In Decline of the English Murder, Orwell said that the quintessentially English homicide was domestic by nature. So this inquest is certainly suggestive:
The widow of a judge who burned to death in a mystery explosion 10 minutes after asking for a divorce acted in a "weird" and "very controlled" manner in the aftermath of the tragedy, an inquest heard yesterday.…Gardener Peter Evans, who dashed to the scene after hearing an "earth-shaking" explosion, said that as he tried to find a way of getting the judge out of the shed Mrs Chubb started taking washing off the rotary washing line.
He said: "That I found strange. If her husband was in the shed, she was bothered about the washing." Mr Evans said Mrs Chubb also asked after her sheep.
…but only suggestive. The idea is that you’re either a calculating killer or going to rush to hubby’s side with a bucket of water. I think she’d just heard he wanted to divorce her, thought “fuck him” when he blew himself up and got on and took the washing in. This seems to me to be a quite a natural response if you’re really angry at the time and it’s odd that people seem to think it more likely you become murderously angry with your spouse than just sick of the sight of him or her.
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