{"id":739,"date":"2026-10-10T12:27:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/?p=739"},"modified":"2026-10-10T12:27:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:27:38","slug":"the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-vii-a-variety-of-mating-replies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/lymond-reading-notes\/the-play-for-jonathan-crouch-vii-a-variety-of-mating-replies.php","title":{"rendered":"The Play for Jonathan Crouch – VII: A Variety of Mating Replies"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lymond reading notes 8 \u2013 Game of Kings \u2013 The Play for Jonathan Crouch<\/em><\/h5>\n

This is a chapter that has everything \u2013 action, intrigue, humour in many guises, undercurrents in many conversations, and considerable interest in exactly who knows what, how and when did they learn it, and what they can do with the knowledge. Compared to this the affair at Hume seems perfectly straightforward!<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>1. Play with a Rook Proves Dangerous<\/h2>\n

We open in Stirling in the premises of Patey Liddle, goldsmith, where Sybilla is having a miniature portrait painted by him. We get the remarkable information that he has no ears, and his stories of how he lost them are many and varied. We are told:<\/p>\n

He was also a brilliant goldsmith; and the source to Lady Culter of much simple entertainment.<\/em><\/p>\n

We may also wonder whether, given that he is likely to have many rich and\/or noble customers through his shop, he may also be a source of information for her.<\/p>\n

He runs downstairs to greet a customer \u2013 in fact two: Andrew Hunter and George Douglas. We discover at this point, as she assesses the portrait, Sybilla\u2019s age \u2013 60.<\/p>\n

She overhears the conversation downstairs about how Hunter came by the bruises to his face. He tells Sir George the truth \u2013 which we find he had not told to the Culters who were led to believe he had fallen from his horse. He also mentions the names he overheard – Gideon Somerville and Samuel Harvey.<\/p>\n

Regaling Richard and Christian with this information later, she casts doubt on what Richard had heard of Hunter having a cousin in England that he needed to ransom, and she comes up with:<\/p>\n

‘What that man wants is to marry an heiress, although heaven knows I shouldn\u2019t ask Medusa to share her castle with Catherine.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

She has clearly been trying to keep Richard occupied so he won\u2019t attend the papingo shoot, though it\u2019s not clear why that is, since it seems unlikely she believes him to be in any danger from Lymond. We learn that apart from one day visit at Inchtalla he had hardly spent a complete day in his wife\u2019s company since the battle.<\/p>\n

Buccleuch arrives aiming to get Richard, but Sybilla forestalls him and insists he stay for wine since he has come to her house and etiquette demands that she act as hostess and he must accept it. But after 3 glasses Hunter appears and says they are wanted at the shoot.<\/p>\n

In the audience Agnes is saying slightly unwise things in a loud voice:<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, I must say,\u2019 said Lady Herries definitely, and loudly enough to turn several interested heads, \u2018if I were married to Lady Culter, I shouldn\u2019t let her spend the whole afternoon at the games alone.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom diplomatically tries to make a joke of it<\/p>\n

\u2018Thank you very much,\u2019 said Tom Erskine, grinning at Mariotta, who sat on his other side.<\/em><\/p>\n

But gets little support, while Dorothy gives us a striking visual image:<\/p>\n

She smiled politely back, and Mr Erskine\u2019s soul moaned within him. Reduced, singlehanded, to coping with so much potential gunpowder, he felt himself, like the bird which cleans crocodiles\u2019 teeth, assailed by hideous doubts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mariotta is frustrated; perhaps not surprisingly since she\u2019s barely seen her new husband in the last few weeks:<\/p>\n

The girl was pretty, rich and wearing new clothes. Today, sitting under streaming banners, with peers and pageantry around her, the green grass in front and the castle soaring above, was her first public appearance in Stirling since her wedding. And it was Tom Erskine, not Richard, who sat beside her and supplied the endless introductions. It was all exactly as she had insisted and devastatingly flat.<\/em><\/p>\n

She clearly wishes to make an impression, as the beautiful wife of one of the prominent nobles in the land, and he\u2019s not there beside her.<\/p>\n

