Strong Poison - 9-12
Strong Poison - chapters 9-12
WHERE WE LEFT OFF: THE POLICE HAVE FOUND SOMETHING making Peter dance and his ex-girlfriend mope. What a professional and unbiased detective he is in this case.
Summary
Bunter: Good day, ladies.
Mrs Pettican (cook) and Hannah Westlock (maid): ♥ ♥ ♥ Crumpets?
Me: BUNTER ♥ ♥ ♥ :D
Bunter: I can also cook. Now, let’s have a perfectly innocent gossip about the murder with no ulterior motives at all.
Mrs Pettican: Well it wasn’t my cooking, tyvm. Oh, and Mr U is away at the moment with some elderly relative called Mrs Wrayburn who used to be an actress and is due to kick the bucket soon. YOU WILL COME BACK AGAIN SOON, RIGHT, MR BUNTER?
Bunter: That would be lovely, but I’m not sure I can.
Me: BUNTER ♥ PAY ATTENTION TO ME. I LOVE YOU.
***
Parker: LOOK, WE FOUND THE PUB BOYES WENT TO. WILL YOU STOP HARPING ON ABOUT OUR MISTAKES NOW?
Lord P: Hmmm... NO.
Mrs Bulfinch: [highly important story about Boyes entering said pub and drinking something with WHITE POWDER OMG]
Lord P: :D :D SUICIDE. YESSSSSSS. HARRIET WILL BE OUT BY TOMORROW.
Parker: We’re still looking for the powder, you plonker.
***
Crofts (Harriet’s solicitor): YOU TOLD PARKER? YOU MUPPET.
Lord P: YOU THINK HARRIET IS GUILTY, YOU DOUCHENOZZLE.
***
Lord P: HI. I’M HERE TO CLEAR HARRIET. HELP ME, Y/N?
Norman Urquhart: Sure. Why not? Turns out Mrs Wrayburn and Cremorna Garden are the same person and she didn’t leave anything to Philip Boyes. Tell you what, I’ll share some legal documents with you just to make your life super easy.
Lord P: ... OK.
Miss Murchison (of the Cattery, now with exciting career in legal office): *Hunts for deed box and avoids Lord P’s eye*
Norman U: WHOOPS. IT LOOKS LIKE I LEFT THE USEFUL BIT OF PAPER AT HOME.
Lord P: I’ll be around tomorrow for breakfast! :D AND THEN I’M SURE HARRIET WILL BE FREE TO GO.
***
Lord P: HIIIII. Not that I am working hard at this case.
Norman U: *YAWNS* COFFEEEE. Also, here’s a draft of Mrs Wrayburn’s will where she says “NO MONEY TO PHILIP BOYES EVER EVER EVER. HIS FAMILY WERE MEAN TO ME SO SUCKS TO BE HIM.”
Lord P: Um... maybe suicide, then? *HOPES*
***
Lord P: YOU FANCIED SOMEONE BEFORE I CAME ALONG. WOE. D:
Harriet: *Raises eyebrow* You are not convincing me this marriage could ever work you know.
Lord P: OOH. MAYBE YOU COULD GET JEALOUS TOO. HAVE I MENTIONED BARBARA?
Harriet: Who?
Lord P: \o/ I HAVE INSPIRED JEALOUSY.
***
Lord P: *Gets home* *Reads report from Miss Murchison which appears to have been typed on the exact same machine that the will he read at Norman’s that morning was written on* *smells something fishy* *WRITES NOTE TO HER*
***
Lord P: *Goes home for Xmas*
Various society friends: LOL HARRIET DUNNIT. Also, Boyes’s books were so APPALLING we had to read them all to find out what they were about.
Lord P: D:
Dowager Duchess: *DISTRACTS*
Freddy: HI, I’M GETTING MARRIED. :D To the daughter of the man whose murder you solved in Whose Body? Also, Urquhart’s made some dodgy investments.
***
Lady Mary: Hi, brother. You look like shit.
Lord P: TY. How’s Parker? ARE YOU AND HIM STILL SEEING EACH OTHER? He’s nice, you know. Very nice. Lovely bloke. Great friend.
Lady M: HE HASN’T ASKED ME YET, PETER. :(
Lord P: ... I’ll have a word with him.
