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A Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier question....(mini spoilers)

I have just begun reading this book and wanted to ask a quick question on the following extract:

"I suppose you ancestors often entertained royalty at Manderley, Mr de Winter?"
This was more than I had hitherot endured, even from her, but the swift lash of his reply was unexpected. "Not since Ethelred," he said, "the one who was called Unready. In fact, it was while staying with my family that the name was given him. He was invariably late for dinner."

So...what is so harsh about Max's reply? Is he saying that the way this conversation is going, he will inevitably be late for dinner? Or is it to do with "Ethelred the Unready," that Max was so ill-prepared for this encounter with Mrs Van Hopper?

Thank you and please no spoilers from later on in the book!
Reply 1
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I have just begun reading this book and wanted to ask a quick question on the following extract:

"I suppose you ancestors often entertained royalty at Manderley, Mr de Winter?"
This was more than I had hitherot endured, even from her, but the swift lash of his reply was unexpected. "Not since Ethelred," he said, "the one who was called Unready. In fact, it was while staying with my family that the name was given him. He was invariably late for dinner."

So...what is so harsh about Max's reply? Is he saying that the way this conversation is going, he will inevitably be late for dinner? Or is it to do with "Ethelred the Unready," that Max was so ill-prepared for this encounter with Mrs Van Hopper?

Thank you and please no spoilers from later on in the book!


It's been a while since I've read this but I think the reason the question is harsh is because Mrs Van Hopper is contrasting Max's familiy's elevated social status with the narrator's low status (what the hell's her name?!). Max's reply is harsh because Ethelred was a king from almost a thousand years ago: he's being sarcastic and rebuking Mrs Van Hopper.

That may be right, or I may be completely wrong.
:confused:

It's not harsh is it? 'the swift lash of his reply' means that it is quick and satirical doesn't it?
Reply 3
Audrey Hepburn
:confused:

It's not harsh is it? 'the swift lash of his reply' means that it is quick and satirical doesn't it?

Yes...perhaps...
I didn't really understand it either, but thought that maybe it was harsh because he was making a joke out of her question, kind of suggesting that he didn't take what she was saying seriously and therefore didn't take her as a person seriously.
Reply 5
Ok...thanks everybody.

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