Mr. Stoneyheart Makes a Proposal

Miss O’Riley was shattered by her recent experience. While the police had recovered her stolen paintings and her gallery looked as it always had, she was a changed woman. She no longer felt the same pleasure in her work and each morning was a trial for her, bringing back all the shock she had felt when she discovered the burglary. She also felt confused and unhappy because Old Bert apparently was the thief, someone she had trusted and felt was her friend. More and more she turned to Mr. Stoneyheart for his advice and support.

Mr. Stoneyheart had been paying a great deal of attention to Miss O’Riley throughout all this. He listened to her worries and took her out to dinner frequently in an attempt to raise her spirits. For Miss O’Riley this was the only bright spot during this bleak time.

One day Mr. Stoneyheart IM’d Miss O’Riley saying he had an idea about her gallery and wanted to discuss it with her. Miss O’Riley was of course very anxious to hear what Mr. Stoneyheart had to say so she invited him over right away.

Mr. Stoneyheart and Miss O’Riley sat down in her office where Mr. Stoneyheart brought out a briefcase.

“I know that you have been going through a very difficult time lately and I have been wondering how I could help you. “

Miss O’Riley was pleased to hear this.

Mr. Stoneyheart continued “I have a proposal to make to you. I know how much you love the gallery and I am sorry to see you in such distress. You seem to be getting no happiness from your work here and that should not be. Nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to see you as you were before the robbery, the lovely young woman I first met a few months ago.”

“I would like to invest in your business so that you never worry about the finances again. Of course you would still run the gallery, but I would be able to take a more formal role in advising you, and in this way take the day to day cares off your shoulders.”

With that Mr. Stoneyheart opened his briefcase and showed Miss O’Riley more cash than she had ever seen in her life. Miss O’Riley jumped out of her seat and stared with astonishment at the opened briefcase. For the moment she was struck dumb.

Mr. Stoneyheart also presented a document for her to sign which would give him partnership in the Tissot Gallery. Miss O’Riley was still in shock, but gradually was beginning to comprehend what he had said. She looked at him for a moment, then said “Does this mean that we would be partners?”
Mr. Stoneyheart assented. “Yes, we would be partners together in this business. What do you think about that?”
Miss O’Riley glowed at the prospect of a partnership with Mr. Stoneyheart. She replied “Oh Mercy, nothing would make me happier!”

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Detective Braveheart Takes Charge

Old Bert got up bright and early, enthusiastically anticipating the coming day. He showered, got dressed and had a good breakfast, all in preparation for his time at the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery, followed by an evening with Daisy, perhaps going to a movie. He washed his dishes and left everything neat and tidy, then went off to work.

Miss Merriweather was at the gallery when he arrived. He was pleased to see her; they had become great friends as well as colleagues. As he entered the shop Miss Merriweather called “Old Bert, come and see this, something strange is going on!” Old Bert went over to where Miss Merriweather was standing with a puzzled expression on her face. There at the back of the gallery were a few paintings by Tissot.

Old Bert said “Maybe Mr. Stoneyheart has decided to branch out and start telling Tissots as well as Pre-Raphaelites. But it is very odd since there is already the Tissot Gallery not too far from here.”

While Old Bert was speaking Miss Merriweather read the notecards that had arrived while she was offline. Included was one from the SL Police that had been sent to gallery owners and managers following the robbery. Miss Merriweather read it aloud, scarcely believing what she was saying.

“Old Bert listen to this!”

“Yesterday a burglary took place at the Tissot Gallery in Victoriana Harbour. Artworks by James Tissot were taken from the gallery. A list of the works in question has been attached to this note. We are warning all gallery owners to immediately report any avatars who approach them with any of these works. In addition, a witness has described someone whom we consider an avatar of interest. This avatar is elderly, shorter than average and known as “Old Bert”. If you should see this avatar or know of anything related to this burglary please IM Detective Braveheart.”

Miss Merriweather and Old Bert stared at each other in shock.

“Miss Merriweather, I don’t understand” Old Bert stammered. “I have visited the Tissot Gallery, but I would never steal those paintings! How can anyone say it was me!”

