Cousin Angela

[saylee.livejournal.com]

Just a bit of speculation here, namely that Bertie's cousin Angela is not the daughter of Tom Travers, but the daughter of Aunt Dahlia's first husband (the one who was mean to her and eventually got drunk and drowned). Bertie and Angela seem to be close in age - she can't be that much younger, certainly if she used to call him her "little darling", and in "Clustering Round Young Bingo" Bertie tells us what he was thinking when Aunt Dahlia married Tom, which suggests he was an older child at least, if he remembers it that well. While I haven't checked the later novels, in the short stories and in Right Ho, Jeeves, Angela is never given a last name. Even Jeeves, who refers to most of Bertie's female friends as Miss LastName, calls her Miss Angela. Thoughts?

Also, Angela's engagement to Tuppy: a good idea despite their occasional tiffs, or a disaster waiting to happen? Discuss.

Comments

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

While I'd have to double check it, I'm pretty sure she's uncle Tom's kid because Dahlia's first marriage was very brief (drunkard, if I remember correctly) and I got the impression that she simply didn't have get pregnant before getting away from Husband #1!

EDIT:

I also think "Miss Angela" was Plum's way of keeping things less confusing so that there wouldn't be a Miss Travers and a Mrs. Travers in the same story,the same way Brinkley became Bingley once Brinkley Court was in the same story.

To be less analytical, you could say Bertie's affection for his favorite cousin gave Jeeves some familiarity, Similar to how Bertie refers to Jeeves' Uncle Charlie.

I think Tuppy and Angela will be okay. Pauline and Chuffy are destined to bicker happily ever after as well!

[saylee.livejournal.com]

IIRC, there's only one mention of Dahlia's first husband, which is the one in Jeeves in the Offing: "...I knew she was thinking of her first husband, who was a heel to end all heels and a constant pain in the neck to her till one night he most fortunately walked into the River Thames while under the influence of the sauce and didn't come up for days." To me, it sounds like the marriage must have lasted a bit longer than you peg it, but to be fair, there's no real evidence either way.

Yeah, I chalk the "Miss Angela" thing up to familiarity, and the fact that Jeeves does say he's fond of Angela. I threw it in there less as proof as my theory than as a lack of proof against my theory.

[applea.livejournal.com]

Or Angela didn't want to take Traver's name, even though he is a good egg, and her other last name would cause all a pain in the ear when spoken aloud. It's not uncommon now for mothers and daughters to have two different last names, but I'm not sure what the protocol was back then.

[saylee.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure children would have kept their father's last name when their mother remarried.

[baskervwatson.livejournal.com]

Not sure on the Angela lineage front, but I think Tuppy and Angela are perfect for each other. Exactly how a relationship between two stubborn people play out ha ha *speaking from personal experience* At least it's never dull! ;-)

[saylee.livejournal.com]

I think what worries me most about their relationship is the way Tuppy chases after other girls when they fight - although, admittedly, he doesn't do this in Right Ho, Jeeves

[coffee-n-retcon.livejournal.com]

I think Angela and Tuppy are well suited for each other. I rather see them married with Angela quickly converted to a kind of I-can-say-whatever-I-like-about-him-but-you'd-better-not-comment-on-how-he-eats-or-I'll-knock-you-out-of-your-socks type wife.

[saylee.livejournal.com]

I'd be more worried about Tuppy's behaviour than Angela's, really, remembering the dog girl and Cora Bellanger.

[cucumbermoon.livejournal.com]

Sorry to slightly change the subject but... does the description of the first husband's death strike anyone else as being a tad... suspicious? I think there's a plot bunny here: Dahlia, having had quite enough, decides to take matters into her own hands.

[saylee.livejournal.com]

Oh no, feel free to change the subject all you like. These discussions are what keeps me occupied on slow days at work.

I would love to see a fic where Dahlia took matters into her own hands (or more likely, this being Dahlia, after all, blackmailed someone else into taking matters into their hands) and offed her husband. Now that you mention it, it does seem all too likely.

[thispe.livejournal.com]

The following plot bunny just came to me, courtesy of your post and watching too much Agatha Christie's Poirot lately.
So Dahlia did away with he first husband, his 'sauce' was dosed with laudanum and he didn't come up for a few days because his pockets were stuffed with rocks. Years later Hercule Poirot gets invited to Brinkley Court as a honored guest and soon discovers the sinister clues of Aunt Dahlia's past crime. Jeeves tries every trick of the trade to get the Poirot problem to go away but for once his big brain has met it's match! In the end they have to bribe Poirot with Anatole's cooking to make him sweep the murder under the carpet.

[cucumbermoon.livejournal.com]

Love it!