{"id":715,"date":"2026-06-19T20:03:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T20:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/?p=715"},"modified":"2026-06-19T20:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T20:03:02","slug":"the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-ii-blindfold-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/lymond-reading-notes\/the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-ii-blindfold-play.php","title":{"rendered":"The Play for Jonathan Crouch – II. Blindfold Play"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lymond reading notes 3 \u2013 Game of Kings \u2013 The Play for Jonathan Crouch<\/em><\/h5>\n

In a chess context, blindfold play is literally playing without sight of the board. One or both players can be blindfold. If both players are playing blindfold then they sit facing away from each other and a third person plays their announced moves on a board and watches for any illegal moves.<\/p>\n

You have to visualise the position in your head and keep track of what has been moved. Players who are very good at this can even play multiple games at once \u2013 known as blindfold simultaneous. The world record is playing 48 opponents simultaneously. In my youth I once managed 4 at once. It\u2019s challenging and fun but very taxing.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>First meeting \u2013 in misleading circumstances<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve been introduced to Christian on the battlements of Boghall with Richard and Wat Scott, but the second time we meet her is after Lymond and Richard have met and Lymond has placed the doubt in Richard\u2019s mind that sends him correctly to face Wharton and Lennox and deter them from completing the pincer movement that could have led to the defeat of the whole country.<\/p>\n

We now get a complete change of pace \u2013 something that we\u2019ll see many times in Dorothy\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n

Simon Bogle discovers a body unconscious in the bog and takes him back to Christian, who is in charge at Boghall Castle now that Lord Fleming is dead and Jenny is with the royal party at Stirling. But of course we don\u2019t know that it\u2019s Lymond at this point \u2013 it could easily be Will Scott, who also appears to have been knocked out in the same skirmish when Erskine rescues Richard.<\/p>\n

An interesting little ploy of Dorothy\u2019s \u2013 we are in Christian\u2019s viewpoint and she is blind, so we are effectively blind as well, until the subtle clues are gradually presented. In fact the following scenes are presented through sounds, spoken words or Christian\u2019s thoughts and very little is described. Once you realise how she\u2019s doing it, it\u2019s a cunning and delightful technique.<\/p>\n

Christian\u2019s first action is to use her sense of touch to learn as much as she can about the unconscious figure, and it tells her a great deal \u2013 that he\u2019s young, and very well dressed (apart from the English cloak). Dorothy uses the phrase \u2013 \u201cthe shape of an unconscious boy\u201d, <\/em>which is a fleeting and easily missed hint about Lymond\u2019s age \u2013 something we probably haven\u2019t considered yet.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s an interesting little slice of dialogue:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were married or promised to that young gentleman I\u2019d sell the lead off the roof to ransom him back. Unless he\u2019s a Spaniard, do you think?\u201d
\n\u201cNot with that hair, m\u2019lady.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Now Sym doesn\u2019t actually say he\u2019s blond, or indeed red-headed, and the reader may jump to either conclusion depending on how they\u2019ve interpreted matters so far \u2013 cunning indeed by our author. If we\u2019ve thought about it \u2013 either now or later \u2013 we\u2019re also left to guess whether he says it off-scene.<\/p>\n

If Christian does know he\u2019s blond then would that be enough to raise the idea in her mind of his real identity? It\u2019s only later that we are introduced to the idea that with her heightened sense of hearing and auditory memory she might know Lymond\u2019s voice from years before. But at this point she hasn\u2019t yet heard it, and we are probably much too busy to think about her life in the world of sound and what that implies.<\/p>\n

An intriguing speculation is whether she and Lymond knew each other as children \u2013 which seems quite likely \u2013 and if they did whether Lymond ever allowed her to feel his face with her fingers and would she have enough of a sense of him to recognise him from that years later?<\/p>\n

The discussion with Sym also gives us some little hints at Christian\u2019s sharp intelligence, sense of humour, and ability with words:<\/p>\n

\u201cHugh\u2019s bad temper takes practical forms,\u201d said Christian thoughtfully. \u201cRansom or no ransom, your gentleman will find himself in multiple array on the wall spikes if Hugh sets eyes on him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sym devoted some thought to this. \u201cOf course, we can\u2019t write for ransom anyway until he wakes up and says who he is.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd by that time, Hugh might be feeling more like himself.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI find the resemblance to himself at the present moment quite startling,\u201d said Christian. \u201cBut never mind. Go on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I rather think I fell in love with Christian with that line! It has a rhythm that seems very Scottish and a sense of wry humour that is the same.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll soon get much more of this as she verbally crosses swords with the amnesiac Lymond, albeit gently.<\/p>\n

