Posted by John Wilson on August 26, 2000 at 14:43:50 from wn-d182.actrix.co.nz:
In Reply to: Re: Picts and Martyrs - electric power, Beckfoot posted by Ed Kiser on August 17, 2000 at 16:51:17:
Beckfoot appears in several chapters of PM, and they suggest that the house relied on lamps and candles for lighting, without electric lighting from either reticulated power or a local engine generator set. In chapter 2 the D’s “lit their candles” in the bedroom. During the burglary (ch 19) someone “lit a light” upstairs, then there is a light(s) above the staircase and behind the front door. Afterwards in the houseboat (ch 21) Nancy says “but why didn’t she see you .... she had a lamp”. The GA was probably carrying a portable kerosene (paraffin) lamp with a wick, and there is apparently no other light downstairs in the study.
I agree that both Roger and Dick would have investigated a local genset at Beckfoot if there was one! Roger was interested in the engines of the Wild Cat and the Sea Bear, and Dick was intrigued to find that the Teasel had electric light from a storage battery which was recharged at the boatyard.