Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope - Volume II

Happy ever afters?
Phineas and Madame Max

 If Volume 1 of Phineas Redux was turgid reading, I’m pleased to say Volume 2 starts with great pace and fresh plot twists every couple of pages.

We start with Adelaide Palliser and Gerald Maule falling out over the hopelessness of their situation now that Maule Abbey isn’t an option for their future home.

Then the People’s Banner launched another thunderbolt at Phineas, this time concerning the part our hero had played (together with his coterie of female admirers) in ensuring that Mr Bonteen did not become Chancellor.

A slight diversion, but next we have the trial of Mr Browborough for corruption at the Tamkerville election which had given Phineas his seat in Parliament. Although it was clear Browborough had tried to bribe his way through the election, and always had, his peers were not hypocritical enough to see him incarcerated for the crime. Instead Browborough ended up being seen as the hero of the hour, which was another bummer for Phineas.

Next we return to Lizzie Eustace, remember her from The Eustace Diamonds?, who is having difficulty in her marriage with the oily Mr Emilius. I think when we discussed The Eustace Diamonds we noted that Lizzie had fallen into arms of the Mr Emilius and hadn’t perhaps been as careful as she should have been in protecting her fortune.

Trollope has it that Lizzie has sought refuge with the Bonteens, and that Mr Bonteen has been doing some investigating on her behalf in Emilius’s home city of Prague. The investigations are targeted finding out if Emilius was in fact married when he married Lizzie, which would mean the Eustace family fortune was safe.

The first indication we have that the investigation is closing in on the truth is when the clerk that Bonteen has sent to Prague to continue the investigation is found murdered. And then, following a disagreement at their club, Bonteen is found murdered and Phineas and Emilius are arrested.

Trollope quickly informs us that Phineas is innocent and that Emilius is the cunning murderer, but of course the London bobbies don’t have the author’s insight and have to go through due process.

The death of Mr Kennedy at loughlinter

While Phineas is incarcerated we then witness the conclusion of the slow demise of Robert Kennedy, who ends up dying and leaving Loughlinter to his estranged wife, Lady Laura. Laura is one minute declaring her love for Phineas and the next in full mourning for her late husband; oh well, who minds a bit of hypocrisy if it keeps the neighbours quiet.