Once Sym has him put to bed, with fire and food prepared for when he wakes up, we get a lovely little description from Christian\u2019s blind perspective.<\/p>\n

Flurried movements of the big fire, to her left. Silk, pricking her right hand as the bed curtains stirred in an eddy. A rustle from Sym’s feet in the rushes. A voice far below in the courtyard, crying something she could not quite catch. A creak from the bed. Another. A languid stir of the bedclothes.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s such an evocative little section, putting us in touch with her senses of touch and hearing. And intriguingly she\u2019s then described as \u201cgripped with laughter\u201d<\/em>, which raises interesting questions.<\/p>\n

Later, he awakens:<\/p>\n

\u201cGod: my skull\u2019s split.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a cultured voice, with no inflection which would have seemed out of place at any point north of the Tyne. Like the jewelled aiglettes it announced consequence, character and money.<\/em><\/p>\n

So still no clue \u2013 Lymond or Will?<\/p>\n

As regards his accent and what clues it could give, it may be that Dorothy is fudging things a little here. The accent in Newcastle, which sits near the mouth of the Tyne, is very different than say an Edinburgh accent. Of course the richer and more cultured you are the more similar the accent may be, and Lymond speaks French, German, and Latin, and that may also tend to flatten any differences.<\/p>\n

He ate, and much intrigued, Christian waited.<\/em><\/p>\n

On first read we can\u2019t tell if this is a very subtle hint that she already knows who he is, but on later reads\u2026. maybe.<\/p>\n

And she uses her incisive mind to good effect immediately:<\/p>\n

At the end, he spoke again. \u201cI was not, I hope, wearing a nightshirt when discovered?\u201d
\nAn artless gentleman. <\/em><\/p>\n

Christian followed the lead. \u201cYour clothes are drying, sir. Your weapons were impounded when we found you were English.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

and finds an interesting response:<\/p>\n

\u201cEnglish! Lucifer, Lord of Hell!\u201d (Here was passion.) \u201cDo I look like an Englishman?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So she then follows up with her little-used trump card:<\/p>\n

\u201cI,\u201d said Christian with wicked simplicity, \u201cam blind. How should I know?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

But his response is simple and perfectly phrased to avoid pity or embarrassment:<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, are you? I\u2019m sorry. You hide it extremely well. Then what,\u201d he asked anxiously, \u201cmade your friends think I was English?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

At this point on my first read I was already pretty sure that this was Lymond \u2013 I felt that Will would have had more of a sustained emotional reaction after the brief outburst. Even when not quite fully in his senses this suggests Lymond\u2019s control, which we\u2019ve already had hints of.<\/p>\n

The next section has him venturing into poetic areas, which Christian falls in with effortlessly. Then Sym asks his name and we, and Christian, realise that he\u2019s feeling confused and somewhat woozy, and then that he has no memory of who he is. Sensitively, she allows him to rest, but Dorothy keeps us on our toes by putting Will\u2019s words into his mouth:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis officer, but doubt, is callit Deid. . .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Before falling asleep he produces the following:<\/p>\n

“O lady: nor later. Deceit deceiveth and shall be deceived. It’s no good and I can’t prove it’s no good: I shall be as much use to you as the Nibelunglied. For I can recall nothing . . . nothing . . . not the remotest damned shred of my identity.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Nibelunglied is a German epic poem from the 13th century that basically ends with everyone killing everyone else. It inspired, amongst other things, Wagner\u2019s famous Ring Cycle. Dorothy was a fan of Wagner so this is a fascinating little item of her experience dropped in.<\/p>\n

On the question of whether he could be faking his amnesia, I never felt it likely \u2013 largely because of the way he reacts when his memory returns and the circumstances surrounding it. Also he acts in a more innocent way during the episode \u2013 as if the many cares and concerns he carries have been removed.<\/p>\n