Dorothy sets the scene by describing the separate sections that the various members of the social strata occupy. The peers, then the clergy, then the merchants, etc. Then the lowest \u2013 this being one of the first times she produces a list:<\/p>\n

The fleshers and brewers and smiths and weavers and skinners and saddlers and salters and cappers and masons and cutlers and fletchers and plasterers and armourers and porters and water carriers, and the one-eyed man who had called at Bogle House selling fumigating pans. And country people on holiday, and beggars, and pickpockets (no doubt) and sorners and the wandering unemployed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now when I was taught English at school, we were told that lists should be avoided because they were long and boring and slowed down the story! In Dorothy\u2019s hands they are transformed \u2013 they illustrate the scene, they inform the reader. And just sometimes, they serve as a distraction, to lull you into complacency so she can hit you with a big event or reveal.<\/p>\n

We seem to be in Mariotta\u2019s POV as the competitors file in. The suggestion that the noblemen were only doing this to \u201centertain the tenants\u201d<\/em>. The hint that something would usually happen to enliven the proceedings about half-way through.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, and not to be carping, the long file of athletic and purposeful bowmen looked very splendid, though not as splendid as if one\u2019s own husband were there.<\/em><\/p>\n

Blue and silver. She liked her own standard. The St Andrew\u2019s Cross; the crest (argent, a phoenix azure), and the highly ambiguous motto, chosen (of course) by the First Baron, which always eluded her, Contra Vita \u2013 whatever it was.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the thought crossed her mind, the motto itself appeared, almost within touching distance: CONTRA VITAM RECTI MORIEMUR. The Culter slughorn, carried by Richard\u2019s servant. And walking behind it, looking neither to left nor to right, but perfectly self-possessed, unaffected and blas\u00e9, Lord Culter himself. Mariotta was aware of a dismayed flutter in the stomach.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard various discussions about the correct meaning or accuracy of the Latin, but (no expert myself) I\u2019m happy to go with Dorothy\u2019s intentions, which were:<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the (misleading) evidence of our lives, we die honest\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

or<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe die honest, despite Life\u2019s efforts to thwart us.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom is glad to see Hunter arrive and asks him to look after the girls. We learn that Hunter is good enough at butt shooting but useless at perch.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Kilwinning baillies used to hand down their suits of armour like chains of office for when Dandy was perch shooting at the steeple.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom goes to see Christian at Bogle House, as he wants to see her before she has to return to Boghall to take over Jenny Fleming\u2019s duties. She\u2019s nervous \u2013 both for herself and Sybilla, and on hearing that Richard is to shoot, Tom almost turns around and goes back, but Christian detains him and asks him to take her and Sybilla to the fair until the shoot is over.<\/p>\n

He sees that she\u2019s on edge and says so. And unusually she snaps:<\/p>\n

\u2018If you would tear your mind sometimes from backgammon and horses, you\u2019d see something in the Crawfords that\u2019d make your rattlepated friends look pretty thin. If I remembered my own mother, I don\u2019t suppose I\u2019d value her half as much as I do the Dowager. And Mariotta may not be what you fancy, but there\u2019s breeding and spirit there too, if you\u2019re minded to look for it \u2013\u2019 She broke off, her brow cleared; and with one of those competent mood changes that was one of her chief characteristics, gave him a friendly push. \u2018Go on. Tell Sybilla we\u2019re all off for a jolly day a-fairing. And don\u2019t let her sidetrack you either.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Which tells us quite a lot about Christian\u2019s own character, some of the things she dislikes about men, and how much she adores Sybilla, as well as her ability to regain control of herself when necessary.<\/p>\n

If we were desperate to find out what happens at the papingo shoot then we\u2019re going to be delayed a while yet, as we are treated to a delightful trip through the fair.<\/p>\n

The progress of Sybilla though a market was the progress of worker bee through a bower of intently propagating blossoms. Everything stuck.<\/em><\/p>\n

