[10 out of 20] Miss Marple: Gen
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sweetandshortTitle: Education
Prompt: education
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Length: 300
Rating: Gen
Characters: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Notes: Based on the Agatha Christie short story "Sage & Onions" and is SPOILERS for that work.
Summary: Miss Marple and Dolly discuss the murder of a young woman by her guardian.
“Oh, Jane!” exclaimed Dolly Bantry with a grimace.
“Yes,” said Miss Marple tersely, agreeing with the sentiment in her friend’s expression.
“But that’s…”
“Wicked.”
“Do you mean to say he had the girl collect the foxglove leaves herself, the ones that would eventually cause her death? But that means he would’ve had to sow the foxglove himself, in between the other herbs, and that would’ve taken a great deal of foresight. Months, a year, maybe.”
“He’d been planning it for some time, I suppose, ever since she showed a genuine romantic interest in someone her own age. He couldn’t stand to lose her to anyone. He preferred to see her dead, but you are wrong, Dolly. The foxglove leaves didn’t kill her. They made her ill, and they made everyone else at dinner ill, too. That was a blind. He gave her an overdose from his own supply of digitalis, the one he had for his heart. I suppose he told her it was medicine for her stomach, and credulous child, she believed him. Why shouldn’t she? He was her guardian. He’d taken care of her ever since her parents had died.”
“He was old enough to be her grandfather,” commented Dolly with a sniff.
“When has that ever mattered, Dolly?” retorted Miss Marple.
The two exchanged silence glances, the Dolly sighed and added,
“He will hang for it—if he lives that long.”
“Poor thing. She had no one to warn her, no one to advise her. No one to genuinely guard her from, well, the wickedness of the world. She was ignorant, and there was no one to educate her. Do you know, Dolly, I think we are among the lucky ones.”
“Because we learned how much wickedness there is in the world?”
“Because we survived the education.”
Prompt: education
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Length: 300
Rating: Gen
Characters: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Notes: Based on the Agatha Christie short story "Sage & Onions" and is SPOILERS for that work.
Summary: Miss Marple and Dolly discuss the murder of a young woman by her guardian.
“Oh, Jane!” exclaimed Dolly Bantry with a grimace.
“Yes,” said Miss Marple tersely, agreeing with the sentiment in her friend’s expression.
“But that’s…”
“Wicked.”
“Do you mean to say he had the girl collect the foxglove leaves herself, the ones that would eventually cause her death? But that means he would’ve had to sow the foxglove himself, in between the other herbs, and that would’ve taken a great deal of foresight. Months, a year, maybe.”
“He’d been planning it for some time, I suppose, ever since she showed a genuine romantic interest in someone her own age. He couldn’t stand to lose her to anyone. He preferred to see her dead, but you are wrong, Dolly. The foxglove leaves didn’t kill her. They made her ill, and they made everyone else at dinner ill, too. That was a blind. He gave her an overdose from his own supply of digitalis, the one he had for his heart. I suppose he told her it was medicine for her stomach, and credulous child, she believed him. Why shouldn’t she? He was her guardian. He’d taken care of her ever since her parents had died.”
“He was old enough to be her grandfather,” commented Dolly with a sniff.
“When has that ever mattered, Dolly?” retorted Miss Marple.
The two exchanged silence glances, the Dolly sighed and added,
“He will hang for it—if he lives that long.”
“Poor thing. She had no one to warn her, no one to advise her. No one to genuinely guard her from, well, the wickedness of the world. She was ignorant, and there was no one to educate her. Do you know, Dolly, I think we are among the lucky ones.”
“Because we learned how much wickedness there is in the world?”
“Because we survived the education.”
