Friday, January 6, 2012

Father Brown's Last Bow, part 1

A Jesuit thought he had been done with investigation. Only prayer left, and the sacrifice of the Mass. And living the life of villains except for finally consenting to doing the villainies. Of course.

A letter arriving from the Bishop set him thinking otherwise.

Venerable Brother,

Susan Pevensie of CSL's children's books is a real person. She claims to have really been to Narnia. Not a question of wanting to spread the word at all, she wants a quiet life, but ... is it from God or the devil? Should she be made to abjure?

Yours in Christ
NN NN + episc. LN*


And the first answer:

Your Highness,

Have you ruled out madness?

Yours in Christ NN Brown.


And the second:

Venerable Brother,

She is sane. She could have gotten illusions while in an epiletic fit, except that epilepsy does not fit her medicale state. She is as fit as a fiddle, and that includes total absence of epileptic symptoms - except this one, if it would have fitted.

Yours in Christ
NN NN + episc. LN


And Father Brown saw the adress:

Miss Susan Pevensie
Baker Street 221 B
London

"Hmm, didn't that use to be my secularist colleague Sherlock's abode? Though when I gave him the sacraments, it was in the office of his friend Dr Watson, of course. It won't be easy to miss the place, anyway!"

*NN=Nomen Nescio=Don't Know the Name
LN=Locum Nescio=Don't Know the Place
As for Fr Brown I do not know his baptismal name.