Miss Merriweather replied “Of course I know that, Old Bert. But how did these paintings end up here? This makes no sense.”

Just at that moment Dectective Braveheart entered the gallery, joining Old Bert and Miss Merriweather. He spotted the artworks and turned towards Old Bert saying “How do you explain this?”

“I don’t know, I have no idea” cried Old Bert.

“Where were you last evening?”

“I was working here in the gallery until 9 pm. Then I returned home.”

“Did anyone see you here?”

“No, it was a quiet night; no one came into the gallery.”

“What about at home, did anyone see you there?”

“No, I live alone, no one else was about.”

The detective then asked Miss Merriweather what she had been doing.

“Last night I went out with some friends, we went to see Ballet Pixelle and then on to a club.”

“You’ll have to give me the names of your friends Miss Merriweather.”

“So Old Bert, were you in this alone?” Detective Braveheart demanded.

“I haven’t done anything, I don’t know where those paintings came from!”

“We have a witness who says you were in the Tissot Gallery moving paintings around.”

“There must be some mistake. I have been to the Tissot Gallery, but not for a while and I have never moved any paintings around there.”

“Well, Old Bert, you’ll have to come with me.”

Old Bert was frantic.

“Miss Merriweather, help me, please help me!”

Miss Merriweather addressed the detective saying “I’m sure there is some dreadful mistake here. Old Bert is very reliable and honest. Someone else must have done this.”

But Detective Braveheart was unmoved. “I’m sorry, but I have to take Old Bert with me while we investigate further.” And with that he took Old Bert off to the police station.

Miss Merriweather was stunned by this turn of events. She reported what had happened to Mr. Stoneyheart, and then remembering how much Old Bert had talked about Daisy, she decided to contact her to let her know what had happened.

While all this was taking place Daisy was doing some shopping, thinking about the evening ahead. When she received the IM from Miss Merriweather and learned what had happened she was overcome and burst into tears. She soon rallied, realizing that Old Bert needed her. She immediately tp’d over to the police station, where she was allowed to see Old Bert.

What a sight met her eyes! Poor Old Bert was in a cell, collapsed on a bench in the corner. When he heard the sound of footsteps he looked up and upon seeing Daisy, leapt to his feet and ran over to the bars, trying in vain to hug her.

“Oh, Bert” whispered Daisy over and over. Old Bert just looked at her, unable to speak.
“What happened?”

“I just don’t know” he replied. “I don’t understand any of it.”

They stood together a little while longer. Finally Daisy said “I’ll find out. I know this is a terrible mistake. Miss Merriweather feels the same. We’ll get to the bottom of this, don’t you worry. Try and remain strong, remember we are working for you.”

With that Daisy was told she had to leave. Poor Old Bert was left all alone in his cell. After watching Daisy leave, he threw up his arms in despair, crying “How can this be? What will happen to me?”

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The Investigation Begins

Poor Miss O’Riley was completely overcome. She had sunk all her savings into the venture and couldn’t see how she was going to recover from this blow. She wandered around the empty gallery, then went upstairs to her apartment and just sat for a while, her mind going over and over what she had just seen. After a few minutes had passed she began to revive and called the police. A handsome officer named Detective Braveheart came right over.
Detective Braveheart asked Miss O’Riley for a list of the works that had been stolen. Being an organized woman she had one at hand, with titles, descriptions and pictures of the artworks that had been stolen. As Miss O’Riley began to focus on the work ahead of her, her mood changed from one of despair to anger at the person who had done this to her.
The detective inquired if she had seen any suspicious people in her gallery recently, but she said no. Various residents of the sim had dropped by, as well as some friends of hers, but nothing out of the way had happened, at least not while she was in-world. Unfortunately the welcome mat only recorded the number of visitors to the gallery and not the names, so there was no way of telling who had been in. Over the holidays there had been a slight increase in numbers, but that was to be expected.
After talking for a while with Miss O’Riley, Detective Braveheart left and began to search the area around the gallery. He also spoke with some of the neighbours. One man did recall seeing someone in the gallery moving artworks around, but he did not think anything of it at the time. The man said the visitor was shorter than average and older, too, with grey hair. When asked if he could recall the name of the avatar, the neighbour said he thought it was something like “Old Bert”.
In the meantime, Miss O’Riley sent an urgent IM to Mr. Stoneyheart, begging him to come right over as something dreadful had happened and she needed his help.

