But her imperious bearing, respectable clothes and out of date hair do (and car) are hiding a rather more racy past. You can see she's been pretty - she still is. Her house seems unchanged since about 1910.
But it's 1961 now. If you take away 25 years (when she "married" a defaulter and had a baby), that only takes us to 1936. She says she was 35 at the time - take off another ten and we're in the roaring 20s. So why the Victoriana? Why the Gibson girl hairdo? Why the shame?
Solution: the Mason stories were written in the 30s. From the POV of the 30s, the "more gracious age of 50 years ago" is the late 19th century, of which Miss Sarah is supposed to be a survival.
She's a great character. I rather got lost when it came to the plot about the money. Yes, somebody knew about a dam, but they bought a dried-up farm for a song under another name, then sold it for three times the money. Or something. You work it out.
And a young man would be driving a Ford, not a Surrey, in the 30s.
But it's 1961 now. If you take away 25 years (when she "married" a defaulter and had a baby), that only takes us to 1936. She says she was 35 at the time - take off another ten and we're in the roaring 20s. So why the Victoriana? Why the Gibson girl hairdo? Why the shame?
Solution: the Mason stories were written in the 30s. From the POV of the 30s, the "more gracious age of 50 years ago" is the late 19th century, of which Miss Sarah is supposed to be a survival.
She's a great character. I rather got lost when it came to the plot about the money. Yes, somebody knew about a dam, but they bought a dried-up farm for a song under another name, then sold it for three times the money. Or something. You work it out.
And a young man would be driving a Ford, not a Surrey, in the 30s.