Chapter 16 is a short but fascinating read. If all the details are taken into consideration, they hint to the fact that both Master Raymond and Claire are related. Furthermore, they reveal the identity of Master Raymond as an ancient Celt. There is also the incident associated with the bitter cascara. Who bought this substance? In their first encounter, Raymond tells Claire that he sells bitter cascara to his clients instead of poison. Therefore, it is a safe assumption that somebody tried to murder Claire. However, Raymond also implies the possibility of a joke.
“Perhaps my scruples are not entirely responsible for your survival, madonna; it is possible that it was a joke – I imagine there are other purveyors from whom one might obtain bitter cascara. . .
If it was a joke, St. Germain is probably behind this attempt. Claire relates that the Comte was staring at her “with a smile on his face” just before she started feeling the effects of bitter cascara. However, Raymond does not discard the notion that it could have been the Vicomtesse de Rambeau (my bet is on St. Germain).
Of interest is Raymond’s secret room, the ossuary. I have always thought there is a meaning to the animal bones. I cannot tell what it means, but it seems that the sensations that Claire experiences by looking and touching the bones are a reference to the dragonfly in amber. According to the author, the dragonfly in amber is “a means of preserving something of great beauty that exists out of its proper time” (The Outlandish Companion, 368). For some reason, bones acquire animate characteristics in this chapter.
They had a certain appeal, so still and so beautiful, as though each object held still the essence of its owner, as if the lines of bone held the ghost of the flesh and fur that once they had borne.
I reached out and touched one of the skulls, the bone not cold as I would have expected, but strangely inert, as though the vanished warmth, long gone, hovered not far off.
How do these bones relate to the dragonfly in amber? When a living creature dies, the soft tissue is hardly ever preserved. Hard tissue perseveres through time and can eventually become fossilized. Claire considers the animal bones beautiful. She even feels their warmth.
In regards to the skull of dire wolves, Claire is looking at fossilized, preserved remains. These bones have mixed with other substances.
Not a soft dull white like the other skulls, these were stained and streaked with brown, and shone glossy with much polishing.
“Such beasts are no more, madonna.”
“No more? Extinct, you mean?” I touched it once more, fascinated. “Where on earth did you get them?”
“Not on the earth, madonna. Under it. They came from a peat bog, buried many feet down.”
This passage brings to mind The Scottish Prisoner in which victims of ancient sacrifices are found in a bog. Furthermore, Raymond is not the only charmer or healer collecting primitive objects or bones. In The Fiery Cross, Murdina Bug mentions a charmer known as Johnnie Howlat, the one who provided her with a fertility charm. In fact, Murdina relates that Johnnie used bones for his charms.
“Ye’d see him, sometimes, in the wood or on the moor, pokin’ at the ground. He’d find creatures that had died maybe, and bring back their skins and their feet, bones and teeth for to make his charms. . . (ch. 34)
There is some resemblance between Johnnie and Raymond. Are they the same person? So far, evidence to support whether they are the same person is lacking. Furthermore, the use of bones is not restricted to Raymond. Every person with the reputation of being a charmer utilizes them. A good example is Malva and the finger bones she used in a charm to get Jamie’s attention/love. However, when Claire sees the fertility charm, she realizes that those objects are present in the museums in the twentieth century. She muses whether Johnnie made the charm himself or whether he found it in his pokings through the land, “a remnant of much more ancient times” (The Fiery Cross, ch. 34). Of interest is the fact that the dire wolf skull at Raymond’s ossuary is also a remnant of earlier times.
Raymond is an animist, a characteristic of the ancient Celts. He relates to Claire the reason of keeping an ossuary.
“Well, they are company, of a sort, while I pursue my work.” . . . “And while they may talk to me of many things, they are not so noisy as to attract the attention of the neighbors. . .”
Inanimate objects such as bones have spirits that communicate with him. This belief that Raymond has is a hint to his background, an ancient Celt. His descendant, Claire, also has animistic tendencies.
. . . “I feel a good deal more sympathy with our friend the elk.” I patted the high jutting nose with some affection.
“Sympathy?” The soft black eyes regarded me curiously. “It is an unusual emotion to feel for a bone, madonna.”
“Well . . . yes,” I said, slightly embarrased, “but they don’t seem like just bones, you know. I mean, you can tell something about them, and get a feeling for what the animal was like, looking at these. They aren’t just inanimate objects.”
It seems that this trait of perceiving the soul of inanimate objects is inherited. I tend to suspect that this gift helps Claire to determine the manner of death while holding Geillis’s skull in Voyager without the use of any scientific approach.
For those who are not aware of who Master Raymond is, here is a link to Diana Gabaldon’s website establishing the connection between these two characters. Geillis is also Master Raymond’s descendant.
Finally, I must say that establishing the connections between Raymond and Claire is not simple. It is a possible task based on what the author has clarified about Raymond.
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. Dragonfly in Amber. New York: Bantam Dell, 1993. Print.
– – -. The Fiery Cross. 2001. New York: Bantam Dell. 2005. Print.
– – -. The Outlandish Companion. New York: Delacorte Press, 1999. Print.