CM 4.2

Checkmate Part 4 Chapter 2

Plot Summary

Philippa confronts Lymond sharply over what he did to his mother, likening him to Leonard Bailey. The quarrel quickly takes a different turn and finally Lymond tells Philippa that it is she he loves, yet he rejects adamantly continuing the marriage. Philippa, devastated by his hunchback simile, leaves in a rush. Austin Grey, overhearing the noises, misinterprets the cause and attacks Lymond. After the fight Catherine, who had witnessed it, refuses to see Lymond and he doesn’t want to join her either as his headaches are back, starting to blind him.

Dates

March 1558; same night as in CM 4.1.

Fictional Characters

(including references to characters not present)

• Adam Blacklock
• Archie Abernethy
• Austin Grey
• Eloise Crawford (referenced)
• Francis Crawford of Lymond
• Francis Crawford, First Baron Culter (referenced)
• Gavin Crawford (referenced)
• Gideon Somerville (referenced)
• Güzel (referenced)
• Jerott Blyth (referenced)
• Kate Somerville (referenced)
• Kuzúm (referenced)
• Mariotta Crawford, Lady Culter (referenced)
• Marthe (referenced)
• Philippa Somerville
• Richard Crawford (referenced)
• Sybilla Crawford (referenced)

Non-Fictional Characters

(including references to characters not present)

• Catherine d’Albon
• M. de Thermes (referenced)
• Macé Bonhomme (referenced)
• Nostradamus (referenced)
• Piero Strozzi (referenced)

Locations

(including signficant references to other locations)

• Algiers (referenced)
• Blackfriars Monastery (referenced)
• Boghall (referenced)
• Calais (referenced)
• Guînes (referenced)
• Hall of Revels (referenced)
• Hôtel d’Hercule
• Hôtel de Ville de Paris (referenced)
• London (referenced)
• Lyon (referenced)
• Sevigny (referenced)
• St Mary’s keep (referenced)
• Stamboul (referenced)
• Topkapi (referenced)

Literature

• Nostradamus Quatrain: C8-Q14
• Hanged with cloot of gold, and nat with sarge
• Here is non hoom. Here nis but wildernesse
• In the battlefield he was a lion wielding a dagger
• So conceaved and borne as a serpent is a serpent
• Strange birds cry in the air Today! Today! and vanish
• Tant que je vive, mon cueur ne changera
• Antabatae

Other References

• Hemlock
• Heterocrania
• Sumph
• Yunitsa
• Robe de nuit; fr. night gown

Quotes from Dunnett

• Music, the knife without a hilt.
• Kate is my friend, but the songs were for her daughter. And the passion, for ever.
• Some warped hunchback whelped in the gutter
• Elephants gave you less bother, any day.

Controversies

• Sybilla's character
• The hunchback in the gutter
• Was Austin more sinned against than sinning?

Previous/Next

CM 4.1 / CM 4.3

References

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