Chapter 42 The Missing
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
"I assure you, Blythe, that our institution does not have a patient whose name – or likeness – matches the man that you seek."
Dr. Broadmoor smiled. He stood up to signal that the conversation had ended.
"Well, he may have given a different name at admittance," Leslie stated. "He didn't intend for the name Owen Ford to enter the patient rolls. He considered using the alias Perceval Dalrymple. However, he could have used a different name!"
Dr. Broadmoor said, "Yes, Mrs. Ford. You already explained this. We don't have any patients who match the photo that you hold. We are unable to help you. I hope that you locate your husband."
Dr. Broadmoor escorted Gilbert, Anne, and Leslie to the front door of the psychiatric hospital.
Out on the street, Leslie said, "How could Dr. Broadmoor say that? Owen must be in there!"
Several days after Owen met Chaps McKinley in front of Government House, Leslie phoned Ingleside. She urgently needed to speak to Dr. Blythe. Then, Leslie confessed to Gilbert. Leslie explained Owen's assignment to re-create Nellie Bly's expose. However, Owen planned to only stay at the Charlottetown hospital for three days, far less than the ten days that Nellie Bly spent at the hospital in New York. However, it was now the fourth day since Owen's undercover assignment began. Leslie had heard no word from Owen. She called the Guardian. Chaps McKinley's secretary told her that Mr. McKinley was tied up in meetings and therefore could not speak with her. Leslie waited for Chaps to call her back. After no word from Chaps, Leslie called Ingleside.
Gilbert listened to Leslie's story. Then, he told Anne and Susan that Susan needed to keep an eye on the Blythe children and the Ford children while he, Anne, and Leslie travelled to Charlottetown. It was an emergency.
"Yes, Susan, I know that you have a lot of sewing and baking to do. Just make sure that nobody falls in the water off a barn loft. The older ones will probably just hang out with the Merediths in their cemetery. They're all a bunch of free-range kids anyway."
Gilbert escorted Anne and Leslie to Charlottetown to look for Owen. They disembarked from the train and travelled directly to Dr. Broadmoor's hospital. Gilbert explained that Owen Ford was a patient of his. Mr. Ford was now missing. As Mr. Ford's physician, he believed that Mr. Ford potentially ended up at this hospital. (Everyone in Four Winds and Glen St. Mary was Gilbert's patient, and besides, Gilbert had patched up Kenneth when he fell in the barn. So, Gilbert didn't exactly lie.) They were in Dr. Broadmoor's office when Dr. Broadmoor told them that Owen wasn't there.
Now out on the street outside of the hospital, Gilbert said, "I believe that Dr. Broadmoor is telling the truth. I believe that Ford is not here at the hospital."
"Then where is he?" Leslie wailed.
Anne grabbed Leslie's hand. "Don't worry, we'll find him."
Leslie said, "I am so sorry to drag you and Dr. Blythe into this. I can't thank you enough for helping me. As soon as we find Owen, we'll work as hard as we can to pay you back every cent that we borrowed."
Gilbert froze. "Pay us back?"
Anne said, "Now, Gilbert – "
Gilbert said, "We'll talk about this later. We need to go speak with Mr. McKinley."
The three set out in a hired ride to the Guardian offices.
Chaps McKinley's personal assistant told them that Mr. McKinley had left the office. No, the assistant did not know when Mr. McKinley would return. No, the assistant did not know how to reach Mr. McKinley. No, the assistant did not see Mr. Ford at the Guardian's offices recently. No, the assistant did not know where Mr. Ford could be located.
"Should have known that old Assless Chaps would be useless to us," Gilbert said.
Anne sucked in her breath. "Gil, language – "
"That's okay," said Leslie. "He's correct. Chaps McKinley lacks an ass. Excuse me. I mean, he is an ass."
The three looked up to see Buster Wallace, one of Leslie's family friends from Four Winds, walking down the street.
"Mr. Wallace!" Gilbert called out.
"Why, hello there, Dr. Blythe. Mrs. Blythe. Mrs. Ford," Buster Wallace greeted them. "Why, I just saw Mr. Ford a few days ago! Small world."
"You saw Mr. Ford?" said Gilbert.
Buster said, "Why, yes, I did."
Gilbert said, "As a matter of fact, we are looking for Mr. Ford."
Buster said, "Does he owe you money, Blythe?"
"I beg your pardon?" said Gilbert.
Buster said, "I just asked you if he owes you money, Blythe. Because he owes me money. That's why I followed him the other day. I beg your pardon, Mrs. Ford."
