Fife House

Fife House, at the time of the Restoration of English Magic, was the London residence of Lord Liverpool, he having bought it after the decease of the noble Scottish earl for whom it is named. No doubt its convenient situation on Whitehall recommended it to his lordship, for to be frank little else could. Our generous authoress refers to it as "quaint" and "rambling", but it is in all honesty an architectural hodge-podge built over many years by many hands and moreover, owing to its situation on the banks of the river, notoriously subject to damp.

It is to Fife House that Sir Walter Pole has unfortunately gone when Mr. Strange calls at his office in Whitehall with a view to discovering the identity of the mysterious person whom his wife always refers to as "the gentleman with the thistledown hair". Both are under the false impression this gentleman is a sort of permanent guest of Sir Walter's, and Strange's curiosity regarding him has been roused sufficiently for him to call with an enquiry. Unluckily - because Sir Walter is absent and his private secretary can give no information on the matter - he never gets any further with his quest before dismissing it from his mind and leaving for his estate at Ashfair.[39]

Had Sir Walter been present, rather than at Fife House, he would have enlightened Mr. Strange. He has no such guest. Mrs. Strange has been in very queer company indeed.