I was asked during the discussion about why I trusted Lymond not to be faking it. You can see part of my answer to that in a blog post called Love at First Sight, or not<\/em>, https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/book-discussion\/love-at-first-sight-or-not.php<\/a>
\nwhich fortunately has no real spoilers so is safe for first-time readers.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Second discussion<\/h2>\n

The following day Christian visits her mysterious guest again, discovering that he is up and feeling better, but still suffering from amnesia. Noticeably he immediately suggests she may want to return later as Sym isn\u2019t there, so as to protect her from any suggestion of impropriety, but she dismisses it.<\/p>\n

He has been talking to Simon and has learned a great deal.<\/p>\n

They discuss the risks of her staying at Boghall before turning to his identity and what will happen if his memory doesn\u2019t return before she goes to Stirling.<\/p>\n

They lapse into poetry and she matches one of his quotes to his delight. Their conversation is relaxed but still shrewd, showing their respective intelligence and awareness of undercurrents.<\/p>\n

He remarks that \u201cMost of the heroes and all the poets appear to have been there before me.\u201d<\/em> as regards his loss of memory, and drops into French, which translates as:<\/p>\n

“The nightingale is my father, who sings on the branch, in the highest grove. The siren, she is my mother, who sings in the dirty sea, on the highest shore.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYour French is excellent, of course,\u201d said Christian. \u201cAnd you disliked being called English.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cImplying Scottish rather than English affinities-\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI hoped you\u2019d notice that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c-In which case,\u201d said Christian reasonably, \u201cdo you not owe it to yourself to appear in public? Someone here might even recognize you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA shrewd move, decidedly,\u201d said the prisoner with interest. \u201cIf I disagree, I am undoubtedly lying about my loss of memory. On the other hand, it might be genuine, and my belief that I am Scots might be unfounded; in which case your friend Hugh, according to Sym, will be apt to give free play to his prejudices, and your hopes of a ransom will vanish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

and later<\/p>\n

She smiled, and threw his own quotation back at him. \u201cDeceit deceiveth and shall be deceived. You have an incorruptible voice and a lawyer\u2019s tongue. One thing I commend in you: you refused to add to the sins of the poets. A false pedigree is always worse than none at all.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAvoiding your traps, O virtuous lady, O mixt and subtle Christian. But, as you see, I am honest and good, and not ane word could lie.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201ca lawyer\u2019s tongue\u201d is an interesting choice of phrase \u2013 is that a compliment or the opposite?<\/p>\n

Shortly after this Dorothy uses an interesting word:<\/p>\n

Betrayed into archness, Christian caught her temper and said evenly, \u201cI can\u2019t, of course, answer for what will happen to you if I leave before your memory comes back. But meanwhile, until it does, you may have grace to stay anonymous, if you wish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Archness \u2013 the quality of being deliberately or affectedly playful and teasing. Some definitions suggest it verges on rudeness. Is Christian annoyed at herself for being rude, or perhaps for being a little flirtatious? On first read we probably don\u2019t suspect that she knows who he is, but on second and later reads we may suspect that she does \u2013 is she toying with him, or is she perhaps attracted to him?<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Memory\u2019s a fickle thing<\/h2>\n

We get a short description of the strain on all of the inhabitants of Biggar due to the news filtering in from Pinkie and its aftermath, which neatly gives us the strategic situation in the Lothians, and the dangers if Wharton\u2019s army on the West should match the advances of Grey in the East.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon Christian returns to the room to find Lymond giving Sym a fencing lesson! Dispatching the lad with admonitions, which she also applies to Lymond, they exit into her secluded private garden and we get a lovely description of the scents of the flowers in language taken from a musical setting \u2013 neatly combining Christian\u2019s two chief senses and paving the way for Lymond to introduce his own main passion, which matches hers.<\/p>\n

Nothing moved but great rumours of perfume swelling and fading, sforzando and diminuendo; an orchestration of woodwind in the warm air. Silence, broken by three golden notes of a lute: her own, she remembered, left on the bottom step. She said, \u201cIf you play, please go on. Music\u2019s my joy and my obsession.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

(We\u2019ll get used to the wonderful quality of Dorothy\u2019s descriptions but this one is a lovely early example \u2013 quite simple but deliciously apt.)<\/p>\n

He starts to play, and then to sing, and moves through a variety of styles and composers, delighting Christian. Their shared love of music relaxes them and brings laughter as they discourse in song and melody and musical ideas. It is perhaps our first glimpse of Lymond being innocently happy.<\/p>\n

