Mrs. Rainmantle
A dishevelled Englishwoman out of money, waiting for a son who does not come. She is dead by the end of the first act.
To get off the boat, sort out her money through the consul, and be met at last by her son.
The book
At a glance
- English
- Grove Soto
- Out of money, waiting on the consul
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeMrs. Rainmantle is the woman the Slades fall in with on the way to Puerto Farol: loud, unwell-looking, short of cash, and waiting for a son who has failed to meet her. She buys the drinks she cannot afford and talks about the consul sorting everything out in the morning.
Bowles gives her about eight pages and makes them count. She is embarrassing, she is generous, and she is completely unaware that the person she is waiting for has arranged her death.
She is killed that night with an injection of curare, and the hotel fire that follows takes the evidence. Everything that happens to the Slades afterwards follows from having spent one evening in her company.
How Mrs. Rainmantle Is Portrayed
- The grey silk suitShe is in the bar before them, on a high stool, "wearing the same loosely fitting gray silk suit. Her hair was matted and stiff."
- What the doctor sees"Pretty bad, thought Dr. Slade; he would have liked to take out his handkerchief and wipe the grease and sweat from her forehead."
- "Was the bank obliging?"Dr. Slade asks it outright over the planter's punches, and catches his wife's furious glance. Mrs. Rainmantle's finances are the evening's open secret.
- Signing the chitShe "drew the steward aside and had signed the chit before either of them was aware of what was happening. 'Of course I invited you,' she announced regally, and succeeded in silencing them both."
- The drinking"Smiling vaguely, Mrs. Rainmantle took a large gulp of her drink." Bowles lets the vagueness accumulate over the evening without ever naming it.
- The son who did not come"Of course I'll get off all right. The consul is going to take care of it the first thing this afternoon. If only my son had been able to meet me… So unnecessary."
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