Two years passed away and Mrs. Hamilton was greatly astonished one day to see Mr. Druce enter the house where she and her father were staying.
"I thought you were dead," she said naïvely.
Druce was not well pleased at the remark and continued the conversation with her father.
On another occasion Druce took Mrs. Hamilton, then a girl, to Madame Tussaud's, at which her father was angry; he also gave her money for sweets and flowers.
A great many transactions took place between her father and Druce relative to a lady whom they spoke of as "Emmy," and who was eventually sent to France, by Druce, who gave her 5,000l. This was in 1876, and Mr. Stuart went to Welbeck to arrange for the departure with her two children. She died not long afterwards. The last time that Mrs. Hamilton says she saw Druce was in 1876, when he called at her father's and complained of being unwell. He spoke of his visits to his old friend Stuart as being the happiest hours of his life. Some little time after the sham burial Mrs. Annie May Druce came to Mrs. Hamilton's father's house, and was introduced to Mrs. Hamilton as "Mrs. Druce." Another statement was made by Mrs. F. M. Wright, nee Robinson, nee Weatherell, who said that when she was 20 years of age she lived near the Baker-street Bazaar, owned by Mr. T.C. Druce, and frequently saw that gentleman. After the supposed death and burial of Mr. Druce she saw him often, and in her mind he was identical with the Duke of Portland. As to her knowledge of the Duke her father was in the service of his Grace when she was a young girl, and she was familiar with his features. Mr. Druce had a large bump on the left side of his forehead, which appeared to have been caused by a blow. The Duke also had a bump, and in her opinion this resemblance was evidence that the owner of the Baker-street Bazaar and the Duke were one and the same person. While these statements were causing some amount of public interest there was a new development in this extraordinary case. The legal proceedings commenced by Mrs. Druce were widely reported in the Press and accounts of them reached Australia, where they were read by a man pursuing the calling of a miner. His name is Mr. George Hollamby Druce, who put forward a prior claim to the Dukedom than that urged by Mrs. Druce on behalf of her son.
His contention is that the Duke, as T.C. Druce, married in October, 1816, Miss Elizabeth Crickmer, of Bury St. Edmunds, by whom he had a son named George. This youth took to a sea-faring life and eventually settled in Australia, where he had a son, namely Mr. George Hollamby Druce, whose claim to the title takes precedence of that set up by Mrs. Druce for the offspring of the second marriage with Annie May Berkeley.
The question of the exhumation of the body appears to be involved in legal technicalities as to the ownership of the vault. At one time it was vested in the son of Mrs. Druce who commenced the litigation. Then there appeared this other claimant, Mr. George Hollamby Druce, and it is said that the present owner of the vault, Mr. Herbert Druce, is not in favour of complying with Mr. G.H. Druce's wish to open it, therefore the secret of the grave remains unrevealed.
THE END
The Anchor Press, Ltd., Tiptree Heath, Essex.