Skip to main content

Hole in the Wall, Chesterton Story

An architect and an archaelogist meet at Lord Bulmer's house. The discuss the various pretenses of the house--the hole in the wall around it, how old it really is, etc.

Prior Park--it was said that it was named after a priory.  Then someone said, no, just named after a Mr. Prior.  Chesterton's comment:  people believe "facts" that deglamorize something far more readily than similarly unsubstantiated facts that glamorize.  In fact, the place was a priory.

Anyway, Horne Fisher is invited, along with many others, to a masquerade party.  Two of the men are sport swords.  They have an argument of sorts.  There is ice skating on a frozen pond.

The next morning one of the "swordsmen" is missing.  H-F determines that he has fallen into the pond.  Yes, it's shallow, but in one spot it is very deep.  Our murderer knew this, weakened the ice the night before, and then departed.  The murder occurs when he is not there.  Same plot, in many ways, as a previous story.  Still fun.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oppenheimer . . . film

 Solid opening 30 minutes (we're treating this like a mini-series).  O's involvement with left-wing causes . . . rift with Einstein (O thinks of him as over-the-hill and Einstein knows it.)  First splitting of atom.  Lawrence Lab in Berkeley--Lawrence practical applied physics . . . not O's strength.  Main actor is from Peaky Blinders.

The Master Chapter 2

February 1895 (Alice died in 1892) Money problems, jealousy of Wilde; time spent with Lord Wolseley1; off to Ireland to lick his wounds; Irish unrest--Irish landlords boycott all social events; much time spent with manservant Hammond (homosexual attraction again); fancy dress ball, appalling to James, who is only happy in company of Hammond, though Hammond remains a servant and no more; little girl alone on the grounds--inspiration for Turn of the Screw?; conflict with Webster who alludes to Wilde's successful play and HJ's failure; Wolseley was an  Anglo-Irish  officer in the  British Army . He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, West Africa, and Egypt, followed by a central role in modernizing the British Army in promoting efficiency. He served in Burma, the  Crimean War , the  Indian Mutiny , China, Canada and widely throughout Africa—including his  Ashanti  campaign (18...