How we cite our quotes: Possession: A Romance. London: Vintage Books, 1991.
Quote #7
He stood sponge in hand, and puzzled over her. Such delicate skills, such informed desire, and yet a virgin. There were possibilities, of which the most obvious was to him slightly repugnant, and then, when he thought about it with determination, interesting too. He could never ask. To show speculation, or even curiosity, would be to lose her. Then and there. He knew that, without thinking. (15.87)
This passage gives us strong reason to believe that Randolph Henry Ash suspected that Christabel LaMotte and Blanche Glover were lovers. Slowly but surely, the novel seems to be confirming the beliefs of the twentieth-century scholars who believe that the two women lived together romantically.
Quote #8
'Touché. I do go on. But that suits you fine, you're all uptight about your own sexuality. You were hurt by that bastard, Fergus Wolff, but you shouldn't have gotten so annihilated, it's letting the side down. You should branch out. Try other sweet things.'
'You mean women. Just at the moment, I'm trying celibacy. I like it. Its only hazard is people who will proselytise for their own way of doing things. You should try it.' (17.59-60)
Although Maud Bailey, like Roland Mitchell, is attracted by the idea of being celibate, in the end the novel brings the two of them together. Why?
Quote #9
I asked her about the curious name of Dog Tray and she began to tell me that he had been named as a joke, for a line in Wm Shakespeare's King Lear—'The little dogs and all—Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, see they bark at me.' She said, 'He used to live in a house where there was a Blanche and where I was jokingly called Sweetheart'—and then she turned her face away and would say no more, as though she choked. (19.131)
This excerpt from Sabine de Kercoz's journal gives us another clue into the domestic life of Blanche Glover and Christabel LaMotte, but it leaves us with questions, too. Was Christabel actually called "sweetheart" jokingly, as she says, or was that one of Blanche's genuine terms of endearment for her?