Eleven Things that Weren’t Written by Dorothy L. Sayers, VII

[nineveh_uk]

Spoilers and disclaimers (incl. for directly quoted text) as usual.

Have his Carcase

I

Harriet Vane looked out at the sweeping rain. She had started on a solitary walking-tour of the south coast: plenty of exercise, no responsibilities, and no letters forwarded. The time was June, the weather hitherto perfect. She had intended to spend the day walking the sixteen miles along the cliffs to Wilvercombe. But the sky was black, her lodgings comfortable, and she had had an idea for The Fountain-Pen Mystery. She turned her back on the lowering clouds and ran down the stairs to reserve her room for a second night.

II

Harriet watched Wimsey as he ran, bathing-suited, down over the sand.

‘And he strips better than I expected,’ she admitted candidly to herself. ‘Better shoulders than I realised, and calves to his legs, and really a very nice bum.’

III

‘I say, Peter! That’s not a bad idea for a novel.’

‘What?’

‘The blood. If one could contrive a situation in which the only evidence for the time of death was that the blood hadn’t clotted, and contrive some way that the blood wouldn’t clot, then the murderer could arrange a false alibi.’

‘Harriet!’

‘My God, Peter. You don’t think that Henry Weldon – ’

‘No. Not arrange it – you said that Henry Weldon was stupid. And arranging that sort of thing would require a good deal of ingenuity. But there is another possibility.’

IV

And dinner. And dancing. And so to bed.

‘Oh my Lord!’

***

Plus one or two extras in the comments courtesy of azdak.

Comments

The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

the bum in the picture grows wrinklier and saggier
Now that's a crossover that needs writing.

However, it is true that horses in literature do tend to be associated with sex
Deliberate mis-reading is half the fun! Though maybe Sayers missed a trick in not having Harriet present to witness Peter's best bit of horsemanship (or not, if it sent her running in the opposite direction). You are also making Goethe's poetry (which Erlkonig aside I have never read) seem a lot more enticing. (In this regard, it is interesting that a bit of Thrones MS mentions that Helen and Gerald conducted their courtship at the covert side, and that H. has always looked very good on a horse. Perhaps G. mistook huntin' enthusiasm for sex.)

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that. (Can I be nosy and ask where you found that out?)

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

The manuscript of Thrones is available to read in a research centre at Wheaton College, Illinois (just outside Chicago), and where I spent a day or so and some frantic lunchtimes tearing through it and other DLS stuff. There's quite a bit of interesting stuff that Jill Paton Walsh did not use in her continuation. (I know that many people would rather have the novelization, but I'm the History of Middle Earth reading type myself, and I'd rather have the bits and pieces of original.)

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that!

*plans next trip to the States*

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[azdak.livejournal.com]

You are also making Goethe's poetry (which Erlkonig aside I have never read) seem a lot more enticing.

He's actually pretty good, although overly keen on this lurve stuff which, as you know, is not really my thing. But generations of Seminar graduates can recite "Es schlug mein Herz, geschwind zu Pferde!" it playing a central role in first year voice classes.

H. has always looked very good on a horse. Perhaps G. mistook huntin' enthusiasm for sex

I bet she rode side-saddle - that looks incredibly sexy. And I doubt if G. was looking for sexual enthusiasm in his wife of all people - that's what a chap has mistresses for.

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

this lurve stuff which, as you know, is not really my thing
You're really going to have trouble with my honestly-I'm-going-to-write-it-any-day-now planned end of Gaudy Night fic...

Re: The highwayman came riding, riding, riding

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Sick bag at the ready, Alice...

Es schlug mein Herz, geschwind zu Pferd!

[tree_and_leaf]

Why did they cut all the interesting bits out of T,D?

Poor old Gerald. That makes a lot of sense.