With thanks to Boye Jervil for the photograph of Old Bert moving frames.

A New Year Dawns

Old Bert enjoyed the holiday season very much. He and Daisy continued seeing each other, going to holiday parties together, visiting art galleries,

dancing and touring different sims. They enjoyed a lovely carriage ride around Victoriana on Christmas Eve and exchanged Christmas presents.

On the professional front things were going well, too. Old Bert by this point had settled into his job at the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery and was taking on more responsibilities as he grew familiar with the sim and with the artworks belonging to the gallery. It was one of the happiest times of Old Bert’s life.

Mr. Stoneyheart continued from strength to strength personally and professionally. He had managed to reassure Gloria after their disastrous weekend cruise. At the same time he kept in touch with Miss O’Riley, the Tissot Gallery owner, maintaining a watchful eye on that particular enterprise. Miss O’Riley, of course, was very pleased about this.

Then one day early in the New Year Miss O’Riley arrived at work to discover that all the artworks, except the free gift painting, had been stolen. She stood and stared at the empty walls in horror and as it all began to sink in she burst into tears and began running frantically from room to room, trying to make sense of what she saw. She so desperately wanted everything to be just as it had been when she left work the night before. But that could not be. A burglary had taken place and all her paintings were gone!

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Mr. Stoneyheart Gets Down to Business

One day after work, Old Bert decided to go back to Victoriana Harbour and visit the Tissot Gallery. He walked along Knightsbridge Avenue and down towards the Harbour, admiring the scenery as he went and observing that winter was upon them. Feeling the nip in the air, he decided that he needed to get his winter gear out and would do that as soon as he got home.
Arriving at the Tissot Gallery he was pleased to see that the owner was present, as he had not had to opportunity to talk with her last time. Miss O’Riley welcomed Old Bert and invited him in for a cup of tea.

They had a very pleasant chat about the artworks on display and life in general in the Victoriana sims. Miss O’Riley told Old Bert that she had decided to open the gallery because she admired the work of James Tissot - his attention to detail, especially to the clothing of the ladies he portrayed, the astute understanding of and humourous approach to the depiction of every day life, but most of all by the warmth of the domestic scenes the artist had painted of his love and muse, Kathleen Newton. Theirs was a tragic love story. James Tissot (born Joseph-Jacques Tissot in Nantes, France) had come to England to live and work. He became a successful artist and was accepted by the society of the day. Then he met Kathleen Newton, a beautiful young divorcée and they fell in love. The couple did not marry, but lived together in Tissot’s house in St. John’s Wood. This meant that Tissot was no longer accepted in society, so instead he stayed quietly home with Mrs. Newton and her two children, entertaining artist friends and those who accepted the relationship. Unfortunately Mrs. Newton died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis, and Tissot returned to France.

Old Bert, being a soft hearted avatar, was touched by the story and by Miss O’Riley’s decision to bring Tissot’s art into Second Life. He thought Daisy would enjoy seeing the paintings, too, so he planned on bringing her to the gallery sometime.
While Old Bert was busy finding his new life, Merciless0413 Stoneyheart continued running his businesses and advancing his relationship with Gloria. Mr. Stoneyheart was currently doing the rounds of all his businesses, visiting his managers and keeping up to date with all that was going on. One day he stopped into the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery, as he was the owner, to discuss the business with its manager, Miss Merriweather.

Miss Merriweather showed Mr. Stoneyheart the accounts and reported on all that had happened at the gallery since his last visit. She told him “I have hired Old Bert as my assistant. He is a very good worker and easy to get along with. He keeps the gallery in order and has even helped me install some of the artworks as he has some good ideas about display.” Mr. Stoneyheart answered “Yes, I know Old Bert and thought when you first mentioned him that he would make a good employee. He rents an apartment in one of my buildings. He is always punctual with his payments and is a quiet tenant. I am sure he will be an asset here. Has anything else happened since my last visit?”