She buys just about everything you can think of until Tom and Christian\u2019s ability to carry it all is quite overwhelmed! A box of ox feet proves an unwise purchase. After refreshments in a tavern, during which we get a kaleidoscopic description of the sights and sounds of the fair \u2013 a perfect example of how Dorothy leads you into scenes in a way that is all-encompassing \u2013 they head for home. Then Christian is stopped by a gypsy fortune teller \u2013 Johnny Bullo of course. Sybilla engages him in conversation and asks him to come to Bogle House in the evening to entertain everyone there.<\/p>\n

The next line:<\/p>\n

The Dowager was enchanted. \u2018So good of them. Have you any money, Tom dear? I seem to have spent all I had with me.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

is sure to raise a smile. Then they meet Dandy Hunter with bad news.<\/p>\n

The scene switches back to the shoot as it occurred, where the betting on what might happen is brisk and fevered.<\/p>\n

Agnes is once again airing unsuitable thoughts, first about the shoot and then about her own marriage arrangements:<\/p>\n

\u2018It strikes me,\u2019 said Lady Herries, reminded suddenly of a sore subject, \u2018that a Ward of the Crown might as well be a by-blow for all the difference it makes. A girl Ward, that is. Who wants to marry John Hamilton? Not me. I\u2019ve never seen the man, even.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Warming to her theme despite Hunter\u2019s attempts to distract her, she continues:<\/p>\n

\u2018What I mean is,\u2019 said the Ward of the Crown, frowning, \u2018that people have no business to settle other people\u2019s future for them when they\u2019re five years old. It\u2019s a typical man\u2019s scheme,\u2019 said Agnes ruthlessly. \u2018It\u2019s not for our own good; it\u2019s no use saying it is. It\u2019s to add to their rotten lands, or because they need to carry on the family name, or because it\u2019ll bring them enough money or tenants or rights of lineage to stop a war, or start a war, or carry out their own uninteresting masculine affairs.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

For a 13 year old she has strong and informed views!<\/p>\n

Perhaps fortunately the shooting starts.<\/p>\n

A lesser author might give us a dry description of the event. Here we get snippets such as<\/p>\n

The papingo squawked bad-temperedly and swore with an Aberdeen accent; the arrows arched and fell harmlessly, six yards to the left.<\/em><\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

The next two were wide; the fifth caused a mild sensation by breaking his bow and nearly amputating himself with the shards; the sixth lost his thread and bungled both draws; and the seventh squirted off like a firecracker.<\/em><\/p>\n

While we get more of Agnes\u2019 romantic visions:<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh!\u2019 said Agnes, sparkling. \u2018It\u2019s very exciting, isn\u2019t it?\u2019 And she added, a little wistfully, \u2018A woman would enjoy being married to a wonderful archer.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

We learn she\u2019s to be married soon:<\/p>\n

Lady Herries looked surprised. \u2018Not specially. But I\u2019ll have to get married this year, I expect; and if I\u2019ve got to be sold like a packet of wool \u2013\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Amongst some further discussion there are little gems like:<\/p>\n

\u2018But I\u2019ve got all the diamonds I want,\u2019 said Agnes succinctly. \u2018Like Mariotta. And the little Queen. So I don\u2019t see there\u2019s any point in marrying, unless it\u2019s to get something you haven\u2019t got already. And nine times out of ten, you needn\u2019t marry for that, either,\u2019 she added as an afterthought.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hunter asks her, a little rudely you would think, about her lands and tenants \u2013 which are considerable, and we learn they are next to the Maxwell lands.<\/p>\n

\u2018I should like,\u2019 pronounced Lady Herries with a stately air, \u2018a husband who put me before business or politics.\u2019 \u2018They don\u2019t exist.\u2019 \u2018Oh, yes, they do,\u2019 said Hunter unexpectedly.<\/em><\/p>\n

He then launches into a polemic about chivalry, and men\u2019s duty, and arranged marriages.<\/p>\n