Proposals
None from Peter to Harriet, but we do get Freddy being all :D at being engaged and Lady Mary saying she would say yes if only Parker got over himself and actually asked her.
Quotes, Slang, References
Peter is a remarkably quiet git in these chapters. I didn’t notice anything much from him at all. That said, if I’ve missed something, feel free to hit me with it.
Mrs Bulfinch says “you know what these policemen are like” to Lord P (referring to Parker’s flirting) and Wimsey replies with “Sad dogs”. Slang of some sort?
Mrs B also states she was worried that Boyes’s powder might be “snow”. What sort of drug is that?
Since I’ve been asked about this by someone, when Lord P says he’s “had [his] morning nosebag” he means breakfast. A nosebag is a thing horses eat out of, so he’s just being daft. I don’t know if this was actually slang that was used or just him. Probably the latter.
“Barbara celarent darii ferio baralipton.” Latin, right? Translation anyone? Feel free to argue about exactly which verb and tense in the comments. I HAVE SEEN WHAT LATIN TRANSLATION COMMENT THREADS END UP LIKE.
Thoughts on Lord P’s position in society
I wasn’t sure if there was anything srs bsns to discuss within these chapters - perhaps the jealousy issue in Harriet and Peter’s relationship, but that honestly seems like the least of their issues - so I emailed Gina to ask if there was anything she’d bring up.
From her reply (which she probably did not expect to be quoted, but I have to go do work very shortly):
You could talk about Peter's relationship with his family, his ambivalence at the obligations associated with his nobility, etc. You could contrast his familial relations with those he has with Bunter and others, like Parker, Marjorie, even Miss Climpson, and certainly those he's trying to forge with Harriet.
Peter doesn't quite fit into either world--he's not really all that enthusiastic about his title (and would run screaming from a Dukedom), yet he's nobility through and through (I'm thinking of his "ring the bell" answer to the question of what to do when one finds one's water bottle empty [Later on in Strong Poison]). He can move around with ease in Bohemia or go to Rumm's house and eat trotters with his family, but he's playing a part when he's there more than genuinely assimilating, IMO.
He trusts Bunter more than anyone else (allowing only Bunter to see him with PTSD), but still he still firmly maintains that line between master and servant. I think that, as a topic, that will have to wait for full discussion until we've read more of the books (maybe even until Busman's Honeymoon), but it's worth bringing up, maybe.
Makes me think a little of the idea that while the working and middle classes can be crazy, nobility is merely “eccentric”. Peter might not be typical of his class, but he can get away with it precisely because he is of his class.
Another thing I feel bears saying (and forgive me if I’m patronising - I’m used to very American-filled fandoms, and I have no idea how many Brits are here) is that I don’t believe class in the UK has changed all that much since these books were written. On the surface, yes - butlers and valets are no longer the standard thing, and most of the middle classes won’t have a maid or cleaner or anything like that - but go down any deeper and there are still some really fundamental boundaries between the classes. The nobility still exist and you can bet that some of them still talk a lot of piffle!
Anything else
1. Mrs Bulfinch mentions she was having a conversation about “prohibitionists” and licensing hours being moved forward. Was there a significant movement of the sort back in the day? It sounds like they’re a powerful lobby? Or at least, that they have a voice. It’s at odds with my perception of the country these days, but I have spent the past four years a student...
2. I don’t have my copy of the book with me, which has a “biography” supposedly written by Paul Delagardie in the back. Am I remembering wrong when I recall that Barbara was the one discussed at length in that biography? If so, can someone who does have it summarise for anyone who doesn’t? TY.
3. Rachel Levy, Freddy’s betrothed, is Jewish and Freddy is not. He says he “got round Lady Levy by sayin’ I had served nearly seven years for Rachel - that was rather smart, don’t you think?” The context of the conversation makes me think this is some reference to something Jewish but... yeah... I haven’t the foggiest what he’s on about. He says he thought of it in church while reading a bible “and I said to myself, ‘I’ll work that off next time I call,’ and so I did, and the old lady was uncommonly touched by it.” And something about “old Laban”? The whole exchange confuses the crap out of me. I barely know anything about Christianity, let alone Judaism.
NEXT MONDAY: we hope to get someone else involved! Head on over to THIS POST HERE to sign up. Gina and I can’t do every week, after all.
