Mabel's Mistake - A Cautionary Tale

Mabel was one of those middle aged ladies who tend to belong to committees, in certain types of positions. She was actually a royal pain in the butt, and difficult to get rid of, but she was an excellent organiser so she was tolerated, although she was totally unaware of the latter. She felt they couldn't do without her. As might be expected she was rather full of her own importance, and was responsible for more than a few resignations and abrupt departures from different groups around the locality. For one thing, she didn't mince her words, being acerbic, very outspoken and 'in control'. She was very involved with the village's church group and various other groups, priding herself on knowing the villagers and what they wanted. And so she held sway whatever she was involved in.

         Mabel also considered herself to be an excellent judge of character. When talking about people, one of her most oft used clichés was 'Mark my words'.        

         Rumour had it she'd once had a very close friend, but it was only rumour. No one could remember her having such a friend. Mrs Moore in the Post Office particularly dreaded her visits, as she was always ready to talk about people and what she thought about them, which Mrs Moore found embarrassing, especially when, as happened on occasion, said person came into the Post Office whilst Mabel was expounding at length on her opinions.

         One spring a couple, the Castletons, took up residence in a lovely old cottage near the local green. They were in their late 30s, early 40s, no one was exactly sure, and seemed very nice but private. The wife first joined the local church committee, and then other groups that interested her. Her husband too, became involved in village life, especially those things involving the men of the village. Nothing was known about them or where they came from and they were both adept at sidestepping inquisitive and nosey questions. But for all that people took to them. They had charisma. Mabel was determined to find out all about them, and to that end she invited the wife, Ann, to tea, shortly after they were settled in.

         Accordingly Ann walked the short distance to Mabel's little 2 up, 2 down and knocked on the door promptly at 3 pm on the designated day. She had the feeling that Mabel was a stickler for being on time, as well as other things. Ann made it her business to know about people too. As Mabel opened the door to welcome her in, she held out a beautiful bunch of roses, very obviously from her garden, and a pretty floral tin.

         'Hello. Hope I'm on time?'

         'Yes, yes. Perfectly. Thank you so much, that is very kind of you. These roses smell wonderful. Are they from your garden?'

         'Yes, aren't they delicious?' Ann proffered her hand for shaking as she stepped into the hall. 'I think the people before us must have loved roses as there are so many of them. It's a shame to let them go to waste, and I thought you might like some. The tin has a little sample of biscuits and cakes that I make. I know you are on several committees so, I thought you might like to know what I can produce for fetes and gatherings?'

         'That is a good idea, thank you. Come this way. I've just boiled the kettle for tea so if you'd like to take a seat in the lounge, I'll just go and make it.'

         Ann stepped into the small parlour and looked about her. Mabel had some lovely antiques Ann noticed and the lounge furniture was of good quality. When Mabel came in with the tray and put it down on the coffee table, Ann was sitting on the settee. They introduced themselves properly, chatted about the village, the people that lived in it, about the committees, and all sorts of things pertaining to village life, Ann gaining a very good picture of the village and villagers, with Mabel forming an opinion about Ann and her husband. Mostly it was Ann that was getting a lot of information, but Mabel was made to feel as if she was the one gaining insight into the new couple, and by the time Ann left, Mabel was bursting with importance about how much she'd found out. It was fair to say that she'd formed an opinion of the couple.

         Whenever she got the chance to waylay folks, she expounded on the fact that in her opinion they were really good people, honest and reliable, the sort the church and the village could do with. They would fit in admirably. They obviously came from good stock and had money. A definite asset to the community, and Ann would make an excellent committee member. The men of the village, the more monied men, that is, also took to Edward, Ann's husband. He and Ann had already been invited to the local squire's estate for dinner, and the vicar and his wife had them round for lunch after the first Sunday service they attended.

         And so the couple settled in and became integrated into local society. Mabel believing she'd done her bit by giving such a glowing reference for them.

         Edward caught the train to London in the mornings and returned each afternoon. Mabel had been told by Ann that he was in investments, and had done so well for himself, AND his clients, which was apparently how they were able to afford the expensive cottage property they'd bought in the village. They had a Porsche in the garage but rarely used it, and a really fancy 4x4, which they used when they went out to the squire's estate or into the nearby town for shopping. They often went up to town to spend weekends, with wealthy friends apparently, staying at hotels like the Savoy, Brown's, and Claridge's. Occasionally people came down to visit them. This information was carefully, and gradually, dripped into Mabel's pool of information.          When they returned from these excursions, Mabel, living within view of the front of their home, saw bags from Harrods, Fortnum and Mason's,  and the like, being unloaded, and occasionally the delivery vehicles of these companies would deliver shopping to their door. She was also able to pass on the news that they mostly did their ordinary grocery shopping at Waitrose, who then delivered to the house. All in all Mabel gained the impression they were well off due to Edward's success in investments, and since she seemed to know them relatively well [she often had tea with Ann] the village followed her lead in accepting that Edward made a killing for his investment clients where he worked in the City.

         It just so happened the squire, Colonel Roberts, was looking for somewhere to invest some money left to him, and had discussed this with Edward at one of his shoots. Edward gave the impression that he didn't like to mix business with pleasure, but was happy to recommend another broker to help the Colonel. Colonel Roberts said he'd think about it. He appreciated Edwards integrity.

         Of course, servants talk, and Colonel Roberts and his wife had a housekeeper and a local char as well as a gardener, who lived on the estate with his wife. So, eventually it reached Mabel's ears that the Colonel had asked Edward about investing and during her next tea with Ann she mentioned this. Ann brushed it off as Edward and the Colonel's business and said Edward didn't like to talk about other people's money nor work with money of people he knew, as this could lead to complications and gossip. She asked Mabel not to talk about it in the village, knowing full well that Mabel wouldn't be able to help herself!

