Lilly

Lilly’s significance lies in the uneasy gap between visible intimacy and uncertain standing. The sheep know her as a frequent visitor to George’s meadow and caravan, and they witness her grief at his death without being able to settle what she meant to him or what claim she could make on him. Around her, the novel places competing signs of attachment: familiar visits, a private meeting place, a desperate physical response to his body, the butcher’s talk of George’s will, and Kate’s furious refusal of an apology.

Identity and Introduction

Lilly arrives at the meadow after George’s body has been found, puffing and panting, with her face scarlet and her red hair untidy. Her presence announces itself before her words do: the sheep catch a cloud of artificial lilac perfume. She is not a stranger to them. She sometimes visits in the evening, and her short, sharp screams at small mishaps—stepping in sheep droppings, catching her skirt on the hedge, or disliking something George says—have become so familiar that the sheep barely react to them. Their calm recognition gives her an established place in the ordinary life of the meadow, even as her behavior can seem startling to human observers.

That routine includes time alone with George in his shepherd’s caravan. The sheep have watched the two disappear inside together often enough for the pattern to be unremarkable to them. Their matter-of-fact account contrasts with the charged explanations offered after his death: Lilly insists that she and George got along, while the butcher invokes their relationship as something that may become relevant when the will is read. The evidence makes their intimacy apparent but leaves its precise terms unresolved.

Lilly and George

The sheep’s recollections also place Lilly near the frustrations George expressed about women. He read to the flock romance stories about red-haired heroines who ensnared pirates, doctors, or barons, and complained about red-haired women, particularly his own wife. Lilly’s red hair gives this memory an uncomfortable echo, but the account does not establish that the stories describe Lilly or that George’s complaints were directed at her. Instead, the sheep’s remembered reading offers a suggestive contrast: George entertained his flock with melodramatic stories while keeping his own relationships difficult for them to understand.

When she reaches George’s body, Lilly’s response is unlike her familiar cries over minor troubles. She drops to her knees in the rain-wet grass and makes a long, pitiful sound. Her hands move over his Norwegian sweater and jacket and tug at his collar. The sheep watch this physical, immediate grief with composure, but its intensity changes the meaning of her presence: the woman whose visits had been part of the meadow’s routine is now confronting George’s death at close range.

The Butcher’s Intervention

The butcher pulls Lilly roughly away from George. According to Othello, Lilly asks why this is happening and why George is doing this to her; she may not yet have understood that he is dead. She then asks quietly for a moment alone with him. The butcher refuses, saying that if anyone has that right, it is Kate, and hauls Lilly away. In the sheep’s view, his intervention makes him immediately suspicious, although Miss Maple does not let their first impression end the inquiry.

The butcher’s later words to Lilly deepen the scene’s sense of pressure without resolving the murder. He dismisses her grief as a fuss and tells her that she has other worries. When Lilly asks why anyone would suspect her, she says that she and George got along fine. The butcher turns that claim against her: he suggests that the will may reveal how fine things really were, questions her prospects of making money, and tells her to be nice to Ham if she wants to avoid trouble. These are the butcher’s insinuations, not established facts about Lilly’s finances or intentions. What the exchange does show is that he uses her connection to George, and the prospect of the will, to unsettle and control her in public.

Kate and the Aftermath

Miss Maple later reports seeing visitors come to Kate in small groups through the day. They offer condolences and urge her to be strong, while Kate mostly answers yes or no and cries into a large piece of cloth. Late that evening Lilly knocks at the door. Kate stops crying when she sees her. Lilly whispers that she has come to say she is sorry; Kate replies that at least Lilly did not have George, then slams the door in her face. Miss Maple compares Kate’s anger to that of a cat, a comparison the sheep understand from the romance stories George read to them.

The encounter gives Lilly a final, sharply limited form of agency: she goes to Kate and attempts an apology, but the account does not explain what she is apologizing for or what she hopes Kate will accept. Kate’s answer places their connection to George in opposition, while the closed door prevents reconciliation. Lilly remains caught between these interpretations. Her grief is visible, her intimacy with George is suggested by their repeated private visits, and her relationship with Kate is openly hostile; the narrative supplies no final clarification that would make those signs fit neatly together.