Adela Marchmont

In the novel Taken at the Flood, Adela Marchmont (née Cloade) is the widowed mother of Lynn and the younger sister of Jeremy, Gordon and Lionel. She lives in the White House on the outskirts of Warmsley Vale. A simple woman, she is mostly preoccupied with domestic life and her daughter's upcoming wedding with Rowley Cloade, and plays only a minor role in the plot of the book. She is inclined to procrastination.

Adela had Lynn when she was over forty years old, and is well over sixty when her daughter comes back from oversea service as a Wren. Never a strong woman, overwork during the war and her brother Gordon's death in the Blitz have taken a great toll on Adela.


 * "During the war she had taken in evacuees from London, had cooked and cleaned for them, had worked with the W.V.S., made jam, helped with school meals. She had worked fourteen hours a day in contrast to a pleasant easy life before the war. She was now, as Lynn saw, very near a breakdown. Tired out and frightened of the future."

(from Taken at the Flood, Book I, Chapter One)

Lynn loves her mother and was looking forward to coming home, but notes that Adela can be very maddening sometimes, calling Lynn "my girl" and "enunciating clichés in her sweet complaining voice". When Lynn returns home, Mrs Marchmont is very plaintive about her brother Gordon's death, as he was very wealthy and generous; he fixed her a relatively small, but adequate income, provided the best schools for Lynn and was always ready to step in and help. Alas, since Gordon died so unexpectedly, he failed to make a will and left all his money to his new wife Rosaleen. His marriage came as a great surprise to the family, as Gordon had been utterly resistant to the advances of many beautiful women over the years.

Adela is very unhappy about the situation and has a lot of bitter things to say. Among other things, she remarks acidly that Rosaleen has quite a silly face, is definitely not "one of them" and also not at all a lady. She does not understand why Gordon even felt the need to marry and did not make do with all the family ties he has, and why he did not come straight home from America and had to get blitzed in London. She also adds that Rosaleen's brother David is quite a horrible young man – if he even is her brother at all. Lynn finds her mother's remarks mostly amusing and counters wittily.

Promptly, Mrs Marchmont confides in her daughter about her very desperate financial situation. Not only Gordon's death, also the war had a say in the state of things. Before it, the house employed stable staff, but now in early 1946, servants are hard to get by. Furthermore, Adela's income has been nearly halved by taxation. All the work in the household now lies on the her tired shoulders – and those of an "unreliable woman" who comes in to help four times a week. Mrs Marchmont does not know what to do, since she spends all her money on food and necessary upkeep of the house. It is implied that the White House not very labour-saving, and were it not for the money provided by her brother in the past, the widowed Adela might have moved into a smaller, more economical house.

Lynn goes through her bills with her mother and notes no signs of extravagance – only necessary repairs such as mending the fences or replacing the main water-pipe. She suggests they could ask Rosaleen for help. Mrs Marchmont, however, is not sure if they even have the right to ask such a favour of someone they do not like very much. Besides, it is David who really controls the money, and he seems like somebody who "would never let Rosaleen give away a penny".

When Lynn meets the young widow and her brother at the home-coming party Aunt Kathie throws for her, Lynn and her mother's position become reversed. Lynn develops certain affection to David Hunter and is soon sick of the Cloade family's two-faced behaviour towards him and Rosaleen, becoming rigidly opposed to asking them for a loan. In the meantime, Mrs Marchmont is pressed by her debtors – Arthurs, Bodgham and Knebworth – and overdrawn at the bank. Before visiting Rosaleen, however, she carefully weighs her other possibilities but finds them unsatisfactory: there is not a smaller house in the neigbourhood she could move into; she would not manage the work if she took on paying guests; Lynn shall soon marry Rowley and move away; she would never go living off them; and nobody would employ a "tired old woman" nowadays. Adela procrastinates and gathers strength for several days, but when Knebworth starts to be very abusive and she receives another letter from the bank manager, she decides to act.

Mrs Marchmont strategically visits Furrowbank when David is away. Rosaleen receives her in the drawing room very nervously, is not capable of small talk and does not seem to understand her implications. As Mrs Marchmont struggles to explain, she realises she hates Rosaleen for being so dim-witted and making her "whine for money". Finally, Rosaleen comprehends and tells her visitor she will have to ask her brother. Adela presses her to write a cheque right now and easily gets a neat sum of five hundred pounds.


 * "A load slipped off Adela's back. After all, it had been easy! She was dismayed as it occurred to her that it was less gratitude that she felt than a faint scorn for the easiness of her victory! Rosaleen was surely strangely simple."

(in Taken at the Flood, Book I, Chapter Five)

Adela passes David in the drive and pleasantly bids him good morning. Inside, he despairs half-humorously at Rosaleen's generosity. When he later meets Lynn, he tells her about all her family calling on Rosaleen to ask for loans – and indeed getting them, as David's reputation for unwillingness does not hold quite true to reality. Lynn is flabberghasted. She runs to Long Willows and asks Rowley for five hundred pounds to settle her mother's debt, but leaves empty-handed.

Since she feels very guilty and does not want to feel obliged to David Hunter, she asks her mother to return the money. Mrs Marchmont, having already cashed in the cheque and paid off her debtors, cannot do that. She tells Lynn that Rosaleen was "really quite nice about it". Furthermore, as she will finally be able to sleep at night, she does not care a bit about what David Hunter might think. Lynn begs her to at least not borrow any money again, but her mother is non-commital.

Several days later, Lynn notices with alarm that her mother is starting to count on a steady income from Rosaleen. She even contemplates hiring another gardener, as Old Tom is short-handed, the garden is in bad shape, and growing their own vegetables would in fact be an economy. Lynn argues with her and points out that even though the newspaper says so, there are no men in the area who would want such job anyway. She then leaves for a long walk.

When Lynn returns home at night, after a day full of turmoil, she does not want to see her mother and answer her questions. She silently goes to her room, and when she eventually comes down, Adela is relieved and chats away merrily about Lynn's bridesmaids. She compliments Lynn's extra demob coupons and suggests making Joan Macrae, the daughter of her closest friend when growing up Marjorie, the head bridesmaid. Lynn counters that she hates Joan and inadvertently says that she doesn't know if the wedding even still holds. She is very curt with Adela, who is utterly shaken.


 * "Mrs Marchmont was staring at her daughter in alarm.
 * 'Lynn, darling, what do you mean?'
 * 'Oh, nothing, Mums.'
 * 'You and Rowley haven't quarrelled?'
 * 'No, of course not. Don't fuss, Mums, everything's all right.'
 * But Adela was looking at her daughter in real alarm, sensitive to the turmoil behind Lynn's frowning exterior.
 * 'I've always felt you'd be so safe married to Rowley,' she said piteously.
 * 'Who wants to be safe?' Lynn asked scornfully."

(in Taken at the Flood, Book II, Chapter Fourteen)

She then goes to pick up the telephone, as she is expecting a call from David.

Adela and Lynn are presumably both present at the inquest held two weeks after Enoch Arden's death, but do not give testimony. When Lynn tells Poirot about her mother's suspicion that David Hunter is not Rosaleen's brother, the Detective remarks how incredible it is that ever so often, people get hold of the wrong end of the stick. Three days later, he solves the case. Adela gets a fourth of Gordon's money and Lynn decides to marry Rowley, whom she had loved all along without realising it.