{"id":720,"date":"2026-07-09T13:41:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/?p=720"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:41:59","slug":"the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-iii-more-blindfold-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/lymond-reading-notes\/the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-iii-more-blindfold-play.php","title":{"rendered":"The Play for Jonathan Crouch – III. More Blindfold Play"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lymond reading notes 4 \u2013 Game of Kings \u2013 The Play for Jonathan Crouch<\/em><\/h5>\n

<\/i><\/a>Stirling<\/h2>\n

Arran the Governor, awaiting the final, destined disaster of Somerset’s attack, saw Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin in lapidary capitals before him and was sick with nerves.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
\n“numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided”<\/p>\n

This refers to the spirit writing on the wall of Belshazzar\u2019s palace. It\u2019s from the book of Daniel and is the origin of the phrase – The writing on the wall<\/em> \u2013 meaning impending doom.<\/p>\n

\u201cFighting had left Wat Scott of Buccleuch unaltered: bonnet crammed with Buccleuch bees…\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He takes Tom\u2019s news of Will being with Lymond surprisingly calmly. In fact there\u2019s a suggestion that he\u2019s quite pleased to see him doing something with conviction.<\/p>\n

We also learn that neither Tom or Wat have much time for George Douglas.<\/p>\n

The news comes that the Protector\u2019s army is on the march, but not as everyone in Stirling feared, towards them, but south, back to England. It\u2019s a miraculous let-off for Scotland.<\/p>\n

Relieved of the need to defend the town Tom travels to the Lake of Menteith, where the royal family has been moved for safety.<\/p>\n

It is commonly said to be the only lake in Scotland, where we mostly call them lochs, but in fact in this case Lake comes from Laich, meaning an area of low flat ground, often a wetland, and indeed the Lake is shallow. So shallow in fact that in very cold weather it freezes over and is used for outdoor curling.<\/p>\n

We get a lovely description of lights and music floating across the water from the Priory, echoing the opening description of the Nor Loch.<\/p>\n

There the young Queen, her mother, Sybilla, Mariotta, and Christian are hiding on the islands of Inch Talla and Inchmahome.<\/p>\n

Christian pumps Tom for information about Crouch, then to his surprise declares the matter closed \u2013 perhaps assisted by Sybilla, who steps on his toe, apparently by accident. Sybilla never does anything by accident \u2013 a bit like her author!<\/p>\n

\u2018My dear man,\u2019 said Sybilla next day, placidly stitching before Earl John\u2019s big fire. \u2018Admit you\u2019ve never had to live with eight children on an island, and every one with the instincts of a full-grown lemming.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

We hear that Mariotta has been a bundle of nerves since her encounter with Lymond at Midculter.<\/p>\n

Andrew Hunter is there too, and Mariotta asks him what men – like Richard – talk about.<\/p>\n

He was taken aback, but he answered her. \u2018What does Richard discuss with other men? Horses, of course. And pigs. And the state of the barley, and the new cocks, and the hawking,\u00a0 and what the Estates are up to, and the wrestlers, and any new shiploads he\u2019s expecting, and the rates of exchange, and taxes, and poaching, and pistols, and the price of roofing, and his deerhound litter, and Milanese armour, and the lambing \u2026 Richard\u2019s interests,\u2019 said Sir Andrew, with a hint of defensiveness in the soft voice, \u2018are pretty wide.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018But never dull. I wonder,\u2019 said Mariotta, her eyes expressionless, \u2018what Lymond makes of light conversation?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

Hunter sat up. \u2018Lymond\u2019s conversation doesn\u2019t give me a moment\u2019s alarm. It\u2019s his actions that hurt. Richard\u2019s bent on this challenge at the Wapenshaw and, my God! if he goes, it\u2019ll be suicide.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Do I detect a touch of sarcasm in that “But never dull.”? From all this we can surmise that despite the marriage between Richard and Mariotta being a superficially successful match, there are tensions, and one of them seems to be that they don\u2019t seem to talk about anything substantial. We get the impression that Richard doesn\u2019t talk of estate matters or politics to her, perhaps regarding that as men\u2019s concerns. Which makes you wonder what else he doesn\u2019t talk about, and what else is left to talk about! Maybe she got more conversation from Lymond in the stairwell at Midculter than she\u2019s had from Richard since they were married!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>A stushie develops<\/h2>\n

The next day Marie de Guise is in a rage, but it takes us a while to discover why.<\/p>\n

The Dowager Lady Culter, who was also seated, wisely said nothing, partly out of diplomacy and partly from sheer respect for her vocal chords: a very small child with tousled red hair standing before her continued to hammer on her knee in a detached sort of way, screaming gibberish at the top of her voice. \u2018Hurble-purple, hurble-purple, hurble-purple!\u2019 chanted the child.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus are we introduced to Mary Queen of Scots, in a way unique to Dorothy.<\/p>\n

It takes the unflappable Sybilla to unravel the cause of the upset and her assessment also explains what has taken place to the reader \u2013 an interesting writing technique.<\/p>\n

Mary has been taken to the gardens at the edge of the lake, by boat, by her maid Elspet, who leaves her playing for a while to meet her boyfriend. What happened next is as yet unclear and we\u2019re told that Mary was accosted and then the maid returns and bundles her into the boat in a panic. There are accusations that Mary might have been kidnapped but that appears unlikely \u2013 a maid returning is hardly likely to be able to prevent a man from taking a 4-year-old if that was the intent.<\/p>\n