         Mabel expounded at length at her various tea gatherings, about how honest and full of integrity the couple were. That if one was going to invest anything with anyone she thought Edward would be a good bet.

         'I, myself, have a small nest egg that I'm thinking of asking him to invest on my behalf through his company. I've investigated them, and they have a website. They appear to be well placed and known in the City, too.' Mabel was heard to tell Mrs Moore, in the Post Office, and of course that was passed around too.

         It wasn't long before various people in the village approached Edward, separately and in confidence, to ask his advice on the matter of investments. They were all told he preferred not to handle investments for people he knew.

         Came the day when Edward, apparently due to the pressure of all the information being passed around the village, gave in and agreed to invest money on behalf of those in the village. Everyone who'd asked him got very excited. Visions of cruises and house improvements abounded. A meeting in the church hall was duly arranged for Edward to explain how it worked, and in particular how a group investment worked, which was what he'd suggested to those he'd spoken to. Quite a number of residents turned up for the meeting, Mabel noted. Now she knew who had little nest eggs too.

         At the meeting Edward explained that for people with smaller amounts to invest, it could be beneficial to do a group investment so that there was a decent sized portfolio that could be spread across different investments, which would be safer as well. Of course, being privy to each person's nest egg he'd worked out a basic investment amount for each person, which amounted to quite a large sum in total, though in some cases did not include the whole of everyone's personal nest egg. Everyone, including Mabel, was eager to move their investments across to the company Edward worked for and the plan went ahead. The squire was not interested in a group investment apparently, so Edward planned to speak to him separately on the quiet.

         And so the paperwork was all sorted out and a good number of the villagers looked forward to getting a good return on their group investment portfolio at the next half yearly payout. Meantime, Ann and Edward were invited out to Colonel Roberts estate and he and Edward discussed an investment opportunity that apparently sounded interesting to the Colonel. Edward agreed to be involved in handling this portfolio.

         Unbeknownst to Edward, Colonel Roberts was no one's fool, and got his lawyer involved without Edward knowing.

~~~

         Mabel woke up one morning and on drawing her curtains noticed something odd about the property belonging to Ann and Edward. She thought she must be mistaken, trick of the light and her cataracts, and got on with her morning's work before picking up her basket to go to the village to do a bit of shopping. On her way out of the front gate, she happened to look across at the house again, and realised that the curtains were missing. She felt a flutter of something in her stomach and crossing the road, opened the gate and walked up the garden path. Sure enough, the curtains were gone. She stepped off onto the grass and peered through the bay window at the front. Everything was gone! The place was empty, as if no one had ever lived there! She went around to the back and found the same thing there when she looked in. She began to panic. Ann hadn't said anything about moving. And she'd heard nothing during the night, although there had been a hectic wind.

         She hurried down to the Post Office and found a number of people in there wanting to know where the Castletons had gone, why, what was going on, what about their money? Mabel felt ill. As her basket dropped to the floor everyone turned to look at her. She realised she had been the one to promote the couple to all and sundry. She fell to the floor just as the door bell pinged again to announce the squire's char with a message for those in the village who had invested with Edward Castleton. They were all to congregate in the church hall. There was a mad dash for the door, leaving Mabel lying prostate, her basket kicked aside. Mrs Moore, had grabbed her own coat and so was still there to help Mabel up off the floor and assist her in getting to the hall as well, once they had found Mabel's basket.

         The squire was there waiting for them all, looking dignified and serious and what he had to say was not good.

         'When I heard that Edward Castleton had suggested a group investment scheme to so many of the villagers and he came to me and offered me a too-good-to-be-true investment opportunity, I decided to have him investigated. Ann and Edward Castleton are not their names as it turns out and they've made a habit of moving to places like ours, renting a good property, entrenching themselves with the locals, building trust, before dangling investment carrots and then disappearing with everyone's funds.'

         Gasps of dismay, fright, anger, and worried moans were heard around the hall. Mabel was sitting at the back with Mrs Moore. She was weeping silently, realising she'd lost most of her money, and as people turned to look at her angrily, she saw the blame in their eyes and faces. Lacking the Castletons to latch onto she was the one they were blaming because they'd all trusted her character judgement and supposed knowledge. .

         'The police are hot on the trail of the Castletons, which is why they fled so precipitously during the night, but I'm sure they'll be apprehended soon. The senior detective in charge of the case and his team will be visiting you, each in turn, to gather information It'll be in your own interests to be as forthcoming as possible. Providing the couple can be caught before they get out of the country or go to ground, maybe you will get back some, if not all, of your monies back.'

         The detective and chief inspector then both spoke to the group after which people left, glaring at Mabel as they did so. She bent her head so she didn't have to see their blame and anger. Mrs Moore felt sorry for her. Mabel looked grey and peculiar, really ill, and Mrs Moore said she would accompany her home and make tea for her, the only one of the villagers to feel at all charitable. Mrs Moore realised that Mabel was like a deflated balloon. Mabel,  along with the other villagers had also had the wool pulled well and truly over her eyes. She felt that though Mabel had been the prime instigator in getting the villagers to trust the Castletons, they really only had themselves to blame. They were greedy and hadn't bothered to check up for themselves. Still, she also felt it was a lesson, albeit hard learned, for Mabel, who was never again to be heard gossiping or getting involved in people's lives or indeed, village life. She resigned all her posts and withdrew into herself, spending her time in her garden or knitting, her only friend, Mrs Moore, who came to tea once a week with her.

         The villagers, it was to be hoped, also learnt some lessons, but  although they did all get much of their money back, they never forgave Mabel.

         The moral of the story? Well, never base your knowledge on someone else's say so for one, it might cost you dearly, and for another, don't be a busybody. Eventually it will come back to bite you.