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Bernadette Matthews
Who killed Sidney
Do we ever know for sure?
If we follow Sir Hugo account of events, it was Fledge, he offers as evidence of Fledge’s conduct the fact t…moreWho killed Sidney
Do we ever know for sure?
If we follow Sir Hugo account of events, it was Fledge, he offers as evidence of Fledge’s conduct the fact that the butler was responsible for the assault on him which led to him being brain damaged. He also recounts the incidence of Sidney and Fledge in an embrace in the butler's pantry. He offers that blackmail was happening, Fledge had blackmailed Sidney or was it Sidney blackmailing Fledge?
At the end he tells us Fledge has usurped his place as master of the household. And got away with the murder too.
George Lackey is found guilt of the crime of killing Sidney. But Lackey telling his account of things to Sir Hugo in the barn when he is on the run as a fugitive, is that it is the poacher John Crowthrone.
.
According to George, he gave John the lorry and he ‘takes it round to the back of the marsh’ ‘ I nodded, old John used George’s swill lorry for his far-ranging nocturnal poaching expeditions, this I knew well’.
George says he didnt hear John go out but he woke in the middle of the night and there was a light on in the shed. It was his slaughterhouse, he was referring to.. He sees John chopping something, and its the body of Sidney, (which will be fed to the pigs). He John had found Sidney out on the marsh in a sack and since it wasn't a local man , he decided he’d let the pigs have him.
This is the account Sir Hugo says George gave to him. Sir Hugo says he tells him who killed Sidney ( we assume its the story he has told us , it being Fledge, but we don't know because he doesn’t actually name Fledge he only says that in response to George asking ‘ Who done him Sir Hugo? You know. Tell me’
He replies ‘All right George, I said and I told him’
But we are left to wonder what he told him, did he tell him what he was telling us, that it was Fledge or did he tell him something else? ( such as it was he Sir Hugo who killed him)
George Lackey goes to prison for the crime and indeed he will be found guilt and hanged for it. But just before he is due to die, he tells a prison inmate that it was Sir Hugo who did the deed, and that he had helped him chop up Sidney for the pigs.
The people of Crook along with their Christmas visitors had been eating Sidney all autumn and winter. The boy chopped up and fed to the pigs , the pigs had then been slaughtered and sent to Crook for the household meals.
So Mrs Giblet Sidney’s mother confronts Sir Hugo but he is a vegetable and cannot communicate. Though we know he has a lively internal life. Besides Cleo his daughter flies into a terrible rage when she hears her father in his pitiable state now too being accused of murder of her then prospective husband.
To the end Sir Hugo is remarking Fledge as the satanic being who has gained entry to his house, been a source of all moral contagion including his own libidnal dreams, and now he is dressed as a Squire and drinking tea with Sir Hugo’s wife as an equal.
So in the end who to believe?
Hugo describes himself as an empiricist and therefore seeks material prove of Fledge’s evil, he has intimations of it, the butler laughing at him be believes behind his hand, or staring at him in a hostile way when he has brought Herbert his fat and large toad to the table , he has seen Sidney and Fledge in an embrace, he has suffered a bad injury leaving him brain damaged this he says was the work of Fledge and also he received a obscene kiss from the butler as well. And besides if it wasn't Fledge why would he turn the poor invalids wheelchair to the wall?
I think myself this is a fiendish book. I’ve already slipped on half a dozen banana skins from a careless reading of it. And have to review what I thought again and again.
For instances I had decided Sir Hugo was cracked with his theory of birds being little dinosaurs of the air. But in fact thats correct, meaning he had a capable intellect prior to his accident. More capable than mine in matters of science that’s for sure!
If you work it out , do tell! I’ d love to know.
(less)
Do we ever know for sure?
If we follow Sir Hugo account of events, it was Fledge, he offers as evidence of Fledge’s conduct the fact t…moreWho killed Sidney
Do we ever know for sure?
If we follow Sir Hugo account of events, it was Fledge, he offers as evidence of Fledge’s conduct the fact that the butler was responsible for the assault on him which led to him being brain damaged. He also recounts the incidence of Sidney and Fledge in an embrace in the butler's pantry. He offers that blackmail was happening, Fledge had blackmailed Sidney or was it Sidney blackmailing Fledge?
At the end he tells us Fledge has usurped his place as master of the household. And got away with the murder too.
George Lackey is found guilt of the crime of killing Sidney. But Lackey telling his account of things to Sir Hugo in the barn when he is on the run as a fugitive, is that it is the poacher John Crowthrone.
.
According to George, he gave John the lorry and he ‘takes it round to the back of the marsh’ ‘ I nodded, old John used George’s swill lorry for his far-ranging nocturnal poaching expeditions, this I knew well’.
George says he didnt hear John go out but he woke in the middle of the night and there was a light on in the shed. It was his slaughterhouse, he was referring to.. He sees John chopping something, and its the body of Sidney, (which will be fed to the pigs). He John had found Sidney out on the marsh in a sack and since it wasn't a local man , he decided he’d let the pigs have him.
This is the account Sir Hugo says George gave to him. Sir Hugo says he tells him who killed Sidney ( we assume its the story he has told us , it being Fledge, but we don't know because he doesn’t actually name Fledge he only says that in response to George asking ‘ Who done him Sir Hugo? You know. Tell me’
He replies ‘All right George, I said and I told him’
But we are left to wonder what he told him, did he tell him what he was telling us, that it was Fledge or did he tell him something else? ( such as it was he Sir Hugo who killed him)
George Lackey goes to prison for the crime and indeed he will be found guilt and hanged for it. But just before he is due to die, he tells a prison inmate that it was Sir Hugo who did the deed, and that he had helped him chop up Sidney for the pigs.
The people of Crook along with their Christmas visitors had been eating Sidney all autumn and winter. The boy chopped up and fed to the pigs , the pigs had then been slaughtered and sent to Crook for the household meals.
So Mrs Giblet Sidney’s mother confronts Sir Hugo but he is a vegetable and cannot communicate. Though we know he has a lively internal life. Besides Cleo his daughter flies into a terrible rage when she hears her father in his pitiable state now too being accused of murder of her then prospective husband.
To the end Sir Hugo is remarking Fledge as the satanic being who has gained entry to his house, been a source of all moral contagion including his own libidnal dreams, and now he is dressed as a Squire and drinking tea with Sir Hugo’s wife as an equal.
So in the end who to believe?
Hugo describes himself as an empiricist and therefore seeks material prove of Fledge’s evil, he has intimations of it, the butler laughing at him be believes behind his hand, or staring at him in a hostile way when he has brought Herbert his fat and large toad to the table , he has seen Sidney and Fledge in an embrace, he has suffered a bad injury leaving him brain damaged this he says was the work of Fledge and also he received a obscene kiss from the butler as well. And besides if it wasn't Fledge why would he turn the poor invalids wheelchair to the wall?
I think myself this is a fiendish book. I’ve already slipped on half a dozen banana skins from a careless reading of it. And have to review what I thought again and again.
For instances I had decided Sir Hugo was cracked with his theory of birds being little dinosaurs of the air. But in fact thats correct, meaning he had a capable intellect prior to his accident. More capable than mine in matters of science that’s for sure!
If you work it out , do tell! I’ d love to know.
(less)
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