Sybilla downplays it and suggests they ask Mary:<\/p>\n

\u2018Marie! Come and tell Maman what the ill-doing man did?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018What ill-doing man?\u2019 asked the red-haired child,..\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018He wasn\u2019t a malfaisant. I liked him. Can I \u2013\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Mary, was he a monk?\u2019 said Sybilla gently, mindful of one of the unlikelier aspects of Elspet\u2019s story (\u2018But all the monks are at Sext\u2019). <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018He was a nice monk,\u2019 said the child, with a single inflection neatly robbing the statement of all value.<\/em><\/p>\n

All of which alerts us to the fact that all is not what it seems. And there\u2019s a further clue:<\/p>\n

\u2018He said the rhyme, and he knew my name.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Sybilla expertly diverts attention from further speculation and sums up. So Mary finally gets to say her rhyme:<\/p>\n

\u2018Hurble purple hath a red girdle <\/em><\/p>\n

A stone in his belly, <\/em><\/p>\n

A stake through his arse <\/em><\/p>\n

And yet hurble purple is never the worse.<\/em><\/p>\n

And demands to know what it is.<\/p>\n

But it appears that Sybilla is familiar with the verse and rather deflates Mary by giving the answer. Which leaves the reader to speculate on the meaning behind it all.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Back at the gardens<\/h2>\n

There is a switch of scene and we are with Christian, saying in French \u201cHow do you know him, when he doesn\u2019t know him?\u201d Of course I recognised who it was. Credit me with ears, at least.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

It becomes clear that she\u2019s with Lymond and that she recognised his voice when she heard the fuss when Elspet returned and grabbed Mary and fled back to the island. The mysterious monk was him.<\/p>\n

They are in the middle of the maze, surrounded by hedges. Christian asks how Mary had found him and we get a delightful story of how he fell asleep and awoke to find Mary sitting on his chest.<\/p>\n

\u2018She said, \u201cM. l\u2019abb\u00e9\u201d (you\u2019ll have gathered I\u2019m dressed like a magpie) \u2013 \u201cM. l\u2019abb\u00e9, you \u2019ave greatly insufficient of tonsure.\u201d And I said, \u201cMadame la reine d\u2019Ecosse, you are greatly in excess of tonnage.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

After which exchange of pleasantries \u2026\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018She got off?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Not at all. She bounced like a cannon ball and said that D\u00e9d\u00e9 \u2013\u2019 \u2018Her pony.\u2019 \u2018\u2013That D\u00e9d\u00e9 had long yellow teeth; and did I know \u2013\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018That,\u2019 said Christian in chorus, \u2018you can tell a person\u2019s age from their teeth. That\u2019s a favourite one.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

This interchange and the rest of the tale demonstrates that the innocent charming Lymond we saw when he had lost his memory, persists now that it has returned \u2013 with Christian and Mary at least. The contrast with how he dealt with Will Scott or his behaviour at Annan could hardly be greater. They clearly enjoy each other\u2019s company and are completely relaxed.<\/p>\n

He chides her for trusting him without knowing who he is and giving him access to the young queen\u2019s hiding place, before stopping and berating himself for being rude and ungrateful to her. She changes the subject to his recovery \u2013 he explains that he\u2019s much better apart from falling asleep a lot, as when Mary found him.<\/p>\n

They discuss who else is with the queen and that Tom had told Buccleuch about Will being with Lymond. He then asks about Crouch and she tells him he\u2019s with George Douglas. Thanking her he then tries to tell her who he is.<\/p>\n

\u2018No!\u2019 she exclaimed. \u2018I don\u2019t want to know!<\/em><\/p>\n

There was, for the first time, a weary distaste in his voice. \u2018But you require to know \u2013 you must see that. This secret \u2013 the Queen\u2019s hiding place \u2013\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Have you betrayed it? Will you betray it?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018No.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Then leave me ignorant,\u2019 said Christian. \u2018What would make matters easier for your conscience might make them insupportable for mine. I prefer to be selfish. God knows I\u2019ve been wrong \u2013 politically, legally, conventionally and every other way \u2013 in judgements before.<\/em> But these always seemed to me the more irrelevant aspects of human decency \u2026 You are at least Scottish, I think?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Yes.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018\u2013 And in trouble. Well, I\u2019m human,\u2019 said Christian. \u2018I don\u2019t want conscience money in the form of secrets: not just now, thank you. But the day you genuinely want help, I\u2019ll be proud to have your confidence. Till then, show your thanks, if you wish to, by letting me have news of you sometimes.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

His silence shows how much this impresses him and they discuss whether she would know Johnnie Bullo\u2019s voice:<\/p>\n

\u2018Good,\u2019 he said. \u2018Yes, I shall keep in touch. Not as often as I should like, but certainly more than I ought by all the tenets you quoted.\u2019 They were almost out of the shelter of the box hedges, and he stopped and took her hand, as if examining it. \u2018What in God\u2019s name are you going by?\u2019 he said. \u2018Instinct? Intuition?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Common sense. Which describes your case as fortunae telum, non culpae.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

(trans. A weapon of fortune, not of guilt.)<\/p>\n

We can see a man who is astonished and grateful to find such a degree of trust \u2013 perhaps suggesting that he has had so little of it for many years \u2013 and full of admiration for her. Christian\u2019s Latin quote also suggests a deeper knowledge of him, his situation, and her belief in his innocence.<\/p>\n

He answered, bleakly, in the same language. \u2018Heu! The darts which make me suffer are my own. Common sense can be a poor guide and an uncertain surgeon. Better \u2013 much better \u2013 be foolish, like me. God clip you close,\u2019 he said, and was gone.<\/em><\/p>\n

That final \u2018God clip you close\u2019<\/em> strikes me as being said with real sincerity and concern.<\/p>\n

We have been told something of his character, quite at contrast with the first views we had of him, and had hints of his backstory without it ever being explicitly mentioned.<\/p>\n

And if we pause to consider it we can already tell that this author possesses storytelling skills above the level of most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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