political danger, does not initially share Lomax’s alarm. That difference captures the imbalance between them: Lomax sees Chimneys as a strategically useful stage in a sensitive negotiation, while Caterham sees an unwelcome house party and a possible scandal that other people insist he must prevent.

From Host to Reluctant Custodian

The arrangement changes character after a body is discovered at Chimneys. Lomax insists that the death must be hushed up, but Caterham points out that a dead body cannot simply be concealed: it must be buried, and the local police and people already aware of the matter make secrecy unrealistic. When Lomax learns that the local police have been called, he decides that Superintendent Battle must be brought in instead.

Lomax then asks Caterham to leave everything in his hands. Caterham accepts with evident relief and places Chimneys at Lomax’s disposal, directing him to the council chamber where the police, Dr Cartwright, and the body are. He withdraws before Lomax can continue the conversation. The moment echoes the earlier political bargain: Lomax takes charge, while Caterham grants access and retreats from the consequences as far as he can.

Political Leverage and the Heir

The later discussion of the succession makes clear how much the political plan depends on a person not yet present. When asked who would inherit after Prince Michael, Lomax hesitantly identifies Prince Nicholas as the probable next heir. After Michael’s murder, Superintendent Battle confirms that Nicholas is Michael’s first cousin and next in line, and says there is reason to believe he had been in the United States raising money against his expectations.

The eventual disclosure that Anthony Cade is Prince Nicholas retrospectively exposes the uncertainty beneath the arrangement Lomax had pressed Caterham to host. Lomax’s plan had treated Michael’s accession as its centre; Michael’s death forces attention onto the next claimant and the financing that might follow him. Caterham’s house has thus served as the venue for a scheme whose political assumptions shift as the succession changes. The relationship’s defining pattern remains intact: Lomax seeks to manage events through political planning and secrecy, while Caterham is drawn into the work through the use of his house and his reluctant consent.