Posted by Peter H on March 14, 2006 at 23:50:56 from 81.132.218.66 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Stable bell posted by Adam Quinan on March 14, 2006 at 23:21:52:
Perhaps the rich Blacketts had a bell system to call the groom in from the stables?
And two Dalmation running dogs!
Getting back to the bell, unfortunately we are not told whether Dick unfastened it from a wall. It just says 'He had already taken it to bits . . .' It could have been just lying around, but the wires across the yard seem to indicate that it was fixed in the stable. If the bell was to call for a horse because someone wished to go out, then that would have meant that there was a groom in the stable all the time, waiting. That would cost a bit. (I think we can rule out the horse hearing the bell, lifting the latch with its nose and trotting over to the house.) There is a slight clue as to how long Mrs Blackett has lived at Beckfoot when she says, about the bell, 'it hasn't worked for years'. This seems to indicate that there was a time when it did work, and Mrs B remembers it. That would be a time when there was a horse at Beckfoot, but OTOH how old is Rattletrap?