Gilbert said, "Never mind that. Where did you see him, Wallace?"
Buster said, "Why, I followed him from Government House. He was talking to that scoundrel who edits the Guardian – fellow named McKinley. I followed them clear to the block of the Cundall House. I had to scoot when they got there, to the gate of the Cundall House. I couldn't be seen on that street. Because the judge – excuse me, Mrs. Blythe, Mrs. Ford – the judge told me that he'd put me back in jail if he saw me near the Cundall House."
Anne stared at the ground. The Cundall House was a Victorian-era mansion that now served as a home for Prince Edward Island Hospital's student nurses. Gilbert had told her about a year or so ago Buster Wallace had gotten himself into legal trouble for his unwanted advances – and other unwanted actions of a sexual nature – toward some of the student nurses. Judge Gaylord Oglethorpe had ordered Buster to stay away from the vicinity of the Cundall House.
Buster continued, "I stayed away from the Cundall House. As soon as they entered that block, I turned around and walked away. Honestly, I did walk away, Dr. Blythe."
Gilbert patted Buster on the back. "I know that you did. Wallace. Thank you. You've greatly assisted us."
After Buster left, Gilbert said to Anne and Leslie, "Well, I guess that now we will proceed to the Cundall House."
On the trip to the Cundall House, Gilbert attempted to distract Leslie.
"You know, when I was a young lad, this was a private residence. Owned by a very wealthy family. Beaconsfield, my mother called it. She took me on a walk past it while we were visiting my Aunt Mary Maria. Mama and I marveled at the elegance of this place. We daydreamed about what it would be like to be so very wealthy as to have a place such as this. Or even to be a guest in a place such as this. From what Mama said, the owners even entertained Princess Louise, here when the Princess came to the island."
Anne said, "I don't remember any of this. I would have remembered a Princess visiting the island!"
Gilbert said, "I believe that the Princess visited before you came to Green Gables, Anne. I was very young when the Peake family – those were the original owners, the ones who entertained Princess Louise – lost their fortune. We were visiting Aunt Mary Maria during the week when everything inside that house got auctioned off to pay off Mr. Peake's debts. My parents wanted to stop over at the auction. Aunt Mary Maria said that such a thing was crass. My parents snuck out to the auction anyway while my aunt took her afternoon nap."
"They auctioned everything?" said Anne.
"I believe so," said Gilbert. "Mr. Peake lost everything when the Bank of P.E.I. collapsed. That would have been the early 80's, I believe. Mr. Cundall held the mortgage on Beaconsfield, so it became his. He was a bachelor. After he died, his will specified that the house be donated as housing for single women. So here we are. It's now the housing for student nurses. The Cundall Home."
"What happened to the Peake family?" asked Anne.
Gilbert said, "Well, here is the story that I heard from my parents. The Peakes had a total of six children. Two of those children died before they moved into the house. Then, while they were living here, two more children died, within about a week of each other. Then, Mr. Peake lost everything in that bank collapse. Mrs. Peake had to go live in a cottage with her two remaining children. For whatever reason, Mr. Peake was unable to live there with them. He went out west to try to regain his fortune. He left his family behind on the island. It didn't work out for him. He died on the west coast about a decade later. I believe that Mama said that he died in Vancouver. Mrs. Peake had to go be a housekeeper for another wealthy family. I think that she is still alive."
"That is all very dreadful," said Anne.
Gilbert said, "That's what my mother used to say. And my father would reply with, "Yes, it must be very dreadful to be fabulously wealthy, and then to suddenly not be fabulously wealthy."
Leslie started to cry. "That's how Owen and I are going to end up. If we find Owen, that is. Oh, I am so ashamed."
Anne embraced Leslie. "Now, Leslie! Oh, forgive me and the doctor. We didn't mean to dismay you. How thoughtless of use. We are going to find Mr. Ford. He'll get his book published. And then another, and then another, and then another. You'll see. Everything will be okay."
Gilbert said, "There it is. The Cundall House."
Anne shuddered as she looked up at the mansion's mansard roof and the belvedere that graced the top of that roof. The architecture of another era.
Then Anne saw a face that she recognized.
"Gilbert, isn't that one of your nurses standing there on the porch? Lucy Marks?"
Gilbert said, "Actually, I believe that is Elizabeth Marks. She is Nurse Marks' younger sister. Nurse Marks told me that Elizabeth is now training to be a nurse as well."
"She is extremely beautiful," said Anne.
"And extremely young," said Gilbert. "Anne, I believe that she is not yet eighteen."