WHERE WE LEFT OFF: THE POLICE HAVE FOUND SOMETHING making Peter dance and his ex-girlfriend mope. What a professional and unbiased detective he is in this case.
Summary
Bunter: Good day, ladies.
Mrs Pettican (cook) and Hannah Westlock (maid): ♥ ♥ ♥ Crumpets?
Me: BUNTER ♥ ♥ ♥ :D
Bunter: I can also cook. Now, let’s have a perfectly innocent gossip about the murder with no ulterior motives at all.
Mrs Pettican: Well it wasn’t my cooking, tyvm. Oh, and Mr U is away at the moment with some elderly relative called Mrs Wrayburn who used to be an actress and is due to kick the bucket soon. YOU WILL COME BACK AGAIN SOON, RIGHT, MR BUNTER?
Bunter: That would be lovely, but I’m not sure I can.
Me: BUNTER ♥ PAY ATTENTION TO ME. I LOVE YOU.
***
Parker: LOOK, WE FOUND THE PUB BOYES WENT TO. WILL YOU STOP HARPING ON ABOUT OUR MISTAKES NOW?
Lord P: Hmmm... NO.
Mrs Bulfinch: [highly important story about Boyes entering said pub and drinking something with WHITE POWDER OMG]
Lord P: :D :D SUICIDE. YESSSSSSS. HARRIET WILL BE OUT BY TOMORROW.
Parker: We’re still looking for the powder, you plonker.
***
Crofts (Harriet’s solicitor): YOU TOLD PARKER? YOU MUPPET.
Lord P: YOU THINK HARRIET IS GUILTY, YOU DOUCHENOZZLE.
***
Lord P: HI. I’M HERE TO CLEAR HARRIET. HELP ME, Y/N?
Norman Urquhart: Sure. Why not? Turns out Mrs Wrayburn and Cremorna Garden are the same person and she didn’t leave anything to Philip Boyes. Tell you what, I’ll share some legal documents with you just to make your life super easy.
Lord P: ... OK.
Miss Murchison (of the Cattery, now with exciting career in legal office): *Hunts for deed box and avoids Lord P’s eye*
Norman U: WHOOPS. IT LOOKS LIKE I LEFT THE USEFUL BIT OF PAPER AT HOME.
Lord P: I’ll be around tomorrow for breakfast! :D AND THEN I’M SURE HARRIET WILL BE FREE TO GO.
***
Lord P: HIIIII. Not that I am working hard at this case.
Norman U: *YAWNS* COFFEEEE. Also, here’s a draft of Mrs Wrayburn’s will where she says “NO MONEY TO PHILIP BOYES EVER EVER EVER. HIS FAMILY WERE MEAN TO ME SO SUCKS TO BE HIM.”
Lord P: Um... maybe suicide, then? *HOPES*
***
Lord P: YOU FANCIED SOMEONE BEFORE I CAME ALONG. WOE. D:
Harriet: *Raises eyebrow* You are not convincing me this marriage could ever work you know.
Lord P: OOH. MAYBE YOU COULD GET JEALOUS TOO. HAVE I MENTIONED BARBARA?
Harriet: Who?
Lord P: \o/ I HAVE INSPIRED JEALOUSY.
***
Lord P: *Gets home* *Reads report from Miss Murchison which appears to have been typed on the exact same machine that the will he read at Norman’s that morning was written on* *smells something fishy* *WRITES NOTE TO HER*
***
Lord P: *Goes home for Xmas*
Various society friends: LOL HARRIET DUNNIT. Also, Boyes’s books were so APPALLING we had to read them all to find out what they were about.
Lord P: D:
Dowager Duchess: *DISTRACTS*
Freddy: HI, I’M GETTING MARRIED. :D To the daughter of the man whose murder you solved in Whose Body? Also, Urquhart’s made some dodgy investments.
***
Lady Mary: Hi, brother. You look like shit.
Lord P: TY. How’s Parker? ARE YOU AND HIM STILL SEEING EACH OTHER? He’s nice, you know. Very nice. Lovely bloke. Great friend.
Lady M: HE HASN’T ASKED ME YET, PETER. :(
Lord P: ... I’ll have a word with him.