However she remembers she has a trick to try to prompt his memory and asks about Jonathan Crouch \u2013 who Lymond has mentioned in his sleep. He starts to answer then realises he\u2019s remembered more than he knew. He\u2019s shaken but not annoyed, but it doesn\u2019t immediately trigger any further memories.<\/p>\n

He starts to play The Frogge would a wooing ride<\/em>\u2026 and in the second section stops suddenly as the lyrics blast apart his amnesia by reminding him of his teasing of Richard. (This was the point at which I decided on that first read that I needed to intensify my concentration on this fascinating and devious author, lest I miss other connections that she might be laying.)<\/p>\n

Immediately he confesses to Christian that he has persuaded Sym to show him how to escape, but throws himself on her mercy by saying that he\u2019ll only use it with her permission. Finishing with an Italian couplet<\/p>\n

\u2018Se\u2019l ser un si, scrivero\u2019n rima; <\/em>
\nSe\u2019l ser un no, amici come prima.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

which translates as:<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a yes, I\u2019ll write a rhyme;
\nIf it\u2019s a no, we\u2019ll be friends as before.<\/p>\n

There followed a pause, during which Christian came to the annoyed conclusion that she had once more been outmanoeuvred. Possessing the key, he had flung himself on her mercy. Why? It occurred to her that when referring to the enslavement of Sym, he had refrained with the utmost tact from drawing a parallel. He had left her to do that. To betray him now would suggest the vindictiveness of a disappointed woman, and she might well, in his opinion, shrink from that.<\/em>
\n\u2018Amici come prima, indeed!\u2019 repeated Christian viciously to herself, …<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201ca disappointed woman\u201d.<\/em> Again it seems to hint at a slightly romantic edge to her feelings. It seems, that even without his memory, and without her being able to see his handsome beauty, that he retains that magnetism that follows him through his life. I\u2019m not suggesting that she\u2019s in love with him but she does seem to be entranced by his honesty and his manner.<\/p>\n

There is another possibility \u2013 if she already knows who he is then \u2018Amici come prima, indeed!\u2019<\/em> could take on a deeper meaning if they were friends when younger.<\/p>\n

Dorothy drops another little hint at potential feelings at the end as Tom Erskine arrives, and having sent Lymond off with Sym we get:<\/p>\n

Christian Stewart lifted her skirts and began climbing the stairs thoughtfully.
\n\u201cDamn the man!\u201d said she, as she went; and it was not at all clear which man she meant.<\/em><\/p>\n

Talking to Tom, she, and us, get an update on what\u2019s happening. He and Richard have confronted and attacked Wharton who has retreated back into England.<\/p>\n

“Overconfidence, we think. They spread a rumour they meant to march north, and got a shock when Culter assumed the opposite and charged in. Made a mess of poor old Annan, but nothing to what Clydesdale missed, thank God. Although I don’t mind saying,” he added frankly, “that Culter took a chance I wouldn’t have touched with a billhook.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Seen in the light of Lymond\u2019s taunting of Richard and telling him the Protector\u2019s forces are in Stirling we get a clue to his real character. Lymond\u2019s misdirection and false information has worked and Richard, disbelieving him and assuming that he was trying to trick him, has changed his mind and done the right thing for the wrong reason, and saved Scotland from disaster. A strong hint that Lymond is on Scotland\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Later, Christian goes with Sym to the cave where Lymond has already been found by Johnnie Bullo, and she offers to find out about Jonathan Crouch. He gallantly declines but she plans to try anyway. His use of Shahrazad\u2019s name in respect of her is another little hint that she picks up on irritably. Does it perhaps suggest that he feels she may be maintaining their relationship by trying to be useful to him, and he, knowing the dangers in his situation, is trying to deter her in order to protect her?<\/p>\n

This chapter’s notes are partly based on part of my blog post at
\nhttps:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/book-discussion\/close-encounters.php<\/a>
\nwhich also includes some material from the following chapter.<\/p>\n

Information on Boghall, including some engravings and sketches of what it looked like can be found at https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/visits-south.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lymond reading notes 3 \u2013 Game of Kings \u2013 The Play for Jonathan Crouch In a chess context, blindfold play is literally playing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lymond-reading-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}