The Circle of Sappho (8 page)

The first of the main gates, which were the major entrances into the city, had been demolished in the mid-1750s, when the North and South Gates were pulled down by the Corporation to aid private developers; while the West Gate had been taken down later, during development of that particular section of the city.

The part of wall Swann and Fitzpatrick now passed had only survived through its location in Upper Borough Walls to a hospital opposite. After the building was opened, it had been decreed that land would be set aside for the burial of those patients who died there. This cemetery was located beyond the remaining section of wall, residing in the ground immediately below it, in what would then have been outside of the city. When expansion of the city took place throughout the eighteenth century, the cemetery and its adjoining wall were left untouched.

After they had turned the corner, out of sight from the wall, it was a relatively straight route to Fitzpatrick's office in Queen Square. On arriving at the building they entered, went up the flight of stairs and into Fitzpatrick's consulting room. Once there, both men sat down.

‘As I mentioned,' said Fitzpatrick, as soon as they were seated, ‘it is a delicate matter for which I must ask your service.'

‘Then please tell me what it is and what I can do,' replied Swann.

‘It is the nephew of an old acquaintance of mine. He has become the victim of blackmailers. He makes frequent visits to … well, perhaps I do not need to elaborate on the details at this moment; suffice to say he has engaged in activities that have left him open to criminal elements taking advantage for nefarious gain. Believe me Swann, I do not condone his behaviour, but I have been approached by this acquaintance to obtain your assistance in this matter. Your reputation has become well known to those wishing your services and I was able to vouch for your discretion in this matter. The nephew is apparently a rising star within the Tory Party and there is every possibility he will become a Member of Parliament in the near future. He has ambitions of a ministerial position in government and there are those who would see him achieve these ambitions as soon as possible.'

Swann nodded but said nothing for the moment.

‘He is also married and has a young son. Any public airing of his indiscretions, therefore, would certainly lose him not only any political standing but the good name of his family. His father is very well known in certain circles.'

Swann nodded but still did not answer immediately, preferring instead to let his thoughts return to the blackmail cases he had investigated in the last few years, including the most recent one, which he had undertaken in London prior to arriving in Bath. It was always the same: someone, usually male and involved in politics, would indulge in activities that, as Fitzpatrick said, left them open to blackmail should they be discovered. They would then bemoan the fact when they became entrapped. It was a matter that Swann could do without at the moment, especially as he had now taken the case for Lady Harriet and also had the pursuit of the Scarred Man to occupy his time. As much as Fitzpatrick was a valued friend, and Swann really did not wish to refuse his request, his instinct told him if he took the case it would bring nothing but trouble.

‘I value your friendship and would like to be able to assist your acquaintance's nephew, Fitzpatrick, but I must decline. There are two other investigations which require my attention and I do not believe there is anything I would be able to do to help. I am sorry.'

‘I completely understand, Swann,' replied Fitzpatrick. ‘Do not concern yourself any further over this matter.'

‘To be honest,' said Swann, feeling he owed it to the magistrate to elaborate on the reasoning behind his decision, ‘I have reached a point in my life where these types of cases are not something I wish any longer to consider. The last one of this nature, in fact, which I undertook for the Bow Street Runners in London, was a similar case and its outcome was most unfortunate. I believe there is nothing I can do to assist and so would rather say at this present time than to give hope where none exists. My only regret is that I have to disappoint you. You are a true friend, Henry. I was due to meet you this morning at eleven o'clock and yet did not arrive at your chambers until after midday. I am then informed you did not receive my message and yet not once have you enquired of me as to where I was or what I was doing.'

‘I merely assumed if you could enlighten me you would have done so,' replied Fitzpatrick, ‘and whatever it is, it is obviously important enough to postpone our meeting; something I know you would not have undertaken lightly.'

