Lodger The
by Marie Belloc-Lowndes BELLOC-LOWNDES
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Book Summary Information
Author: Marie Belloc-Lowndes BELLOC-LOWNDESEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-30
ISBN: 0897332997
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
Book Reviews of Lodger The
Book Review: I just finished this overlooked little gem...
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a GREAT book and will go on my 'special' bookshelf of superior things. "The Lodger" is written,1900-ish, by Marie Belloc Lowndes, who is the sister of vaguely famous Hillaire Billoc. I had assumed from the name Hillaire that he was some French writer I had missed, but he turned out to be just a right wing English politician who thought women shouldn't get the vote, even though, obviously, his sister could write rings around him. Anyway, the plot is this: (Don't read this is you fear exposure to a few plot details)
Robert and Ellen Bunting were an ex butler and his wife, a lady's maid who after a business failing had fallen on very hard times, and were reduced to such straights that the husband's purchase of a penny newspaper to read about the details of the horrendous, "Avenger" (aka Jack The Ripper), serial killings in London nearly precipitated an argument between them, despite the fact that they were a very nice couple who cared for each other in their restrained English way. At the moment of their greatest despair, their prayers are answered as a 'gentleman' comes knocking in answer to the sign in their window of 'rooms to let'.
""On the top of the three steps which led up to the door, there stood
the long, lanky figure of a man, clad in an Inverness cape and an
old-fashioned top hat. He waited for a few seconds blinking at her,
perhaps dazzled by the light of the gas in the passage. Mrs.
Bunting's trained perception told her at once that this man, odd as
he looked, was a gentleman, belonging by birth to the class with
whom her former employment had brought her in contact.
"Is it not a fact that you let lodgings?" he asked, and there was
something shrill, unbalanced, hesitating, in his voice.
"Yes, sir," she said uncertainly--it was a long, long time since
anyone had come after their lodgings, anyone, that is, that they
could think of taking into their respectable house.
Instinctively she stepped a little to one side, and the stranger
walked past her, and so into the hall.
And then, for the first time, Mrs. Bunting noticed that he held a
narrow bag in his left hand. It was quite a new bag, made of strong
brown leather.
"I am looking for some quiet rooms," he said; then he repeated the
words, "quiet rooms," in a dreamy, absent way, and as he uttered
them he looked nervously round him.
Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully
furnished, and was very clean.
There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary
feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which
matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
A very superior lodging-house this, and evidently a superior
lodging-house keeper.
"You'd find my rooms quite quiet, sir," she said gently. "And just
now I have four to let. The house is empty, save for my husband
and me, sir."
Mrs. Bunting spoke in a civil, passionless voice. It seemed too
good to be true, this sudden coming of a possible lodger, and of a
lodger who spoke in the pleasant, courteous way and voice which
recalled to the poor woman her happy, far-off days of youth and
of security.
"That sounds very suitable," he said. "Four rooms? Well, perhaps
I ought only to take two rooms, but, still, I should like to see
all four before I make my choice."
How fortunate, how very fortunate it was that Bunting had lit the
gas! But for that circumstance this gentleman would have passed
them by.
She turned towards the staircase, quite forgetting in her agitation
that the front door was still open; and it was the stranger whom
she already in her mind described as "the lodger," who turned and
rather quickly walked down the passage and shut it.
"Oh, thank you, sir!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry you should have
had the trouble."
For a moment their eyes met. "It's not safe to leave a front door
open in London," he said, rather sharply. "I hope you do not often
do that. It would be so easy for anyone to slip in.""
Ellen Bunting becomes even more sure the shy new lodger is a gentleman because his manners are so odd. He arrives with no luggage but a brown leather bag he clutches continually. Ellen is reassured because from her years of service in Regent's Park households, she knows peculiarity of behavior is a sign of good breeding. The lodger who's name is Mr. Sleuth, borrows a bible and pays the months rent in advance. He's a vegetarian, which shocks the conservative Bunting's, but they cook prepare his eggs and cheese with as good a face as they can't put on it. Mr. Sleuth is so glad there is a sink and gas stove in his room on which to conduct his 'scientific experiments'. He rents the entire two floors above the couples apartment. The couple are able to repay a loan they got from a young policeman who has romantic intentions toward Mr. Bunting's daughter Daisy from a first marriage, who lives with a rich aunt. The tired policeman visits often, and Mrs. Bunting gives him tea as he tells of the failure or success of the police in their search for the man who is committing horrendous crimes which have enthralled all wintery London. The murders start to occur closer and closer to the couples home, as the gentle Mr. Sleuth sits upstairs during the daytime reading aloud all the sections of the bible which are most unflattering to women. Ellen, polishing the banisters, listens to his voice. At night he goes out in rubber soled shoes. Quickly, Ellen begins to suspect her lodger is a notorious murderer, but she doesn't turn him in because, understandably, he stands between them and starvation. Not to mention the fact that she's become oddly attached to him. He's such a gentle gentleman.
What a rare great book! It's so well written. Wonderful, thoughtful characters. I restrain myself from giving away the end, although of course, as is my way, I read the last chapter first... sigh. A book this good is like being in love.
Now I'm reading "Castle In The Carpathians" by Jules Verne. It's not very scary though. His bats, I understand, all turn out to be mechanical. I must find more ghost stories to read, it's such a dark and rainy summer. (I haven't finished Tristam Shandy yet, but am plugging along in the odd hour.)
Summary of Lodger The
In 1888, a series of prostitutes were brutally murdered in the East End of London. These gruesome crimes filled the press and shook England with fear and intrigue. Marie Belloc Lowndes established her considerable reputation as a crime writer through her fictional account of these murders. Dealing with not only the psychology of "The Avenger"--her version of Jack the Ripper--but also with that of his landlady, Mrs. Bunting, who never gives away his secret, Lowndes creates an atmosphere of suspense, fear, and horror.The only paperback edition of this classic available, The Lodger is a chilling page-turner from first to last.
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