Re: Beckfoot-number of stairwells


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Posted by Ed Kiser on August 10, 2007 at 15:24:38 from 205.188.116.198 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot-number of stairwells posted by Jock on August 10, 2007 at 08:21:14:

One Proof coming up: (PM CH2, very near the end of the chapter)

From inside the house came the noise of someone coming
down-stairs in flying leaps, and, a moment later, Nancy
was at the garden door.

In WH CH10 is an illustration of pumpkin faced Nancy signalling to the others in the yard by the sundial. This also shows a door that is in the kitchen part of the house, with a window directly above that door, showing that the kitchen has two stories in it. This door is what I have assumed to be the "Garden Door" as it opens to the area of the sundial.

This drawing also shows that Nancy's room is on the second floor, at the rear of the house proper, with the rose trellis by its window. This trellis is also shown in PM as Dick is climbing into the Study window, which shows the study to be on the same side of the house as Nancy's room, but at the front of the house on the first floor.

In PM, during the burglary, the GA comes down to the study to investigate the source of the sound made when Dick accidentally kicked "Timothy's Hutch." As she approaches the study, she checks on several rooms on the way. This description gives a suggestion as to the order of the rooms.

Suddenly he heard steps crossing the hall... Steps going to
the kitchen... the dining-room... the drawing-room...
they would be coming to the study next...

This shows: hall, kitchen, dining-room, drawing-room, study.

This suggests the stairs took the GA to the first floor, down to the hall. I assume that the hall has a door at its end that opens to the kitchen. The dining-room is back in the house proper across the hall from the drawing-room. So to get to the drawing-room from the dining-room, the GA would again cross the hall, but no mention of this hall usage.

In the picture in WH of pumpkin faced Nancy, the window directly below her bedroom I have felt is that of the drawing-room. In that drawing there is something in that window, possibly a telescope, but hard to tell.

The location of the "passageway" has been a mystery to me. It would seem that it might be some sort of separation between the house proper and the kitchen, yet that would be somewhat in the way as Cook has to go back and forth between kitchen and the dining-room to serve the meals, so those two rooms should be adjoining, with no passageway in between. Possibly there is a small sliding door over a common shelf to provide access between the kitchen and dining-room so dishes could be placed there to be passed through to the other room, but there is no mention of any such access.

We do see that the passageway provides access to the pantry as Cook was going there with a load of dishes to be put away when the bell startled her into dropping the lot. Cook had her hands to her ears as she was standing in the kitchen door, facing the "yard". (PP CH6)

There is a door referred to as the "kitchen door" where Cook sat to watch anxiously awaiting the finding of the missing GA. We see the "garden door" being a part of the kitchen annex, but there is no drawing showing any other door on that side of the kitchen. Because there is reference to a specific "kitchen door", possibly that door is on the other side of the kitchen, facing the pigeon loft and parking area for Rattletrap.

But the passageway's location is not all that obvious to me. Dick dashed through the passageway from the main house to run out to the pigeon loft. The Tea-tray with the pigeon alarm on it was hung there from a beam, so that supporting structure was not covered.

So there is plenty of room for arguments and opinions about Beckfoot. But that is what makes it all fun to try to gather this meager evidence.

So have at it...

Ed Kiser, Kentucky


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