Notes on the matter of the diet of Insectivorous plants of equatorial Africa

The Lyons returned to London in the autumn of 1860. No one was sure what attracted public attention more; the plant specimens or the young African assistant that Professor Lyons had brought back. Master Smith was very young, perhaps not quite ten years of age, but Professor Lyons had been reassured that he would not miss his home or parents much. Indeed, what an honour for a child of the colonies, to be entrusted with such responsibilities.   

The conservatory at Lyons’ House was famous amongst the various botanists, biologists, gentlemen naturalists, and lady painters of London. The Lyons’ private collection was rumoured to rival that of the Kew Gardens for the number and variety of exotic plants. And exotic they were. Sir Theodore Lyons the senior (now deceased) had been a contemporary of Charles Darwin and an esteemed academic at Oxford University. His son, Professor Theodore Lyons, had made his own research expedition to equatorial Africa, together with Miss Edna Lyons, the spinster daughter. They brought back many specimens of tropical plants, along with another find, Master Moses Smith.

Professor Lyons’ prize specimen was an insectivorous plant, a never before seen sub-species of the Venus fly trap. Being a swamp-dwelling plant, it was housed in the green room of the conservatory, where the humidity and air temperature was controlled by various devices and mechanisms. It was Master Smith’s job to keep the levels just right so that the heat-loving plants would survive and thrive. Miss Lyons drew and catalogued the different plants that they had brought back. She was not unkind to young Moses but she was often preoccupied with her work, bent over her drawing board, spectacles perched on the end of her thin nose. If the Professor or the other servants were harsh with Moses, it was not that she did not witness it, but she had her own matters to tend to. And in any case, despite her seniority of two years to Theodore, her unmarried status put her beneath him, a fact that he did not fail to remind her. 

As winter began its frosty caress over London, Edna taught Moses how to care for the tropical plants. The heat needed to be adjusted just so, plants were rotated to draw as much sunlight as possible, and the water levels were calculated to a fraction of an ounce. Edna and Moses fell into an easy relationship, although she was still always busy with her work. Moses had not been taught to read but he sometimes looked at the papers on her desk, admiring her illustrations. The details of the sepals, petals, stamens; they were so precise. She also had reams of papers covered in flowing copperplate, similar to what he had seen in the Professor’s office when he had been allowed in there. These were a mystery to him, but Moses assumed that they were words about the plants.

So that he could be available whenever necessary to adjust the heat and humidity for the plants, Moses was given a small room to sleep in, which was no more than a closet at the side of the conservatory. When he wasn’t tending to the plants, Professor Lyons would ask him to assist with his measurements and experiments. The Professor was especially concerned with the matter of the new Venus fly trap. He muttered to himself about taxonomy and Linnean classification. Moses answered questions about the plant’s origins and natural habitat when asked but otherwise was quiet and respectful. He had been taught how to read and write just enough to assist with the Professor’s work, but he knew better than to speak out of turn. The best part of the day was when he could return to the green room, where it was quiet and calm. If Edna was there, she would be hunched over her desk, writing by candlelight. If Moses was lucky, she would talk to him like he was a child, and not just an assistant, or worse, an exotic foreigner. 

Spring was approaching. There was excitement in the air, even in the stultified atmosphere of Lyons’ House. The Professor was elated about a paper he’d had published. A party was hosted at the house to celebrate, with visitors coming into the conservatory and the green room to observe the specimens for themselves. Moses shrank from the crowd. Edna wandered through the party, blinking agitatedly at her brother and his guests. Moses slipped out of the party and retreated to his cupboard. 

That night, long after the guests had departed, Moses was awoken by shouting from the conservatory. The Professor’s voice was easily recognised. Was the other person Edna? Moses had never heard her raise her voice before. Moses listened to her shouting accusations at her brother who laughed in response. There was the smash and shatter of glass and then the voices were no more. It had been over in a minute. Moses was not sure what had happened but he did not dare enter the conservatory.

In the morning, Moses awoke as normal to check on the heat and water in the green room. The Venus fly trap was starting to come out of its dormancy. It had survived the winter. Moses hung around the conservatory, waiting for Edna to come and start her day’s work. The morning came and went with no sign of Edna. 

The Professor strode into the conservatory in the afternoon. He did not mention his sister’s absence but simply gave Moses instructions on the measurements and observations he needed. Summoning up his courage, Moses asked in a trembling voice if Miss Lyons would be working at her desk that day. 

The Professor informed Moses that Miss Lyons was resting upstairs. “She is unwell and fatigued after last night’s affair.” Fixing Moses with a stern eye, the conversation was ended.

