Posted by Robert Thompson on October 15, 2000 at 21:16:16 from 193.195.0.102:
In Reply to: Re: More Ransome posted by Dave Thewlis on October 12, 2000 at 17:41:39:
There is a very acceptable literary solution for the "mysterious" use of the word "Victoria" on Bridget's birthday cake. The Walkers were visiting the lake for the first time and did not apparently have any personal contacts in the area. It would be unlikely for Mother as the wife of a high-ranking Navy officer to head straight for someone else's farmhouse kitchen to bake a cake. Mother would have asked Mrs. Jackson to make the cake. Mrs. Jackson, hearing Mother, Nurse and the other Walker children referring to the baby as "Vicky", could easily have thought that this was her name and therefore iced her "proper" name, Victoria.