Christmas

Christmas serves both as a practical marker in the investigation and as the setting for a sharply comic episode in Rupert Darby's past. The Bloodhounds' party aboard the Mrs. Hudson gave Sid Towers an opportunity to inspect the boat before the crimes, while Darby's December appearance in court turned seasonal decoration into a joke with serious legal consequences.

The party aboard the Mrs. Hudson

The previous Christmas, the Bloodhounds held their party on the Mrs. Hudson, and Sid Towers attended. Polly Wycherley recalls that the gathering explained how Sid knew which boat to visit; the party had made the vessel familiar to him. His presence there also gives the investigation a specific earlier occasion on which he could observe its fittings.

John Wigfull reconstructs the practical significance of that visit: Sid, a professional security officer, may have examined the locks and bolts while moving around the boat. Wigfull suspects he noted the padlock type and could have identified its manufacturer, Foxton's, either from prior familiarity or by checking the maker's name. In this account, a festive gathering becomes part of the preparation for a meticulously planned crime.

Polly further explains that Sid knew Milo Motion would not be aboard when he went to the boat. The group knew Milo was going directly to the police station, where questioning would keep him occupied. Christmas therefore supplies more than a date for the earlier party: the gathering established Sid's familiarity with the boat, while the group's knowledge of Milo's movements helped explain the timing of Sid's later visit.

Darby's December court appearance

A separate Christmas reference appears in Rupert Darby's account of a court appearance on December 23, when he was fined for being drunk and disorderly before Bath magistrates. After the fine, he lowered his trousers and displayed a paper decoration from a Christmas cake, which bore the words MERRY CHRISTMAS. The joke brought a further charge of contempt of court and a conviction for indecency; the magistrate imposed another fine and entered the conviction on Darby's record.

The seasonal gesture does not soften the legal outcome. The magistrate's response invoked Christmas goodwill only to reject it as a reason for leniency, ending with a pointed seasonal wish for a sober New Year. Darby presents the episode as a joke that misfired, and his ease in recounting it helps explain why Peter Diamond's suspicion that his criminal record made him vulnerable to blackmail loses force: Diamond instead sees an extroverted clown rather than the sexual deviant he had suspected.

Narrative significance

These Christmas episodes perform different functions and should not be mistaken for a single event. The party is recalled as evidence about Sid's opportunity to study the Mrs. Hudson; Darby's December 23 incident is a disclosure about his character and past convictions. Together, they set festive sociability against the consequences of criminal planning and public disorder, but the evidence gives Christmas no broader symbolic role beyond these concrete plot connections.