# VII: The Curse explained — The Dain Curse

> Chapter companion for The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett.

## What happens

The narrator reads a confession letter from Edgar Leggett, but declares it a murder, not a suicide. Gabrielle Leggett accuses Mrs. Leggett of stabbing a man in the kitchen. The narrator accuses Mrs. Leggett of murdering her husband. Mrs. Leggett then reveals a horrifying past: she trained a young Gabrielle to kill her own mother, Lily Dain, as part of a twisted sibling rivalry. She gloats over her manipulation and the curse on the Dain bloodline. As Gabrielle screams and collapses, Mrs. Leggett draws a gun and flees, with Fitzstephan and the narrator in pursuit.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Curse and Fate

Mrs. Leggett explicitly invokes a curse on the Dain bloodline, claiming Gabrielle is doomed by inherited blackness of soul and blood.

### Family and Dysfunction

The chapter reveals extreme sibling rivalry between Mrs. Leggett and Lily Dain, and the manipulation of Gabrielle as a tool for murder.

### Gender and Victimization

Gabrielle is portrayed as a victim of her aunt's manipulation and her mother's murder, while Mrs. Leggett uses her gender to appear harmless.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Reads Leggett's confession, declares it murder, accuses Mrs. Leggett, and leads the investigation.

### Gabrielle Leggett

Accuses Mrs. Leggett of stabbing a man, then screams and collapses after Mrs. Leggett's revelation about her childhood.

### Mrs. Leggett

Revealed as the mastermind behind Lily Dain's murder, trained Gabrielle to kill, and flees with a gun.

### Owen Fitzstephan

Steadies Mrs. Leggett after Gabrielle's accusation, and is first to pursue her when she flees.

### Eric Collinson

Tries to calm Gabrielle and begs Mrs. Leggett to stop her tirade.

### Doctor Riese

Examines the body and declares the wound consistent with suicide, contradicting the narrator.

## Key lines

> He didn't commit suicide. He was murdered.

The narrator declares that Edgar Leggett was killed by someone else, not by his own hand.

_Key turning point where the investigation shifts from suicide to murder._

> I taught her to kill her mother. Do you understand? I taught her, trained her, drilled her, rehearsed her.

Mrs. Leggett confesses to systematically training Gabrielle as a child to murder her own mother.

_Reveals the depth of Mrs. Leggett's manipulation and the origin of Gabrielle's trauma._

> You're cursed with the same black soul and rotten blood that she and I and all the Dains have had.

Mrs. Leggett declares that Gabrielle is doomed by an inherited curse of evil and madness.

_Central to the theme of the curse and fate, linking the Dain family to inherent corruption._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_dain_curse_se/chapters/vii-the-curse
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_dain_curse_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_dain_curse_se/chapters