the Character of His School-Ma’am Sleuth—
Miss Maria Black was conceived in my mind out of no more than a memory—a childhood memory of a distant relative with the commanding manner of a general and the logical mind of an analyst. She underwent modifications and alterations in the course of her development, until she emerged as an elderly headmistress with a fund of knowledge, of psychological insight and, above all, understanding of human nature.
That a lady supervising a successful girls’ college should also possess all the attributes of a keen student of crime seemed at first too much to expect; and if Maria had remained a “straight” character she would probably not have got beyond the first hurdle. But by infusing some humor into the situation I could easily imagine Miss Maria being so human in herself as to sneak off to enjoy her favorite pastime when nobody was looking. Hence her clandestine visits to the local cinema where crime films hold sway, and her ruling that none of her pupils should go there in case they see her in the one-and-nines!
The name of Maria Black was suggested by another of my relatives, and such I christened her once I saw that the beauty of the name lies in its reversibility, especially among schoolgirls looking for an alternative to “The Beak”. Then, one can hardly dissociate a “black maria” from a police van, which is suggestive of criminals brought to book.
Maria’s first appearance, in BLACK MARIA, M.A., took her to America, where she encountered that contrasting character “Pulp” Martin, a gentlemanly tough from the Bowery. I became so fond of him that he continued to act as Maria’s bodyguard in her later adventures, doing for her the sort of work she cannot do herself while preserving her dignity. His flamboyance, his foul cigarettes and atrocious suits, serve to offset her straight-backed frigidity and strengthen the humor which is a dominant strain in the Maria novels.
In MARIA MARCHES ON, second of the series, the dirty work took place within the noble pile of Roseway College for Young Ladies, and I sensed the danger of limiting her activities to these precincts. Then it became obvious that the nearby village had possibilities; and so a cinema and a stretch of adjacent countryside became venues for crime, while in ONE REMAINED SEATED and THY ARM ALONE appeared another character who, by his almost incredible obtuseness, helped to underline Maria’s perspicacity. Inspector “Eyebrows” Morgan is not, I hope, typical of a village police inspector: he is, rather, a caricature of one, deliberately overdrawn to extract all the humor it is possible to extract from a story of crime.
In her latest exploit, DEATH IN SILHOUETTE, Maria contrives to break free of both college and environs to investigate the suicide of a young man engaged to one of her former pupils. With her again, inevitably, is “Pulp” Martin; and as in all her cases, Maria uses quite conventional means to achieve her effects. Scorning the elaborate paraphernalia of the professional detective, she is always careful to stay on her own side of the fence while assisting justice to assert itself. When she cannot prove a point by forensic methods she shames the professional into doing it and so gains her end, her strong suit being the biting sarcasm she employs when the ponderous juggernaut of the law misses the mark.
—John Russell Fearn
CHAPTER ONE
It was generally known among the students of Roseway College for Young Ladies that the Headmistress intended spending her summer vacation in the United States. This was decidedly intriguing. Irresponsible students spent much of the time usually devoted to soaking in French verbs trying to decide how the inexorable ruler of this South England school would react to American life.... Perhaps the most significant point of all was that Miss Maria Black, M.A., intended leaving for America before the usual time for summer holiday break-up. This suggested to various minds that there might be an easing up in the implacable discipline usually enforced from the gymnasium atop the college to the kitchens in the basement.
The climax to the hint-and-whisper campaign came when a command was issued for a complete gathering of the school in the Assembly Hall immediately after Chapel one morning. The teachers and Housemistresses gathered on the dais and sat like so many penitents. The girls themselves kept quiet, divided between boredom and interest, awaiting Miss Black’s inevitable appearance from the rear door of the hail. This was a melodramatic entrance she could never resist.
When later she arrived she swept in a breeze of black silk down the central aisle. The girls glanced sideways and saw that famous bun of black hair go speeding along towards the dais. A moment later Maria Black had mounted the four steps and then moved to the platform center, hands clasped in front of her, her compelling calm pervading the great room.
Her age was fifty-five, but only the Board of Governors knew that. She stood as erect as a general surveying a conquest, the no longer graceful curves of her figure somewhat camouflaged by the sweeping dark gown she invariably wore, relieved only by the gold of a slender watch-chain. Those outside her jurisdiction would probably have considered her handsome. One got this impression from her long keen nose. Her lips were strong, but stopped short of being cruel. Indeed there were times when she had been known to smile. Chiefly though it was her eyes that always got their victim—frosty blue, unwavering.
Had she allowed her hair to fall softly instead of scooping it back to scalping tension in an old-fashioned bun she could have possessed a mellow if rather aloof beauty.
Suddenly she spoke—and perfectly, for diction was one of her strong points.
“Young ladies, in two weeks you will depart for the summer vacation—but during those two weeks you will be under the control of Miss Tanby, who will become temporary Headmistress in my stead....”
All eyes turned to Eunice Tanby—a calm, pale-faced, highly algebraical spinster who definitely knew how many times X could make rings round Y.
“Therefore,” Maria resumed, “you will cease to regard Miss Tanby as Housemistress after today and will direct all matters of higher jurisdiction to her.”
There was a respectful silence. Maria fingered her watch-chain and swept her eyes over the assembly.
“I hope, young ladies, you will have an enjoyable vacation and will return here fully prepared for another term of work,” she said calmly. “You may dismiss....”
Then, turning to Miss Tanby: “Miss Tanby, if you will be good enough to come with me.”
The talking girls scattered immediately as Maria swept through their midst into the long, cool corridor outside the Hall. She entered her study and finally settled at her desk. Then interlocking her slender fingers she looked up at the pale-faced Housemistress who had followed her and nodded for the door to be closed.
“Please sit down, Miss Tanby....” And as the order was obeyed Maria went on pensively, “I would like to explain to you a few necessary points regarding my immediate departure for the United States. You see, my late brother’s lawyer has summoned me. My brother died quite recently.”
The Housemistress murmured a condolence and smiled in pale sympathy.
“This lawyer,” Maria went on, “asks me to present myself at the earliest moment in order to clear up certain details of identity and so forth, hence my reason for leaving before the actual term end.... My brother, Miss Tanby, was no ordinary man. He—er—” Maria paused and smuggled disfavor behind a cough. “He was the first man to produce tinned broccoli.”
“How remarkable!” Miss Tanby’s vocabulary could be devilishly limited at times.
“I thought so too as first,” Maria admitted, then she got up and started to prowl the carpet. It seemed as though she was lining up her thoughts for action. Then after a long interval she
