Dates of events in Picts and Martyrs


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Posted by Ed Kiser on June 10, 2010 at 12:56:07 user Kisered.

Specification of the actual DATE of the story:

Day Seven is the day of the burglary, counting Day One as the day
the D's arrived by train. Day Eleven the GA departed Beckfoot.

A line from the letter from the GA says:

You tell me your mother returns on the thirteenth. On that
day I am expecting a friend whose visit I cannot defer.

Not sure of this, but assuming that the GA arrives back in her
home the day before the expected friend, then her return date was
the 12th.

Day of the month of August
13... GA is with the friend at Harrogate
12... Ga leaves to go to the train
11... free for the day, to High Topps
10... back to houseboat, more stinks
9.... to houseboat with loot, do stinks
8.... burglary
7.... rain, cooked rabbit, Nancy soaked
6.... Got Scarab
5.... Jacky shows, NO GO, guddling
4.... Postman & Timothy scare, make harbour
3.... They move to DOGS' HOME
2.... D's arrive, spend night in Beckfoot
1.... Nancy and Peggy paint decorations

The D's had come straight from school.

From this, I conclude that the D's arrived on the second of the
month.

At the very end of PM, we see:

Timothy sat up suddenly. "Oh, look here," he said, "I'm all
for a quiet life after this."
"Well, you won't exactly have one," said Nancy. "Not yet.
You can't expect it. Not with the Swallows coming, and Uncle
Jim, and five whole weeks of the holidays still to go."

From this, I am assuming that the month in which PM takes place
is August, leaving the last two weeks of August and the first
three weeks of September for when the Swallows return, with the
Callum's, and "Coots in the North".

The August specification is documented by the reference in Chapter 1
to the drying of the skull and crossbones painting on the lawn in
the hot August sun. This dating, and the dating in the GA's letter
as to when she must be back home to meet with her friend, seem to
fix the dates of these events in between.

From this, the date of the burglary is August 8, 1933.

Assuming SA was in '30, SD in '31, PP in '32, then PM is in '33.


Ed Kiser, Kentucky


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