\u2018As far as I\u2019m concerned,\u2019 retorted her ladyship, \u2018it can bury itself. They won\u2019t get me to marry anyone I don\u2019t want to, contract or no contract. Oh, look: there\u2019s Menteith shooting.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Menteith, shooting 19th<\/sup> almost hits the bird twice. Now it\u2019s Richard\u2019s turn, and the crowd goes deathly silent. Mariotta, panicking, finds that Hunter has gone.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, after the long descriptions and sidelines, the actual climax is described in very few words.<\/p>\n

Richard aims and fires, but another arrow comes from a distance and releases the bird by cutting the ties. As it flies upwards a further arrow hits home and it drops. Then a third arches into view and hits Richard at the foot of the pole, where he collapses.<\/p>\n

Whatever we were expecting, this was a shock, neatly delivered<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>2. Check and Cross Check<\/h2>\n

The scene moves to Bogle House that evening. Richard is alive, if heavily bandaged. We learn that the third arrow had been less accurate and powerful and had hit his collarbone, via ear and cheek. Richard is well enough to survey the bow, three arrows, and a glove, all recovered by Hunter.<\/p>\n

Sybilla expresses her dismay at finding Richard bloody and Mariotta fainting when she returned. Then rather oddly asks if anyone remembered to ask who got the prize. When Tom suggest it should really by Lymond\u2019s but that he could hardly claim it, Mariotta says \u2018He seems able to do almost anything he wants.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Then the gypsies appear. While the others watch, Sybilla is in conversation with Bullo. Near the end she takes Wat Scott out and they talk \u2013 about bloodhounds!<\/p>\n

She knows he has a pack and has surmised that Richard has asked him to use them to track down Lymond. She declares that she\u2019ll stop it, and chides Wat for being out in public when he\u2019s supposed to be too ill to speak to Lord Grey, who is in easy striking distance of his lands, and wants to find out about Will\u2019s part in the Hume fiasco. Wat is in trouble and knows it \u2013 he\u2019ll have to disown Will or risk being burned out. But if he does and Will is captured he\u2019ll face treason charges like Lymond. He promises Sybilla that he won\u2019t do what Richard wants, when they are disturbed by Christian opening the doors so the gypsies can leave.<\/p>\n

Sybilla smoothly changes the topic of the conversation to her having spoken to Bullo about making the Philosopher\u2019s Stone!<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, I don\u2019t know what you want the Philosopher\u2019s Stone for,\u2019 said Christian. \u2018It seems to me that as a family you\u2019re quite indecently rich already.\u2019 \u2018Oh, you never know,\u2019 said the Dowager mysteriously. \u2018Healing charms \u2013 elixirs of life \u2013 love potions \u2013\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018What I came to ask,\u2019 said Christian, her face rather red, \u2018was whether we might all go to the Fair\u2013 Agnes, Mariotta and myself, I mean.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear what causes her red face \u2013 was it mention of love potions or is she anxious to contact Johnny at the fair and thus see Lymond. Is she perhaps conflicted about not telling Sybilla she\u2019s been in touch with him?<\/p>\n

They go, with Tom, and after the others have left, Sybilla sits by the sleeping Richard.<\/p>\n

Then she put it down and sat quite still for a long time, staring owlishly into space. <\/em><\/p>\n

And it was into space that at last she spoke. \u2018Oh, my darling!\u2019 said Sybilla. \u2018I do hope I\u2019ve done the best thing.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The question of course is who is she referring to? And what action of hers is she referring to.<\/p>\n

How much has she been able to learn from Bullo about what Lymond is doing, and does she know from him that Christian has been in contact with him?<\/p>\n

At the fair, Christian is feeling the strain of the day\u2019s events and also the overstimulation of a rowdy crowd and an environment full of noise, bustle, and overpowering smells \u2013 all of which are wonderfully evoked.<\/p>\n

They arrive at Johnny\u2019s kiosk, and Agnes and Mariotta go in first \u2013 emerging unwilling to say anything about what they\u2019ve told. Then he leads Christian in before leaving her alone.<\/p>\n

