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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 25 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Smith, Dodie
In the margin. She is going to fill the page with 'I love you's' but says that a broken heart does not warrant a waste of paper.
Shave. Cassandra takes Neil for a swim for a swim in the moat to get him out of the way. Simon proposes first and then kisses Rose because she asks him to.
Lover. In the film this is also Rose's favourite song.
Mrs Stebbins. Although it's Topaz's idea, Rose takes all the credit at the party.
Wish on a gargoyle. The gargoyle, which is a devil, or perhaps an angel, is high up on the wall. Stephen and Thomas hoist her up and she wishes (we think) for a rich husband.
Jacob Wrestling and Swinburne. Cassandra's reaction to the Swinburne is 'Oh dear, is Stepehen taking to Swinburne?' The only other personal possessions are two photos, one of his dead mother and one of Cassandra.
19 and 7. Thomas says they are meant to show the mind of a child learning to read and write but Mortmain won't say.
A goat. Mortmain is making a wordplay on the popular pub name "The Goat and Compass".
Three months. Mortmain went to prison for threatening his first wife with a cake knife and knocking down a neighbour who jumped over the fence to save her. Cassandra hit the neighbour on the head with a spade and Mortmain swears it got him an extra month.
Topaz swoops down on Mortmain in the tower. In the book it's Cassandra who convinces Topaz to stay, not Mortmain, by telling Topaz that she may ruin any chance Mortmain has of beginning to write again.
Port. It's Miss Blossom (the dressmaker's dummy) who says doing things for others gives you a lovely glow, to which Cassandra replies that port does too. Cassandra thinks love sounds horrible and when she falls in love with her sister's fiance she feels miserable all the time. Although Cassandra says she loves hot chocolate she never says it gives her a lovely glow.
Orange. Topaz makes six spelling mistakes in her letter to Cassandra, who says it is 3/4 practical kindness and 1/4 spoof.
Topaz in Jade. Topaz also sat for another painter called Allardy who painted her naked on a horsehair sofa. The painting is called 'Composition' although Cassandra thinks it should have been called 'Decomposition' because Topaz looks so pale.
Jacob Wrestling and Jacob. Neil thought that the main character was called Jacob Wrestling, instead of realising that Jacob WAS wrestling with the angel. Jacob was named after the milkman at the family's first house.
Simon. Cassandra had "never kissed any man in [her] life before" she kissed Simon. This proves to be extremely complicating for Cassandra, as Rose is engaged to Simon at this point. Also, Stephen has previously made some advances toward Cassandra and she does not know how to respond. The confusion!
Stephen and Thomas. Rose and Cassandra are invited to a fine dinner party at the Cottons' estate. Stephen and Thomas peer in through the outside windows as everyone dances. When Simon good-naturedly invites the boys in, Stephen is horribly embarrassed.
to collect their inheritance. Rose and Cassandra go to London to pick up the items left to them by their Aunt Millicent, which turn out to be old fur coats. The trip to London is quite an event for the sisters, who haven't anything to wear but their conspicuous white summer dresses.
bathing. Cassandra first becomes acquainted with Simon Cotton on a rainy night. Americans who have inherited a nearby estate, the Cotton brothers get their car stuck in the mud outside the castle. Unknowingly, Simon Cotton pokes his head into the kitchen while Cassandra is bathing in an old tub (luckily behind a screen). This is the beginning of a friendship with Simon and his brother Neil.
he is their ex-maid's live-in orphan son. Stephen Colly is terribly fond of Cassandra, and he carefully copies poems to give to her. Cassandra is fond of Stephen, but finds him a bit too provincial (he more or less works for the Mortmains). The Stephen issue carries throughout the book, and at one point, Cassandra finds herself in the middle of a difficult love triangle.
Cassandra does have a real brother, though, and his name is Thomas.
Cassandra Mortmain. Cassandra is a thoroughly likable character. She begins her diary "sitting in the kitchen sink," beginning her months-long chronicle of her successes and failures.
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