So many questions: Ambrose & James

What we know: Ambrose Lister

• Anglo-Irish, English accent, very intelligent, born in 1923.
• Kind brown eyes, wears thick round glasses. Has a fluff of blonde hair, is small/short.
• Merry’s godfather
• Got a book on Greek gods when he was young and gave one to Merry when she was a little girl
• Last time he was in west cork visiting James was around 1971.
• Retired from Trinity around 1993, was head of the department.
• Loved Merry unconditionally.
• Told her about tea at Claridge’s in London, and that his parents always used to stay there when they had business or a social event in London.
• Lived on Merrion square in Dublin.
• He is 85 in 2008.
• Dressed in an old tweed jacket, checked shirt, dark green bow tie.
• Last trip to Greece, Sparta around 1998.
• In 1959, he just completed his DPhil at Trinity, just promoted to research fellow
• Travelled down to west cork to visit James once per month
• At 11 he was at a catholic school where the order that ran the school were preparing the students to become missionaries in West Africa
• He has a bad chest, like Orlando and Tiggy.
• Terrified of travelling far.
• Heir to an Anglo-Irish dynasty, his family had once owned half of Wicklow 300 years ago.
• Lord lister’s son had left land to tenants, so future listers only had a vast mansion with little means to support it. The generosity had saved the house from being burnt during the war of independence.
• His father still lived in 1949.
• His mother died young, left him a trust fund she had from her own parents.
• Only child in 1949, then he was 26.
• Would have preferred to name Merry something Greek like Athena or Antigone.
• Believes it was destiny that Merry showed up on the doorstep whilst he was there and Mrs Cavanagh was off + that it was the same time that Maggie lost her baby girl.

Whoever dropped Merry on Father O’Brien’s footstep either knew that Mrs. Cavanagh would be off and/or that Ambrose would be there and that they would make sure Merry was taken care of. We know that Merry is Pa Salt’s biological daughter and that she was born at Argideen House. We believe Elle is her mother, but we are not sure what happened before and during the birth.

Is Pa Salt and Ambrose the same person?

I have read that some people suspect Ambrose and Pa Salt being the same person. Which totally makes sense as they do share a lot of characteristics – and the age.

Here is why I do not think its is the same person:

1. Ambrose is terrified of travelling far, so him visiting all the seven corners of the world seems unlikely. Unless he sent someone else to adopt all the girls.
2. He grew up in Ireland, and lived his whole life in Dublin, not Atlantis.
3. He loved James, not Merry’s mother. If I did not miss anything, he does not even know who her biological mother is.
4. If Pa Salt is the (orphan) boy in Paris, Bo in Germany, the man in Spain and Mr. Tanit, then he could not have been in Ireland at the same time as the above persons were in France, Germany, Norway, Scotland, England, Spain and America.

What we know: James/ Father O’Brien

• He lived close to Argideen House, where Merry was born.
• Merry was left at his doorstep in the night when Ambrose was at his house, and Mrs Cavanagh was off. In a wicker basket, with the star ring inside.
  • Merry looked well nourished, big baby, probably a difficult delivery.
  • Assumed family who had left her was well-off.
  • Why was she left there and exactly then?
  • Maggie came to clean that Sunday morning in November, having just lost her own newborn girl the day before.
• He was a priest and Ambose’s friend, also grew up in Dublin.
• Went to boarding school with Ambrose 25 years ago (in 1930)
• His maid was Mrs Cavanagh – that previously worked for Mrs. Fitzgerald at the Big House/ Argideen House
  • She left the big house in 1948, and started working for him.
• Very accepted in the new community in Cork.
• Suggested Merry applied to a scholarship in 1961 at Trinity after her adopted mother died. He made all the arrangements with Ambrose.