Gilbert greeted the young woman and explained that he and his wife and Mrs. Ford were searching in Charlottetown for Mr. Ford.
"Miss Marks, this is a sensitive matter. Your discretion would be very much appreciated. As a nurse in training, I am hopeful that you understand this."
"Dr. Blythe. Mrs. Blythe. Mrs. Ford. Of course. Come inside. I will notify Miss Darcy."
The trio ascended the stairs to the wraparound veranda. They entered the house through a foyer that led into a significant double drawing room flanked on each side by marble fireplaces.
"Dr. and Mrs. Blythe? Mrs. Ford?" A middle-aged woman dressed in black greeted them.
Anne took this woman to be Cundall House's – what do you call it - house mother? Or whatever people now called the women who baby-sat grown-up single women at educational institutions. No, not just grown-up women, Anne corrected herself. Also, teenage girls. Matron? No, people only used the term "matron" at women's prisons and orphanages, didn't they? Her friend Stella's Aunt Jamesina had served that baby-sitting role for Anne, Stella, Philippa, and Priscilla when they all lived at Patty's Place as college students in their twenties.
Gilbert took the woman's hand. "That would be us. I'm Dr. Gilbert Blythe. This is my wife. This is Mrs. Owen Ford."
The woman returned curtsied. "I am Miss Darcy, the Prefect."
Aww, Anne thought. So that's the terminology that one uses here. Prefect.
"Thank you very much for meeting with us," said Leslie. "We are in Charlottetown searching for my husband."
Gilbert explained the situation to Miss Darcy. Leslie showed Miss Darcy the photograph of Owen.
Miss Darcy shook her head. "Unfortunately, I have not seen this gentleman. I have no reports of such a gentleman being on these premises. However, I will notify the student nurses and the staff here of the situation."
Anne glanced around the ground floor of the mansion. Who did Gilbert say originally lived here? The Peakes. What kind of a man loses four children, then leaves his wife and remaining two children behind on the Atlantic coast while he starts over in the west? Well, maybe they didn't have a very happy marriage. Maybe he – or she – had another love interest. Maybe Mrs. Peake refused to leave behind the comforts of life in the east, albeit an impoverished life in the east. Maybe Mr. Peake was so humiliated that he only chose to live in places where nobody knew that he had once been rich and important, and Mrs. Peake didn't want to live in any of the places where Mr. Peake chose to live.
Anne knew that were Gilbert to lose everything – his medical practice, perhaps, or even his medical license – he wouldn't leave her and the children behind for a decade while he crossed the continent. Nor would she permit him to do such a thing. Maybe he would insist on travelling to the gold rushes in the Klondike, or Alaska, or try his hand at the silver mines in Nevada. Anne would put her foot down on all that. If Gilbert lost everything, including his career – for instance, if something particularly bad happened to one of his patients and it became a devastating scandal – maybe he would be able to find a job as a teacher or headmaster. After all, he had been the first student to take the Cooper Prize at Redmond University in five years. Surely, there were other jobs that her Gilbert could do besides "doctor."
Anne pictured Gilbert, stripped bare from the waist up, mining for gold or silver or whatever. Gilbert had been a farm boy. He still had a nice flat stomach. Even Susan and Miss Cornelia gossiped about Gilbert's, ah, physique when they thought that Anne couldn't hear them. Anne knew that Susan and Cordelia wondered what Gilbert looked like shirtless.
Did miners walk around shirtless?
"Mrs. Blythe?"
Anne shook herself. Enough with the daydreaming.
"As I was saying," said Gilbert, "I and Mrs. Blythe and Mrs. Ford thank you for your time today, Miss Darcy."
Miss Darcy said, "I certainly hope that you locate your husband, Mrs. Ford."
Well, anyway, the mining thing was all a nonissue. Gilbert was a highly respected physician with his own medical practice in Glen St. Mary. At this very moment, Anne stood in the drawing room of a mansion that at one time – but no longer – belonged to the Peake family during their most prosperous, well-connected years. Anne possibly stood where Princess Louise once stood.
As the trio left the Cundall House, Leslie said, "Well, that was a waste of time!"
"Now, we don't know that," said Gilbert. "Now we have notified more people to stay alert for sightings of Ford."
Leslie said, "Maybe he left the island. Maybe Chaps sent him off to report on a different institution. A hospital in Nova Scotia."
Gilbert said, "I don't believe that Ford left the island. But we can check with the ferry operator."
"Oh, Owen, where are you?" Leslie cried.