Jobs -3 It think it is Bessie. In chapter 27 (if I read my roman numerals correctly) Dixon rummages in Margaret's drawers for a night-cap, as Bessy had a hankering to be buried in something of Margaret's. Margaret finds one for him.
If you are using a serach function on the etext it is night-cap not nightcap.
The following, an extract from a synopsis of 'Noises Off',
"Act One: during a rehearsal of the farce, Nothing On. The actors have only had two weeks rehearsal, the stagemanager put the set up back to front ... "
makes me think otherwise . Something by Ayckbourn perhaps?
Captainandy, I think its more than just an initial plot device of the set being back to front. As:
"act two is the opening night, but seen from backstage"
So in the play we see the farce from the back, and then again from the front in act three.
I think this fits, I actually have a recollection of seeing this 20 odd years ago as a teenager, and the set is from the front in acts 1 and 3 and the back in act 2.
Julian Barnes wrote a short story called evermore where the protagonist moves bits of grass around in a war cemetry. Has anyone a copy and could check if war memorial inscriptions are involved?
captainandy, unfortunately I couldnt find any 'riley' in A Fairly Honourable Defeat, the only 'greens' seem to be describing clothes or vegetation, and no streams to speak of.
Pretty sure the green Riley belongs to Rain Carter in Iris Murdoch's 'The Sandcastle'. My copy is currently boxed up and there are eight boxes to choose from! Will continue to hunt and confirm asap.
Quiet remarkable! In my search for Ms. Murdoch, I happened upon Murial Spark's 'The Mandelbaum Gate', in which Freddy Hamilton, a diplomat who writes verse, loses, and I quote ' a piece of his memory' . Hurrah! That's Jobs 5 sorted. Will continue to pursue Iris.