On the Latest Info page I listed some of the weird and wonderful things which Carroll is accused of being. One of those is an "adulterer" and I was contacted by Karoline Leach who thought I was criticising her book "In the Shadow of the Dreamchild". I think this is a really valuable and indeed downright revolutionary book in Carroll studies, but funnily enough the only premise in it which I don't really believe in is that Carroll could have been an adulterer. Leach sets out some good arguments, but my objection is that, however good the arguments, it just couldn't have happened because it was not practical.

Christ Church was an incredibly closed community with hundreds of pairs of eyes and ears around - not just the many living-in undergraduates and dons, but many, many servants too. In their little world, could the boss's wife having it off with a junior don possibly go unnoticed? I am sure it could not, even today. And the fact that there was no gossip about Carroll and Mrs. L. sets the seal on it.

But I had a little smile at the idea of Carroll tiptoeing into the Deanery, tipping the servants 2/6d each to keep quiet, making sure Alice was out of the way in the schoolroom and then having his way with Mrs. L, having unlaced all her stays and undone all the buttons on her boots first.