Q: What was the nature of Lady Hester’s wager, and who was the other end
of it?
A: Lady Hester had bet on Shirley to win the Grand Ellipse. The other party was her old childhood friend and third cousin, Lady Kendall.
Q: What was Addison’s part and interest in the Ellipse, or in individual Ellipsoids?
A: Addison was employed by Lord Percy. He actually had no personal interest in the Grand Ellipse, and organized the disruptions (through Nicky Finn) at Lord Percy’s behest. He also had no personal interest in any of the other Ellipsoids. Of course, Lord Percy isn’t Addison’s ultimate employer; the Kaiser is.
Q: Who shot Lady Bonnet’s companion and why?
A: Addison, because he recognized Lady Bonnet’s companion as an agent of Her Majesty’s government (unbeknownst to Lady Bonnet; she provided the perfect cover for him to travel in disguise to the Ottoman Empire).
Q: Who exactly killed Jimmy Pilkington? Was it for speaking out regarding
the attack on Shirley?
A: Nicky and Ricky’s sister, Victoria, talked Ricky into doing it, partly for retaliation and partly to keep him from going back to the Yard with nore information about the Finnegans. Nobody likes a snitch.
Q: What was the point of the Malta “protest?”
A: Lord Percy was hoping to disrupt passenger traffic by stirring up a labour riot on the docks.
Q: Did Addison in fact have plans to revenge himself on Shirley? What were
they?
A: No; Shirley was only in danger if he prevented Addison’s return to Prussia.
Q: Who impersonated Libby Wells?
A: Victoria Finnegan, at her own initiative.
Q: Did Father Dean (of Rangoon) die of natural causes?
A: Yes; the man was in his late nineties and in poor health.
Q: Who is Addison working for? The Prussians? What were his goals in
England?
A: Addison’s was indeed working for the Prussians. Hs job was to pay attention to the affairs of the British aristocracy; first, to see where the money was going as far as industry was concerned, and second, to look for blackmail candidates or people to recruit.
Q: What was the hole in his record about?
A: Time spent in Prussia training for espionage and various assignments under another name (Heinrich Adler).
Q: Who attacked Arthur Byrd? Was it for the questions he was asking, or
for other reasons?
A: Victoria Finnegan’s lackeys, to keep him from finding her.
Q: Who else knows Shirley’s secret, besides Margaret, Esperanza, Second
Uncle, and Duck? (And Angus, subconsciously.)
A: Lady Hester suspects, but doesn’t know. Nobody else even suspects.
Q: Did Scotland Yard really have its thumb up its butt re: Addison, or was
there a deeper game being played?
A: Scotland Yard had suspicions, but no proof. By the time they got close to having proof, they’d played out too much line. It was a botched operation, but there was an operation.
Q: How did Percy escape Irkutsk?
A: Bribed a Russian custodian at the Consulate, combined with damned good luck.
Q: How did Colonel Davis come from the middle of the pack to win?
A: Lord Percy became ineligible, Lady Bonnet got delayed investigating the fires in Siberia with the Addams, Selena’s dirigible was stranded, Ian Caine hit his head on a rock in a koi pool when he fell off a bridge after a night of drinking and got himself comatose, and Captain O’Neill got distracted by another adventure.
Q: What happened to Roland Carter?
A: No irony points for washing up at the same spot as Jimmy Pilkington. Roland skivved off to Jamaica under an assumed name.
Anything else?
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