Marjorie Dilke

In the short story The Coming of Mr Quin, Marjorie Dilke is a name that is mentioned with reference to events some ten years before the events in the story. When conversation at the house party at Royston turned to the life of its former owner Derek Capel, two of the party, Tom Evesham and Sir Richard Conway recalled the tragic events surrounding the suicide of Capel. According to Tom and Sir Richard, just before he died, Capel had announced that he would soon be getting married, but that he could not reveal the name of the lady because he did not have permission yet. At that time, both Tom and Sir Richard immediately thought Capel meant Marjorie Dilke. Capel and Marjorie were good friends and he had been seen togther a lot. They never learnt who the lady was, but ten years later, when discussing the event both Tom and Sir Richard began to have doubts that it was Marjorie. For one thing, if it was Marjorie, why was there a need for secrecy? The secrecy suggested that it was inconvenient for the moment to mention the name, for example if the woman's husband had just died, or if the woman was undergoing divorce proceedings. Indeed, in retrospect, Tom and Sir Richard thought that Capel seemed to be cooling off with Marjorie just before his announcement.