Moses went about his jobs for the remainder of the day with an uneasy feeling deep in his stomach. Edna did not come downstairs that evening. She did not come the next day, nor the day after that. When Moses saw the Professor next, he again summoned his courage to ask if Miss Lyons was still unwell. Clearing his throat, the Professor stated simply that his sister would not be working in the conservatory anymore. Moses kept his face blank to hide his dismay. Was he to be solely under the Professor now? And where had Edna gone? 

The Professor gave Moses a list of tasks he needed to attend to over the spring. Now that the weather was warming and the sunlight was stronger, the plants would be growing and flowering. The tropical specimens especially needed to be observed closely.  

Moses felt Edna’s absence keenly. The Professor now spent more time in the conservatory, bringing an atmosphere of conceit. Edna’s desk stayed in the corner, her folios and papers untouched as if they were waiting for her to sit down and start work again.

Spring heralded blooming growth throughout the conservatory. It also brought a series of unusual events that Moses could not find explanations for. There was nothing so extraordinary that he could pinpoint, but the safety that he used to feel in the conservatory was gradually replaced with a constant unease. Edna’s desk and her work had been rifled through at times when no one was in the conservatory. Plant pots were knocked over and smashed. Again, it was a mystery who had done such a thing, but the Professor promptly smacked Moses over the head for his clumsiness. At night, when Moses was asleep in his closet, the wind rattled the glass panes of the conservatory so hard that he thought there must be a hurricane outside, but when he dared to look out, the night sky was calm and still. 

The summer months brought unexpected heat to London. The Venus fly trap stretched higher and higher as it grew, twisting around its support. Moses continued with his duties and there was still no word of Edna. Moses had learnt not to ask questions.

The Professor was busier than ever. He was about to have a book published about his travels and scientific discoveries. He spent long days in the conservatory, muttering to himself about the Venus fly trap. Moses, making himself invisible in the shadows, sometimes heard Edna’s name in his mutterings.

As the launch of the Professor’s book approached, the unusual events gathered pace. Despite the summer heat, the conservatory was frigid at night and there was a morning when Moses was dismayed to see the plants shrunken against the intemperate weather. Only the Venus fly trap stayed green and tall. Every night there were loud creakings and rattlings. Moses thought he saw strange shadows but he could not be sure. If the moon was out, the conservatory was full of peculiar shadows and light. These shadows, however, flitted about like a creeping thief and they chilled Moses to his core.

The evening before the launch, the Professor came down to the conservatory. He looked fatigued and Moses wondered if he had heard the strange noises too, or seen the weird shadows. The Professor looked at Moses and gripped him by the shoulders. “You may hear some rumours about Miss Lyons. That is all they are. Rumours. Miss Lyons has retired to the countryside for her health. She regrets that she cannot be here. If anyone asks you, that is what you tell them.”

Moses nodded his assent and he was released. The Professor turned and left, muttering to himself. Moses retreated to his closet, scared of what might happen that night. 

He was awoken by voices in the middle of the night. Not daring to make a noise, he crept out of his closet and saw the Professor and Miss Lyons. He would have called out to her except that she was not Miss Lyons, not the living Miss Lyons, but a shimmering, white shadow that spoke to her brother in a hollow voice, making him shrink and clutch his hair in his fists. “I’m sorry!” he shouted. “It should have been your name. I stole from you, yes, now leave me alone!” The last words were howled.

The ghost of Miss Lyons moved through him and away to the dark recess of the green room. Moses shuddered and shrank back into his closet. He could not fall asleep again but he did not want to leave his hiding spot.

He must have eventually fallen asleep as he was woken by the heat of the conservatory penetrating his closet. He stepped outside, anxious about what he would see. Everything seemed normal; no plants had been overturned, nothing out of the ordinary. Moses started his rounds, checking on the plants’ water and light. If it hadn’t been for the horrifying sight that he had seen in the night, it would have been an unremarkable day.

Moses passed Edna’s desk and entered the green room. He stopped, sick to his stomach.

The Venus fly trap had grown most unnaturally, stretching up the wall behind it. Clasped in a pair of its leaves, now monstrously ballooned, the Professor’s legs protruded, swaying slightly as the plant oozed its slime over him. Moses turned and ran.

He bumped into Edna’s desk and noticed that there was an envelope with his name on it. He grabbed it but kept running through the conservatory as fast as he could. At the far end of the conservatory, he opened the envelope. There was a letter in Edna’s handwriting and a bundle of notes. He slowly read through the letter, stumbling over the long words but he understood. She had given him his escape.