Swann smiled at his friend's affability, shook his hand warmly and then left the magistrate's office for the city bustle once more. Outside, Swann headed directly into the centre, walking along Wood Street and Milsom Street and then turning right to make his way down towards Bath Abbey courtyard, with its mixture of wonderful flagstones; a combination of local Pennant Sandstone and Caithness, from the far north of Scotland. There were a number of facts he wanted to verify concerning his chapter on the abbey, and this ensured his walk through the heaving crowds of shoppers was a brisk one.

The sun, at last unencumbered by cloud, brought with it a heat to the early part of the afternoon and as he made his way towards the abbey and felt the warmth on the back of his neck, Swann felt strangely content.

Despite the death of the leader of their group, along with one of its members, the girls assembled at the appointed time and place. They had each received handwritten confirmation during the day, in the form of notes surreptitiously placed inside their textbooks, stating that the evening's gathering was to take place as arranged. As they came together in the corridor outside the school library, there was a curiosity as to how this would actually happen given the absence of their leader, along with a need to share their collective but as yet unspoken grief over their loss.

As the library clock began to chime the hour, a realisation spread throughout the girls that there were only seven of them, meaning that another girl, in addition to the one who had died, was missing. This was Elsa, the head girl who, at nineteen and a half, was the eldest of the group. There was nothing that could be done about her non-appearance though and so they made their way into the library and across its floor toward the secret doorway, located behind one of the many bookcases. As preordained, the girls went through the gap, one by one, before the chimes finished and descended a stone staircase into semi-darkness; the last girl through having pulled a handle attached to the rear of the bookcase to close it behind them. On reaching the bottom of the steps, a passage stretched out before them into complete darkness.

Each of them carried with her a ceremonial candle, which remained unlit, while the front girl carried an additional lit one, the glow from which guided the rest as they made their way along the passage. When they reached a certain point in the passageway, a second light, further off in the distance, could be seen. They continued towards it, cautiously at times, over the uneven flagstone floor, their bodies reacting with goose bumps to the damp air and earthen walls; the thin material of their nightdresses inadequate for keeping the occupants warm.

The girls approached the second light, which emanated from inside a chamber at the end of the passageway. They passed through the wooden arched entrance in single file, and once inside lit their ceremonial candles from one of the many already there and that had been responsible for the distant light. The girls then took their allotted places in the circle of stone seats surrounding a large oblong-shaped altar, as they had done so on several occasions before, and placed their lighted candles in holders next to each seat. If their actions had been performed almost by rote, automatic and devoid of any true emotional input, now that the girls were seated the remaining empty seats became a stark, visual reminder of the events of the last thirty-six hours; the loss of Miss Leigh, their favourite teacher and leader, along with their friend, Grace, and more recently the mystery of Elsa, who had inexplicably failed to appear for the meeting. Had the head girl found her grief too much to bear and decided not to come, or had something tragic also happened to her? As they sat there in their thoughts, it suddenly dawned on them that if Miss Leigh was gone, who had summoned them here? They did not have long to wait for the answer. From behind a curtain which partitioned an annex room, a figure wearing a violet cloak and gold encrusted domino mask emerged. In spite of the mask, which covered the top half of her face, the girls knew her identity immediately.

‘What are you doing?' exclaimed one of them.

‘I have assumed the Circle's leadership,' said Elsa, as she sat down in the place normally reserved for their teacher. ‘It is what Miss Leigh would have wanted.'

‘How do you know that?' replied another girl.

‘Because if it were not so, why would she have given me this for safekeeping?'

As Elsa held up a large golden key, candlelight reflected along its entire length. There were audible gasps but silence quickly followed.

‘With my elevated position,' said the head girl and now group leader, ‘there are now
two
empty places in the Circle to be filled in order to make it complete again. We will begin this evening with the initiation ceremonies. The first of our new members has already undergone the cleansing ritual, it therefore just remains for you all to acknowledge her as a fellow muse.' As Elsa said this, a girl stepped out from behind the curtain. The group immediately recognised Gretchen, the head girl's closest companion in the school.

