In the novel Sparkling Cyanide, Rosemary Barton (née Marle) was the wife of George Barton, and had inherited wealth from her godfather, Paul Bennett. Friends of her gathered one year after her death. The character of Rosemary is very similar to the character Iris Russell from the short story Yellow Iris.
Rosemary was the daughter of Hector and Viola Marle, and the older sister of Iris Marle. She was six years older than Iris.
Iris remembered that when they were children, Rosemary had been "important in pig tails", and had done lessons at a table. There had also been a trip to the seaside one summer, where Rosemary had been able to swim while Iris had not.
Rosemary attended boarding school, and came home for the holidays. Iris remembered that Rosemary was clumsy as a schoolgirl, and was "all arms and legs". Rosemary then went to Paris to be 'finished'.
When Rosemary returned from Paris, she had "a strange new frightening elegance". She was soft voiced and graceful, with a "swaying undulating figure", "red gold chestnut hair", and "big black fringed dark blue eyes". Her activities included late mornings in bed, fork luncheons with other débutantes, and dances on most evenings. During this time, she and Iris saw little of each other.
Many young men rang Rosemary up and took her out, but she eventually married George. Iris thought that Rosemary had seemed very happy with George, and that she certainly had been fond of him.
George remembered that when he first asked Rosemary to marry him, she had laughed, kissed the top of his head, and told him that she was not marrying anyone yet. She later accepted his proposal, although she was not in love with him. She explained that she wanted to feel settled down, happy, and safe, and she knew that she would feel that with him. She said that she was sick of being in love, because it always went wrong somehow.
While they were married, George accepted that Rosemary would have flirtations and love affairs. However, her affection for him "was constant and unvarying", and she would always come back to him.
About a year after Rosemary and George were married, Iris moved in with them. However, the sisters saw little of each other. Rosemary was often out, going to dressmakers and cocktail parties, and playing bridge.
Rosemary met Stephen Farraday in Switzerland. They went ski-ing together, and danced with each other. A few weeks after returning to London, Rosemary and Stephen became lovers. They met in a flat which he rented, 21 Malland Mansions, Earl's Court. He bought her a spotted dressing-gown, and she began calling him Leopard, while he called her his Black Beauty.
Rosemary wrote Stephen letters, even though he had told her not to. She took no interest in his work or ambitions, and wanted him to reiterate that he loved her. She was resentful when he wanted to meet less often, and reproached him, saying that he did not love her as he used to.
Rosemary later told Stephen that they should stop pretending, and that George would divorce her, his wife would divorce him, and they could then get married. She told him that she felt love was the most important thing in the world, and that it did not matter what people thought. Stephen was against this, as an open scandal would have meant the end of his political career. However, Rosemary was unable to understand this, and said that he did not need to have a career, as she had a lot of money of her own.
Shortly before her death, Rosemary suffered a bout of influenza. Just after she had recovered, Iris found her weeping in her sitting room, with her head laid down on her outstretched arms. She was "weeping with a deep abandoned sobbing". She told Iris that it was nothing, and ran out of the room. Iris later found that Rosemary had been writing a letter to her, which said that in the event of her death, all her money would go to Iris, and listed several items that she wanted to be given to George, and to her friends, Gloria King, and Maisie Atwell.
Rosemary had a birthday party at the Luxembourg. During the cabaret, she slumped forward on the table just before the lights went up, and she was later found dead. Cyanide was found in her champagne glass, and there was also some in her handbag.
Rosemary's doctor was surprised at what had happened, as he was of the opinion that she was not at all a suicidal type. According to George, she was "capable of violent fits of unhappiness", and could get very worked up. She would sometimes take "very rash and unconsidered action", but had never been in a frame of mind where she "wanted to get out of it all".
About six months after Rosemary's death, Iris found a letter Rosemary had written, addressed to "Leopard", in the pocket of her spotted dressing-gown. In this letter, she wrote that she could not live without him, and would tell George that she wanted a divorce, but not until after her birthday.
It is revealed that Rosemary did not commit suicide, but was murdered. The murderer had put cyanide in her glass while disguised as a waiter. The paper packet containing the cyanide was also planted in her handbag.
Portrayals[]
In Meurtre au champagne, the France Télévisions adaptation of Sparkling Cyanide, the parallel character is Elvire Morenkova.