Miss Merriweather thought for a moment, then replied “Well, the sims recently made it into the SL Showcase, so traffic has increased.” Mr. Stoneyheart was pleased to hear this. She continued on “And a new gallery has opened in Victoriana Harbour, the Tissot Gallery.” Mr. Stoneyheart mulled this over. “Tissot is an interesting painter, perhaps I will go have a look at the gallery. This may bring more people who are interested in 19th Century art into Victoriana.” He then took his leave saying “Thank you, Miss Merriweather, as usual you are doing an excellent job. I will see you again next month”.

Mr. Stoneyheart left the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery and made his way to the Tissot Gallery. He was pleased to see Miss O’Riley was there and upon entering the gallery said “Hello Miss O’Riley, my name is Mercy Stoneyheart. As a fellow gallery owner I would like to welcome you to the neighbourhood.”

Miss O’Riley was quite taken with Mr. Stoneyheart’s charming and open manner as well as his striking appearance. She thanked him for coming, showing him the gallery and then inviting him to her office so they could have a chat about the art business.

Miss O’Riley confided that she was new to the business. Mr. Stoneyheart observed that she seemed to have a great love of the works of Tissot and communicating the passion she felt was going to help her in making a success of her business. He went on “I, too, am a great admirer of this artist, particularly because of his devotion to Mrs. Newton. Who could not be touched by that?”
Miss O’Riley was delighted by this, feeling that there was a bond between Mr. Stoneyheart and herself. As Mr. Stoneyheart rose to leave, he shook her hand warmly, saying “I look forward to seeing you again in the future. If you have any questions about running your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch. I’d be very pleased to help. ”

Miss O’Riley, with sparkling eyes and a happy smile responded that she would indeed look forward to their next meeting.

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Old Bert at the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery

Old Bert enjoyed working at the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery. After the initial training period he was soon comfortable enough to work alone in the gallery, answering questions, chatting with visitors and even re-arranging the artworks on occasion. He also became more familiar with Victoriana Square and its residents, so all in all Old Bert was very happy.

After having worked in the Square for a little while Old Bert decided that he should get to know the rest of the sims in the Nation of Victoriana, so one day instead of tp’ing directly into the gallery he decided to take a boat into Victoriana Harbour, a sim adjacent to Victoriana Square, and work his way up to the gallery from there. Old Bert arrived at the harbour and descended from the boat onto the quay. He walked up to some of the fine shops bordering the harbour area, discovering that there was an art gallery in this sim, too. The Tissot Gallery was smaller than the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery and devoted to the work of one artist only, James Tissot, a French artist who spent much of his career in London, around the same time as some of the Pre-Raphaelite artists whose work was on display in Old Bert’s gallery. Old Bert had a quick look around and determined to come back another day when the owner was present.

From there he walked along the promenade, passing more shops until finally reaching the Victoriana Library. Old Bert was pleased to find a library and chose a couple of books to take home with him.

As time was getting on, Old Bert made his way to the Victoriana Harbour Train Station and took the train to Victoriana Square.

He crossed the square to the gallery and began to get ready for the workday, washing the floor and otherwise ensuring that the gallery was sparkling clean and welcoming to visitors.

Old Bert truly enjoyed being surrounded by such beauty and did all he could to make sure that others felt the same pleasure he did.

Later on that day a visitor entered the gallery. She had never been to the Victoriana sims before but like Old Bert was an art lover and had discovered the gallery while doing a tour of the art galleries of Second Life.
Old Bert and the lady began to talk, stopping in front of a beautiful and very romantic painting, “The Black Brunswicker”, in which a young lady is saying good-bye to her handsome beau before he goes off to war. It was an affecting piece, capturing the emotion of the moment, and both the visitor, whose name was Daisy, and Old Bert, were quite taken with it.

Old Bert escorted Daisy around the rest of the gallery, and on reaching the top floor he invited her to have a cup of tea with him. They sat together for quite a while, engrossed in conversation. Finally Daisy rose from her seat, thanking Old Bert for the tea. Old Bert very much hoped that he would see her again and said so as he nervously offered her friendship. Daisy happily accepted.

With thanks to Boye Jervil for photographs of Old Bert

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