next year as he might not pass his examinations. However, on Friday afternoon the two took tea together and worked through some past papers. That
evening in Carlyle Road, Peter confided in his landlady’s sister about the
morning’s chemistry examination and the daunting six hours he would have
to spend in the examination room next day. When Ms Peters also asked about
his chemistry examination, he was downbeat, saying that he’d done ‘much as
expected’. But, Peter was quite relaxed and on retiring that night he said he
would like to be called at seven thirty in the morning for breakfast at eight,
and no doubt with a heavy day ahead for the young man, Ms Peters would
have planned a substantial, comforting repast.
The following morning Ms Peters began her preparations, after which she
went upstairs to call Peter. She knocked politely on the door …. ‘Seven thirty
Sir’ … but no answer. She knocked again, several times, but still no response.
This was odd. The door was unlocked and she took the unusual decision to
open it and step inside the room. But as she did so she felt some resistance as
a bath towel lay on the floor across the bottom of the door. Inside the room a
window was wide open and there was the faint but unmistakable smell … of
gas. Peter lay perfectly still on the bed, dressed in his pyjamas with the bed
clothes over his body and a bed rug over his head. There was a gas bracket in
the room and Mrs. Peters’ first thoughts must have been that there had been a
terrible accident … but moving closer she saw a long piece of rubber tubing.
One end was attached to the gas bracket, tied on by a handkerchief, the other
Plate 16.4 11 Carlyle Road today, second house from the left. Courtesy of Google
Earth Pro, street view, 2019
386
D. Sheppard
evening in Carlyle Road, Peter confided in his landlady’s sister about the
morning’s chemistry examination and the daunting six hours he would have
to spend in the examination room next day. When Ms Peters also asked about
his chemistry examination, he was downbeat, saying that he’d done ‘much as
expected’. But, Peter was quite relaxed and on retiring that night he said he
would like to be called at seven thirty in the morning for breakfast at eight,
and no doubt with a heavy day ahead for the young man, Ms Peters would
have planned a substantial, comforting repast.
The following morning Ms Peters began her preparations, after which she
went upstairs to call Peter. She knocked politely on the door …. ‘Seven thirty
Sir’ … but no answer. She knocked again, several times, but still no response.
This was odd. The door was unlocked and she took the unusual decision to
open it and step inside the room. But as she did so she felt some resistance as
a bath towel lay on the floor across the bottom of the door. Inside the room a
window was wide open and there was the faint but unmistakable smell … of
gas. Peter lay perfectly still on the bed, dressed in his pyjamas with the bed
clothes over his body and a bed rug over his head. There was a gas bracket in
the room and Mrs. Peters’ first thoughts must have been that there had been a
terrible accident … but moving closer she saw a long piece of rubber tubing.
One end was attached to the gas bracket, tied on by a handkerchief, the other
Plate 16.4 11 Carlyle Road today, second house from the left. Courtesy of Google
Earth Pro, street view, 2019
386
D. Sheppard