Proposals
None from Peter to Harriet, but we do get Freddy being all :D at being engaged and Lady Mary saying she would say yes if only Parker got over himself and actually asked her.
Quotes, Slang, References
Peter is a remarkably quiet git in these chapters. I didn’t notice anything much from him at all. That said, if I’ve missed something, feel free to hit me with it.
Mrs Bulfinch says “you know what these policemen are like” to Lord P (referring to Parker’s flirting) and Wimsey replies with “Sad dogs”. Slang of some sort?
Mrs B also states she was worried that Boyes’s powder might be “snow”. What sort of drug is that?
Since I’ve been asked about this by someone, when Lord P says he’s “had [his] morning nosebag” he means breakfast. A nosebag is a thing horses eat out of, so he’s just being daft. I don’t know if this was actually slang that was used or just him. Probably the latter.
“Barbara celarent darii ferio baralipton.” Latin, right? Translation anyone? Feel free to argue about exactly which verb and tense in the comments. I HAVE SEEN WHAT LATIN TRANSLATION COMMENT THREADS END UP LIKE.
Thoughts on Lord P’s position in society
I wasn’t sure if there was anything srs bsns to discuss within these chapters - perhaps the jealousy issue in Harriet and Peter’s relationship, but that honestly seems like the least of their issues - so I emailed Gina to ask if there was anything she’d bring up.
From her reply (which she probably did not expect to be quoted, but I have to go do work very shortly):
You could talk about Peter's relationship with his family, his ambivalence at the obligations associated with his nobility, etc. You could contrast his familial relations with those he has with Bunter and others, like Parker, Marjorie, even Miss Climpson, and certainly those he's trying to forge with Harriet.
Peter doesn't quite fit into either world--he's not really all that enthusiastic about his title (and would run screaming from a Dukedom), yet he's nobility through and through (I'm thinking of his "ring the bell" answer to the question of what to do when one finds one's water bottle empty [Later on in Strong Poison]). He can move around with ease in Bohemia or go to Rumm's house and eat trotters with his family, but he's playing a part when he's there more than genuinely assimilating, IMO.
He trusts Bunter more than anyone else (allowing only Bunter to see him with PTSD), but still he still firmly maintains that line between master and servant. I think that, as a topic, that will have to wait for full discussion until we've read more of the books (maybe even until Busman's Honeymoon), but it's worth bringing up, maybe.
Makes me think a little of the idea that while the working and middle classes can be crazy, nobility is merely “eccentric”. Peter might not be typical of his class, but he can get away with it precisely because he is of his class.
Another thing I feel bears saying (and forgive me if I’m patronising - I’m used to very American-filled fandoms, and I have no idea how many Brits are here) is that I don’t believe class in the UK has changed all that much since these books were written. On the surface, yes - butlers and valets are no longer the standard thing, and most of the middle classes won’t have a maid or cleaner or anything like that - but go down any deeper and there are still some really fundamental boundaries between the classes. The nobility still exist and you can bet that some of them still talk a lot of piffle!
Anything else
1. Mrs Bulfinch mentions she was having a conversation about “prohibitionists” and licensing hours being moved forward. Was there a significant movement of the sort back in the day? It sounds like they’re a powerful lobby? Or at least, that they have a voice. It’s at odds with my perception of the country these days, but I have spent the past four years a student...
2. I don’t have my copy of the book with me, which has a “biography” supposedly written by Paul Delagardie in the back. Am I remembering wrong when I recall that Barbara was the one discussed at length in that biography? If so, can someone who does have it summarise for anyone who doesn’t? TY.
3. Rachel Levy, Freddy’s betrothed, is Jewish and Freddy is not. He says he “got round Lady Levy by sayin’ I had served nearly seven years for Rachel - that was rather smart, don’t you think?” The context of the conversation makes me think this is some reference to something Jewish but... yeah... I haven’t the foggiest what he’s on about. He says he thought of it in church while reading a bible “and I said to myself, ‘I’ll work that off next time I call,’ and so I did, and the old lady was uncommonly touched by it.” And something about “old Laban”? The whole exchange confuses the crap out of me. I barely know anything about Christianity, let alone Judaism.
NEXT MONDAY: we hope to get someone else involved! Head on over to THIS POST HERE to sign up. Gina and I can’t do every week, after all.