A Collection

Lady Molly - The Ninescore Mystery

From Lady Molly of Scotland Yard by

Baroness Orczy, 1910

The Hungarian born Baroness Orczy, artist and author, is most

famous for creating The Scarlet Pimpernel. But during her

lifetime she was known for creating many popular and unique

characters in her mystery and adventure fiction. Lady Molly of

Scotland Yard followed the rules of the day: Lady Mary worked

tirelessly learning her craft with the sole honorable scope of

freeing her wrongly convicted husband. Once she managed to

get him freed, she retired to domestic bliss. Unlike in her stories,

however, it was the Baroness’s husband, the enlightened

Montagu Barstow, who encouraged her to develop her writing

talents and make a career for herself, which she did to the ripe

old age of 82. The two stories in this collection are the first and

the last, so you can see Lady Molly’s progression, as narrated by

her colleague, Mary.

THE NINESCORE MYSTERY

I

Well, you know, some say she is the daughter of a duke, others that she was born in

the gutter, and that the handle has been soldered on to her name in order to give her style
and influence.

I could say a lot, of course, but "my lips are sealed," as the poets say. All through her
successful career at the Yard she honored me with her friendship and confidence, but when
she took me in partnership, as it were, she made me promise that I would never breathe a
word of her private life, and this I swore on my Bible oath–"wish I may die," and all the rest of
it.

Yes, we always called her "my lady," from the moment that she was put at the head of our
section; and the chief called her "Lady Molly" in our presence. We of the Female Department