The Narrative of Mr. James Rigby

The Narrative of Mr. James Rigby

James Rigby, the narrator, recounts events following his return to England, insisting he wants readers to judge whether his conduct showed foolish fear or was justified. Born in Australia to reclusive, wealthy parents who never spoke of their English relatives, he made a childhood European trip in 1873. In Naples, his father befriended a guide called "Tasso" (really Tommaso Marino), who attacked him with a knife on an excursion; his father shot the man dead in self-defense. The victim proved a Camorra member, and despite the law clearing him, Camorristi made repeated attempts on his life before the family fled to London. There, his father was tailed by unseen watchers, a paper label bearing the Camorra's crossed-knives symbol appeared on his hotel-room door, and that same evening he was found stabbed to death near the hotel; the murder was never solved, and the family returned to Sydney. Rigby grew up an artist, and after his mother's death two years earlier (he then twenty-eight), sold the family property and resolved to settle in England, carrying letters of introduction to his London solicitors (Mowbray, of Lincoln's Inn Fields) and deeds to copper-bearing land in South Australia. On the voyage he formed a close friendship with a charming, endlessly entertaining fellow passenger, Horace Dorrington, who revealed himself to be a partner in the private inquiry firm Dorrington & Hicks and told stories of dealings with the Camorra and Maffia. Learning Rigby's father's history, Dorrington invited him to his rented grouse moor in Perthshire; they landed at Plymouth and traveled to Scotland for shooting. After eight days Dorrington was abruptly called back to London on business, urging Rigby to tour Chester and Warwick meanwhile. In Chester and Warwick, Rigby became aware of being persistently followed by a shuffling, elusive figure with an Italian appearance; at Warwick he woke to see a sinister face at his first-floor window. Back in London, he found the Camorra's crossed-knives label on his own hotel door. Alarmed, he sought out Dorrington, who treated the situation gravely, theorized about how the Camorra might have identified him, and proposed hiding Rigby under an assumed name at a house in Highgate kept by a Mr. and Mrs. Crofting, while Dorrington himself would pose as "James Rigby" to protect him. Dorrington took Rigby's identifying papers and the Australian land deeds "for safekeeping," giving a formal receipt. At the Croftings' house, Rigby was treated to excellent food and coffee, but after drinking it he fell suddenly asleep. He awoke drugged, injured, and trapped inside a water-filling iron tank in near-total darkness, realizing he was being drowned. After a desperate struggle to stop the inflowing water, a workman repairing a neighboring cistern heard the noise and freed him just in time. Rigby then understood the entire scheme: Dorrington had fabricated the pursuit, the label, and the watching figures using an Italian confederate, purely to isolate Rigby, obtain his identifying papers, and impersonate him to seize his property, intending to have him drowned and left unidentifiable. By the time police reached the Croftings' house and Dorrington's office, all parties had fled, though papers left behind exposed the plot in detail, including telegrams coordinating the scheme from the very start of the voyage. The account closes with Rigby noting that neither Dorrington, Hicks, nor the Croftings had yet been caught, and that he still cannot see an iron tank without dread.

By Arthur Morrison · First published 1897 · Genre: Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, Adventure · 14,745 words

First lines

I shall here set down in language as simple and straightforward as I can command, the events which followed my recent return to England; and I shall leave it to others to judge whether or not my conduct has been characterised by foolish fear and ill-considered credulity. At the same time I have my own opinion as to what would have been the behaviour of any other man of average intelligence and courage in the same circumstances; more especially a man of my exceptional upbringing and retired habits.

What this Textopian page supports

The Narrative of Mr. James Rigby is listed on Textopian as a short story by Arthur Morrison, dated 1897 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Discussion starters

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

realistic · fiction · novel · Victorian · era · London · city · life · working · class · poverty · social

More by Arthur Morrison