The conversations that ensue are extremely complex \u2013 multi-layered and often seeming to be at cross-purposes. Even after many readings I\u2019m by no means sure that I\u2019ve fully understood them or their implications yet.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s tense \u2013 then comes Lymond\u2019s voice – Mothlike in its lightness and rapid insistency<\/em>, an unusual phrase but an effective one.<\/p>\n

His quick description of their surroundings calms her and he recognises that she was frightened and asks what caused it. She tells him:<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s been a bad sort of day \u2013 I\u2019m sorry \u2013 and the Fair on top was a little too much.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He responds:<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t, for your own sake, begin weaving fantasies of evil around me as well. I haven\u2019t tried to kill anybody today, I give you my word.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

And she clearly believes him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, if you had, I think you probably would have succeeded,\u2019 said Christian. \u2018Do you shoot?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He confirms that he does \u2013 very well. Then says that poets use the quills to write odes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Others don\u2019t,\u2019 she said quickly. \u2018Others kill.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a little silence. Then he said, \u2018And that\u2019s what you\u2019re afraid of, isn\u2019t it? Violence?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

It was true, and she acknowledged it. \u2018Except that it isn\u2019t trained and purposeful violence that terrifies me: it\u2019s the negligent, casual kind.<\/em><\/p>\n

And she lists various types.<\/p>\n

\u2018Violence in nature is one thing,\u2019 said Christian, \u2018but among civilized mankind, what excuse is there?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He is scathing about the English troops having anything to do with civilisation, and that religion is powerless to stop them. So she asks about private assassins:<\/p>\n

He remarks that the day\u2019s events were neither private nor successful. He alludes to the Old Man of the Mountains \u2013 a Crusader mistranslation of Sheikh al-Jabal, which means Mountain Chief and was the name of the leader of the Order of Assassins, who were alleged to use Hashish before carrying out their killings \u2013 thus his reference to \u201ctwanging<\/em> his hemp instead of eating it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He also says:<\/p>\n

\u2026 except that Culter, Jerome bless his childlike head, is such a remarkably dull and blameless creature himself.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

which suggests he has no ill-feeling towards his brother.<\/p>\n

\u2018For a humanist,\u2019 she said, \u2018you\u2019re very scathing on the subject of virtue. For one thing, you shouldn\u2019t confuse stolidity and self-control.\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018You admire self-control?\u2019 he asked, and she took her chance. \u2018I admire candour.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He retorted instantly. \u2018Oh, nothing better \u2013 in the right place. \u201cIt\u2019s only right you should know\u201d \u2013 I wonder how many that classic b\u00eatise has driven to the river and the dagger and the pillow in a quiet corner. Truth\u2019s nothing but falsehood with the edges sharpened up, and ill-tempered at that: no repair, no retraction, no possible going back once it\u2019s out.<\/em><\/p>\n

He appears to be warning her about either of them telling the full truth here \u2013 that a fudging of facts can be maintained, but that the truth is final and can\u2019t be denied. Which, given his situation and with her reputation to protect, could mean serious problems for her. Perhaps he senses that she\u2019s getting too close to him, and neither of them can afford that.<\/p>\n

He then brings up an unexpected subject by saying:<\/p>\n

If I told you I\u2019d murdered my own sister you\u2019d register appropriate feelings of hate and revulsion; and if you found later I hadn\u2019t, I\u2019d be sure of your interest and sympathy in twice the depth of your hate. Whereas, if you simply found proof positive that I had killed her \u2026\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

To which she interjects<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026 I might loathe you, but I\u2019d respect your courage,\u2019 she said candidly. \u2018Besides, that sort of truth wouldn\u2019t hurt me, would it? It might affect you, but then you\u2019d deserve it.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Which surprises him.<\/p>\n

\u2018…Leave me some pride. Pretend at least that you wouldn\u2019t collapse in a delirium of joy as I dance a vuelta on the widdy. In any case, I stick to my point. Not ninety-nine women out of a hundred really prefer that kind of honesty; and even if you are the hundredth, I\u2019m the last to help you prove it to yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n

A statement that will find an echo in book 6.<\/p>\n

She tells him about Crouch having been released from Hunter, who had bought him from Douglas.<\/p>\n

