When it comes to their father, I do remember it’s definitely mentioned in the novelization. Lucille poisoned him with the tea over a period of time, until it weakened him enough for some sort of accident to occur when he was out of the house. First, he was killed. Then, later, Lucille killed Beatrice.
Yes, I found it. (That section with 'Sir Michael' and the comedy peasants isn't one of the book's greatest moments, though the subtle manipulation Lucille uses on her brother in the following scene to convince him that it had been his idea all along to look for dirty books in the library is nicely done.)
It doesn't actually say that Lucille weakened their father with the tea, but it does say that she drugged him on the morning he was riding out to hunt, and sabotaged his tack to ensure there would be an accident. And that their mother helped...
Lady Beatrice is one of the other inconsistencies; when Lucille first shows Edith her portrait -- and she looks about sixty in that painting; just how old was she when Thomas was born? -- she implies that their mother spent a lot of time not only out of the house but out of the country, but later passages describe her as bed-bound for much of their lives. Presumably she originally travelled with their father, until he somehow or other broke her leg. (Quite difficult to do just by beating someone up in the ordinary way; I think she must have been on the floor at the time, and he must have deliberately trodden on it, going by the description.)
The passage about Eunice immediately follows, as well: it says she was so bedazzled by Thomas's title that she asked silly questions about his visits to the royal family, and whether he owned a crown. (I'm not sure that's very credible in a girl who spent time in London society, visited the British Museum, etc.; she must have acquired a sensible knowledge of etiquette and precedence, and just how minor a rank that of baronet actually is.) What the book *doesn't* attempt to explain is why Lucille would consider Eunice with her voluble and meddling family to be a suitable target for a 'mercy killing', other than finding her so annoying that it would be doing the world a service to get rid of her :-p
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Yes, I found it. (That section with 'Sir Michael' and the comedy peasants isn't one of the book's greatest moments, though the subtle manipulation Lucille uses on her brother in the following scene to convince him that it had been his idea all along to look for dirty books in the library is nicely done.)
It doesn't actually say that Lucille weakened their father with the tea, but it does say that she drugged him on the morning he was riding out to hunt, and sabotaged his tack to ensure there would be an accident. And that their mother helped...
Lady Beatrice is one of the other inconsistencies; when Lucille first shows Edith her portrait -- and she looks about sixty in that painting; just how old was she when Thomas was born? -- she implies that their mother spent a lot of time not only out of the house but out of the country, but later passages describe her as bed-bound for much of their lives. Presumably she originally travelled with their father, until he somehow or other broke her leg.
(Quite difficult to do just by beating someone up in the ordinary way; I think she must have been on the floor at the time, and he must have deliberately trodden on it, going by the description.)
The passage about Eunice immediately follows, as well: it says she was so bedazzled by Thomas's title that she asked silly questions about his visits to the royal family, and whether he owned a crown. (I'm not sure that's very credible in a girl who spent time in London society, visited the British Museum, etc.; she must have acquired a sensible knowledge of etiquette and precedence, and just how minor a rank that of baronet actually is.)
What the book *doesn't* attempt to explain is why Lucille would consider Eunice with her voluble and meddling family to be a suitable target for a 'mercy killing', other than finding her so annoying that it would be doing the world a service to get rid of her :-p