Random DLS ponderings

[nineveh_uk]

Leafing through some DLS for dialogue help in the course of drafting some fic, a couple of paragraphs struck me.

The first is from the short stories. I don't read them much - they're not particularly good short stories - but I ought to read them more, as they have some interesting little passages in them. Like this one from The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker.

[Peter is staying in a grand hotel somewhere-or-other that liners dock from Africa (Southampton?), and Mrs Ruyslaender has spotted his name on the register and, desperate, come to his suite at 11 pm to try to get his help on a case. Bunter admits her to the sitting room.]

The man stepped noiselessly to the bedroom door and passed, shutting it behind him. The lock, however, failed to catch, and Mrs Ruyslaender caught the conversation.

"Pardon me, my lord, a lady has called. She mentioned no appointment, so I considered it better to acquaint your lordship."

"Excellent discretion," said a voice. It had a slow, sarcastic intonation, which brought a painful flush to Mrs Ruyslaender's cheek. "I never make appointments. Do I know the lady?"

"No, my lord. But - hem - I know her by sight, my lord. It is Mrs Ruyslaender."

"Oh, the diamond merchant's wife. Well, find out tactfully what it's all about, and, unless it's urgent, ask her to call tomorrow."

The valet's remark was inaudible, but the reply was:

"Don't be coarse, Bunter."

*

I assume that Peter is still being sarcastic here, and not actually ticking Bunter off in the final sentence - it would be a bit much if he were, given that he started it. There are other passages of what Peter and Bunter and Peter and Parker talking about women/sex within the books, but I think that this is the most obviously blokish one.

*

Second, Busman's Honeymoon.

[Chapter 4, Bunter and Peter the morning after, not quite a page after Bunter's "I trust your lordship found everything satisfactory?"]

"Then buzz off and get breakfast before I get like the Duke of Wellington, nearly reduced to a skellington.... I say, Bunter."

"My lord?"

"I'm damned sorry you're having all this trouble."

"Don't mention it, my lord. So long as your lordship is satisfied - "

"Yes. All right, Bunter. Thanks."

He dropped his hand lightly on the servant's shoulder in what might have been a gesture of affection or dismissal as you chose to take it, and stood looking thoughtfully into the fireplace till his wife rejoined him.

*

All things considered, perhaps it's a good thing that the body turned up in a cellar and gave them all something to talk about...

Just spell it out for a moment. There's Bunter coming in, asking in code if Peter had a good night's not-sleep, and Peter giving a "you cannot seriously think I'm going to answer that" response and changing the subject. Then they waffle on about business (a bit awkwardly? A little excessively normal?) before Peter appears to feel guilty, calls Bunter back, apologises, ostensibly for the trouble (this the man who in the past has booked a holiday cottage with no indoor plumbing at all without remorse), Bunter brings up - something - again, gets an answer, and the final ambiguous gesture of reassurance/don't need you anymore, and Peter stares at the fireplace Bunter has just relaid mulling over - something - the options being presumably (1) yes, that was a highly satisfactory night, or (2) Oh God, is this about to be a bit difficult?

All of which I've thought before, and tended to assume that Peter is intending to be sympathetic if abstracted. What I haven't thought about before is the implication of Bunter potentially taking it seriously as a dismissal. It certainly makes Peter's laughing about the morning's Humorous Soot/Sink Incident an awful lot harsher from Bunter's POV, and adds greater force to his being off-kilter over the next few days and the absolute triumph when he beats Harriet to be the one wanted once again. No wonder the Duchess wonders how things are going after talking to him.

***

And yet people still think that Bunter fantasises about racehorses. Well, I suppose they have big noses and are famously well-endowed. (Do you think I'd get away on the Yahoo list with "Bunter has a dirty night out in the Denver stables" on the grounds that it if you don't accept anything at all is going on re. Peter then something must be going on re. Equus caballus?)

Comments

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? Bunter fantasizing about racehorses? Who got that from what? *boggles*

The scene in Busman's Honeymoon where Bunter is triumphant over Peter needing him rather than Harriet amuses me for another reason. Remember pre-wedding, the discussion between Harriet and Peter about "obey" and Peter saying he would never give his wife orders unless the house was on fire?

"Bunter--no, I shall want you." He saw Harriet and spoke to her as though she had been his footman. "Here, you, go and fasten the door at the top of the back stair. Don't let her hear you if you can help it. Here are the house-keys. Lock the doors, front and back. Make sure that Ruddle and Puffett and Crutchley are all inside. If anyone says anything, those are my orders. Then bring the keys back--do you understand? ... Bunter, take the steps and see if you can find anything in the way of a hook or nail in the wall or ceiling on that side of the chimney-place."

Bunter is twice addressed by name, Harriet only as "you." Harriet gets very explicit, step-by-step directions, Bunter gets a general instruction. Bunter definitely has every reason to feel that he's won here.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

That was an interesting exegesis of some interesting lines (I especially like, "Oh God, is this about to be a bit difficult?")

if you don't accept anything at all is going on re. Peter

It's the naked-dousing-under-the-scullery-pump that makes me think that DLS intended us to see something "re. Peter". Well, that and the "savage libido" line. When you consider that Sir Impey Biggs's sub-text is established on the basis of a lot less, one wonders why she felt impelled to include those particular scenes, if not to make the young fangirl's fancy idly turn to thoughts of slash.

[tinx_r]

there is most emphatically *something* re Peter... I give you:

He [Bunter] had (with what exertions!) brought his favourite up to the tape and must leave him now to make the running, but no respect for the proprieties could prevent his sympathetic imagination from following the cherished creature every step of the way. With a slight sigh he drew the candle towards him, took out a fountain-pen and a writing-pad, and began a letter to his mother. The performance of this filial duty might, he thought, serve to calm his mind.

I rest my case.

:D

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Though I think your comclusions are emininently reasonable, I think you also have to look at the 'dismissal' factor from the job POV. I mean, I know that's obvious and that DLS deals with it explicitly in the text, but it's a complicating factor, if Bunter is worried about losing *everything* - not just LP, but also home, hearth, and salary, all at once. Obviously he'd have gotten a glowing reference but having to start all over in a new job while emotionally bereaved would be that much worse.

Mind if I PM you? There's a fic I want to write and I don't have my books here - if you've been going through yours, maybe you can offer a suggestion or two.

Busman's menage a trois

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

I am also re-reading BH for more insight into what on earth Bunter is thinking for nefarious purposes of my own (but haven't got very far). It's a pity the longest sustained bit of Bunter POV is to his mother and therefore unreliable evidence. I'd never noticed the end of that morning after scene until you pointed it out.

It makes Peter telling Harriet to ask Bunter about lunch and then congratulate him when it turns out he's already organised it all seem even more of an attempt at smoothing the way for all three of them. Though it is Harriet who brings up the question of Bunter in the first place. She's been worried about what Bunter would feel about it all since two days after the engagement. Has Peter only just thought about it?

As to "following the cherished creature every step of the way", apart from writing to his mother to take his mind off it, Bunter has also found and booked a chimney sweep, sourced the makings of breakfast (or did they bring their own eggs) and arranged for the delivery of the papers by a convoluted process all by eight o'clock in the morning. Did he go out for a long walk the instant he woke up and meet half the village? He's either trying desperately to prove he's indispensable or he's sublimating something. Or just trying to keep occupied until they bloody get out of bed.