A murmur went around the circle. ‘By what authority is she here?' one asked.

‘By mine,' replied Elsa. ‘As leader, I alone have the power to invite neophytes to the Circle and oversee their initiation. I have therefore decreed it that Gretchen takes my place within the nine. She will assume the role of Melpomene. You will all acknowledge her as such and receive her as one of your number.'

Reluctantly the girls responded in unison: ‘We acknowledge you, Melpomene, revered muse of tragedy, and receive you into this Circle of Sappho. Keep our secrets close to your heart and your way will be joyous and light, but speak of them outside the Circle and your way will be dark and filled with torment.'

Elsa smiled. ‘Good. Before Melpomene takes her seat amongst you, we have to initiate and receive Erato.' At this the head girl nodded to her companion, who immediately went back behind the curtain. She returned a few moments later with another girl, which again the seated girls instantly recognised; that of Anne, who had been the best friend of Grace, the previous Erato.

‘I have prepared her for initiation,' said Elsa, ‘which we shall undertake here, before performing our main ceremony outside.'

Gretchen brought Anne forward, within the circle of seated girls, disrobed her and laid her naked, on her back, upon the oblong stone altar.

‘Begin the initiation,' said Elsa, standing up.

As the seated girls watched in silence, Gretchen brought a bowl from a nearby table and set it down on a metal stand by the stone altar. She cupped her hands and scooped out some of the mixture in the bowl and applied it to the front of Anne's body. Elsa's expression was one of delight as she observed her companion spread the oil first onto the girl's naval, and then her shoulders, legs, thighs and arms. She then began rubbing the oil onto the breasts and
mons pubis
, which earlier had been shaved of its hair by Elsa in preparation for the ceremony.

Each of the seated girls had undergone the cleansing ritual on joining the Circle and each had undergone it within full view of the others. There was a provision for it to be undertaken without the gathering, where it would be carried out by the leader alone, and on her sanction, but Gretchen's exemption was only the second time it had occurred in the group's history. The Circle itself consisted of nine pupils – a trio of girls from each of the final three years of the school – deliberately equivalent to the number of muses in Classical Greece. On becoming part of the Circle an initiate would take on, or rather become, the essence of a specific muse chosen by the group's leader; herself being the essence of Sappho, the famous Greek poetess who was known from antiquity as the ‘Tenth Muse'.

With the ritual cleansing part of the initiation ceremony now completed, Anne was brought down from the altar, her robe put back on, and led a few steps forward to the spot where she was to be acknowledged. After a prompt from their leader, the group, again in unison, acknowledged and received Anne, who as Erato represented the muse of erotic and lyrical poetry. The Circle was once again complete.

With the initiations concluded, Elsa donned the hood of her cloak and went towards another curtained entrance. Here she drew back the large crimson-red material to reveal a large sturdy wooden door. She placed the golden key into the lock and turned it. Once opened, she led the way through into another passageway. She took a lit torch from its fastening on the wall and proceeded in the direction of another set of stone steps in the distance. Gretchen followed her, carrying various accoutrements, and then the rest of the girls followed behind, with a couple of them helping Anne negotiate the flagstone floor which continued in this passage too, as her eyes were glazed and her walking unsteady. On reaching the far end of this passageway, the procession climbed up the steps and stopped at the large stone at the top. Gretchen, along with the two others from the final year, put their bodies against it and, without too much effort, pushed it aside, revealing the island temple bathed in light from the full moon.

Once outside the temple, the Latin inscription above the entrance having been adhered to, the group turned right and made their way through the trees, along a trail to a clearing. Here, another circle of stones acted as seating, while in the middle was another, much larger, altar. The sky held patches of cloud but the moon was not obscured, as it fully bathed the clearing in its silver glow. Although well lit, the spot was out of sight of the school and grounds, across the lake, as had always been the intention of its original builder.