(urth) PEACE: One Devil

[Dave Tallman]

In my previous post on this topic I elaborated a theory that Eleanor 
Bold murdered Den Weer. Since then I have looked into more information 
about her and I think I'll have to modify my theory.

1) Eleanor Bold is named for the heroine of Trollope's "Barchester Towers."

2) She is as outspoken as the judge's favorite author could wish. 
(Berkeley p. 72).

3) Trollope is an author her father discussed with Macafee. (p. 74).

4) The novel character had three suitors, making her a pure counterpart 
to Olivia.

5) Her romance with Dick Porter, her future husband, got a boost after 
she accepted his invitation to the Approved Methodists' July picnic (p. 
73). After this he thought she was "sweet on him" and romance apparently 
bloomed.

6) The real reason for accepting the invitation was to help Olivia get 
the Easter egg.

With all this positive and Christian associations about her I can no 
longer cast her as a murderess. I think her visit to Weer about the 
grave is more like a prophecy. As many have noticed, there is a parallel 
with "A Christmas Carol."

1) Weer gets three visitors on one day at his office.

2) Bill Batton, with his new clockwork elephant promotion, is the Ghost 
of Christmas Present (p. 135),

3) Bill was told part of Smart's ghost story that day. This represents 
Marley's Ghost, showing evil in the past of his business partner (p. 135).

4) Charles Turner, the dog-man, is connected with that old business. He 
is the Ghost of Christmas Past.

5) Eleanor Bold Porter, a woman many years his senior who wishes to 
plant a tree on his grave, brings a warning of early death. She is the 
Ghost of Christmas Future.

6) Stewart Blaine contradicts Weer on many details of the party where 
the Tilly story was told. Many seem to be his errors, but he may be 
correct that the party was at Christmas instead of a birthday (p. 174).

7) Telling ghost stories at Christmas is an old English tradition.

8) "A Christmas Carol" has Scrooge reading "Arabian Nights" as a boy.

9) Unlike Scrooge, Weer does not reform and he meets his doom as predicted.

According to my "one devil" theory, I still need for Weer to have killed 
someone at the Indian society meeting in order  for him to possess the 
detailed memory of it. I will fall back on his mother. He thought she 
was "young for death" (p. 28) when she died, but that doesn't rule out 
his murdering her. In fact, it makes it more likely. She was only 
nineteen years older (p. 17). How could he expect he would inherit 
everything when he was between twenty and thirty, and she would be only 
39 to 49 (p. 201)?

I also haven't ruled out the idea that someone murdered Weer. His 
replacement secretary, Miss Hadow (Shadow, if you take one of the S's 
from Miss) seems highly suspicious. She claims to work for Mr. Scrudder, 
but he doesn't recognize her (p. 226). "Scrud" can mean kill, and it 
derives from the Old English word for "shroud." She has a 
"fall-flowering plant" (a lilly?) pinned to her black dress -- more 
death associations. She replaced Miss Birkhead, who she first says is 
sick and then says is dead. Is this because of time-shifting, or is it a 
lie?

Is MisShadow a ghost, an avenging angel, or a woman posing as his 
secretary for revenge? If she's a poisoning ghost, she might be the 
ghost of Tilly's wife. She may have poisoned the whiskey in his office. 
Dan French got some too, but Weer got a double dose (p. 227, 242). Weer 
seems tired after the first drink (p. 233). After the second drink he 
"falls asleep" (p. 246).