\u2018I see \u2013 wait,\u2019 he said. \u2018How do you know all this?\u2019 \u2018Because,\u2019 said Christian, rising, \u2018he was overheard giving George Douglas two English names mentioned by Crouch, and he more or less asked Douglas to help track them down in the hope they\u2019d lead to the man who freed his prisoner. I thought you\u2019d be interested \u2026 and now I must go. Oh!\u2019 She sat down again, smiling. \u2018Hadn\u2019t you better tell my fortune first?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

To her glee, he sounded taken aback. \u2018Oh, Johnnie looks after all that, although under certain circumstances I tell him what to say. Do you really want it done?\u2019 She laughed. \u2018Not really. It\u2019d be more to the point, I think, if I could read yours.\u2019 \u2018Yes. Well, you\u2019d qualify for M. Rabelais\u2019s next Almanac if you could do that,\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Rabelais\u2019s almanac, known as the Pantagrueline Prognostication<\/em>, is a satirical parody of popular astrological almanacs and weather predictions published by French Renaissance writer Fran\u00e7ois Rabelais.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that she doesn\u2019t mention the two English names, and he doesn\u2019t ask; which should tell her that he is the man who took Crouch from Hunter.<\/p>\n

He proceeds, by the light of a single candle, to tell her fortune from her palm:<\/p>\n

\u2018But I will say this \u2026 You\u2019ll get the most out of life, never fear; and meet the sort of man you want, that too; and get your heart\u2019s desire, I think, in the end \u2013 if you believe the results of Johnnie\u2019s teaching. But what are we, after all? Charlatans, faiseurs d\u2019horoscope \u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps another subtle suggestion that she should pursue her own happiness rather than becoming fixated on him.<\/p>\n

She tells him of her plans to go to Midculter and then on to Boghall, then asks if there\u2019s anything else she can do:<\/p>\n

We seem to waste all our meetings talking nonsense, and all the time I feel \u2026\u2019
\n\u2018\u2026 The sands are running out?<\/em><\/p>\n

Which suggests she\u2019s concerned that time is short for him to find a way of proving his innocence.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s Johnnie coming now: he\u2019ll see you out.\u2019 He clasped her hand briefly. \u2018I may not see you for a while, but perhaps I shall write.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Which, given her blindness, surprises her as well as us, and raises intriguing possibilities. He reassures her that she\u2019ll understand later, and she departs.<\/p>\n

\u2018Have they gone?\u2019 said Lymond. \u2018Thank you, Johnnie. Your performance with the first two filled me with respect. For chastely phrased double-entendres you have no master.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He praises the three girls, but Johnnie observes:<\/p>\n

\u2018The wee one had a face like a pound of candles on a hot day.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

But Lymond corrects him:<\/p>\n

\u2018The wee one, as you call her, has a face informed with beauty, wisdom and wit. In other words, my Johnnie, she\u2019s thirteen, free and stinking rich.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Oh. Then you\u2019ve had a good day of it, I suppose.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Then you suppose wrong,\u2019 said Lymond shortly. \u2018I\u2019ve had a damned carking afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which suggests the day did not go exactly as planned.<\/p>\n

We then get a final section which suggests that Johnnie, although very intelligent, doesn\u2019t always interpret Lymond correctly.<\/p>\n

Bullo saw him to the doorway. \u2018You\u2019re off south tonight?\u2019 \u2018I am. There\u2019s a gentleman I have to meet on the Carlisle road on Friday.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018And not to the gentleman\u2019s profit, either,\u2019 said Johnnie to himself with a grin,<\/em><\/p>\n

This brings us to the end of part 1, and we now proceed on to the second man Lymond wants to find and question \u2013 Gideon Somerville.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve moved on a long way in our understanding of Lymond, and may well have reassessed our opinions of him more than once. But there\u2019s a lot more to come!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lymond reading notes 8 \u2013 Game of Kings \u2013 The Play for Jonathan Crouch This is a chapter that has everything \u2013 action, …<\/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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","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\/739","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=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":741,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorothydunnett.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}