Thornyhold Trivia Quiz

Answer: A crystal ball

Geillis Ramsey was a lonely child and the three visits by her Godmother, or Sponsor as she preferred to be known, were lovingly remembered highlights.

The first visit was during the last summer at the country parish where her father was vicar. Together the two Geillis watched a nymph emerge from a pond and transform into a dragonfly. They also saw a family of hedgehogs.

The second visit was just before cousin Geillis set off on a trip to New Zealand. She brought a collie as a companion for the child. The dog was sent away by the child's mother shortly afterwards and was never seen again.

Cousin Geillis returned a third and final time to visit Jilly at her boarding school in the Lake District. Jilly looked into the crystal ball brought by her cousin and saw a flock of homing pigeons. Cousin Geillis had recently bought a house, but did not give any details.

Jilly had owned a rabbit for a short time before her mother had returned it.

Answer: Watercolour studies of plants

Jilly was a solitary child, even when away at boarding school. She developed her drawing and painting skills and hoped to attend Art College, but her mother put a dampener on that. She did manage one year at Durham University before returning home upon the death of her mother, to look after her father. He had some of her watercolours framed.

Answer: It had been written the previous December

The letter from cousin Geillis was sent with one from the solicitor advising of her death and enclosing a copy of her will. It was the first time that Jilly knew the name of her cousin's house, Thornyhold, and it informed her that she now owned it and all of its contents.

Answer: Smoke was coming from the chimney

The taxi driver noticed the smoke coming from the chimney. Although she held the keys to the house, Jilly was reluctant to use them when the door was opened from the inside by Agnes Trapp.

Answer: Jessamy

Jessamy Trapp was a simple country lad, but under the control of his mother. There was no bad in him though and by the end of the story, he had been cured by the love of a good woman. He, his wife and three children, lived happily in the lodge house at Thornyhold.

Answer: William

William had brought a ferret with him and had intended to get inside the house, through a broken window, to get medicine for it. He knew that the original Miss Geillis was dead, as he had attended the funeral, but seeing Jilly from behind gave him a nasty shock.

When everything was sorted out between them, he and the new Miss Geillis doctored the ferret, leading William to ask if she was the new witch too.

Answer: A collie dog

Geillis Ramsey had heard a dog barking and whimpering several times during the nights since her arrival at Thornyhold. The morning after she had bandaged the arm of Jessamy Trap, she found the collie curled up in her garden shed.

The crystal ball was found on top of the book case in the locked Still Room, wrapped in velvet.

Answer: "God bless your sleep". Her cousin was a non-believer

The first message, "Welcome my dear from your cousin Geillis", was in her cousin's handwriting. The second was not. Cousin Geillis had always referred to herself as Sponsor, rather than Godmother, so the reference to God made it most unlikely to have been from her cousin. The new Geillis was comforted by both messages though.

Answer: A love philtre

The love philtre was on a single sheet of paper, slipped between the pages of the book. One of the ingredients was "hair from the tail of a dead or dying dog" and another was "blood from a black pigeon".

Jessamy had removed a dead black pigeon from the attic. He had been bitten by the collie that had hidden in the garden shed. The collie had a bleeding bald patch at the base of its tail.

Agnes Trapp had a local reputation as a witch, but it was generally agreed that she was not very good. Evidence for that was the state of her own mother who many believed that she had "doctored" to calm her down.

The book also contained recipes for various teas and remedies.

Answer: Grandmother could have been a witch, if she had wanted!

The first Geillis had told her namesake that she should use her own talents. At first she had thought she should try and follow her cousin's example, but realised that the years of study involved would not fit in with her plans of marriage and family.

When the grandchildren were discussing the possibility of their grandmother deciding to be a witch, they were looking at her published illustrated herbal, based on the book that Agnes Trapp had wanted to see all those years before.

The love philtre was nowhere to be seen, as Geillis had carefully destroyed it.