The Three Hostages · Chapter
III: Researches in the Subconscious explained
Hannay, unable to sleep, obsesses over the missing boy David Warcliff and the cryptic doggerel from Macgillivray's evidence.
What happens
Hannay, unable to sleep, obsesses over the missing boy David Warcliff and the cryptic doggerel from Macgillivray's evidence. He presses Dr. Greenslade to recall the source of the three facts (blind spinner, saeter barn, Jew curiosity shop) that Greenslade had mentioned the previous night. Greenslade struggles to remember but senses a connection to a hymn tune. Eventually, Greenslade suggests that the facts may have come from a man named Dominick Medina, whom he describes as charming and brilliant. Greenslade writes a letter of introduction, and Hannay travels to London, where he unexpectedly encounters Sandy Arbuthnot.
Themes in this chapter
Identity and Deception
Hannay struggles to identify the source of the cryptic facts, and Greenslade's memory is elusive; the chapter explores the deceptive nature of memory and the subconscious.
The Cost of Peace
Hannay's peaceful country life is disrupted by the kidnapping of David Warcliff, forcing him back into action and anxiety.
Characters to notice
- Richard Hannay
Narrator; sleepless and anxious about David Warcliff; presses Greenslade to recall the source of the three facts; travels to London.
- Tom Greenslade
Struggles to remember the origin of the three facts; senses a connection to a hymn tune; suggests Dominick Medina as the possible source.
- Mary Hannay
Mentioned as sleeping peacefully; Hannay recalls her comment about Medina; not directly present in the chapter.
- Dominick Medina
Introduced by Greenslade as a possible source of the three facts; described as charming, handsome, and brilliant; Hannay is skeptical.
- Sandy Arbuthnot
Appears at the end of the chapter, stopping Hannay in St. James's Street.
- David Warcliff
The missing boy; Hannay's thoughts are consumed by his plight.
Key passages
“I went to bed in the perfect certainty that I wouldn’t sleep.”
Hannay was sure he would not fall asleep.
Opens the chapter with Hannay's insomnia.
“I endeavoured to recapitulate the evidence which Macgillivray had recited, but only made foolishness of it, for I simply could not concentrate.”
Hannay tried to recall Macgillivray's evidence but could not focus.
Hannay's mental struggle with the case.
“I have a flypaper memory for verse when there is no reason why I should remember it, and I found I could repeat the six lines of the doggerel.”
Hannay has a sticky memory for useless poetry and could recite the six lines.
Hannay's peculiar memory for the doggerel.
“The discomfort of wakefulness is that you are not fully awake.”
Being awake when you should be asleep is uncomfortable because you are not fully alert.
Hannay reflects on the state of insomnia.
“I was trusting my instinct which told me that in those random words of his there was more than coincidence, and that with luck I might get from them a line on our problem.”
Hannay believed Greenslade's random words were more than coincidence and could provide a clue.
Hannay's faith in the significance of Greenslade's facts.
“It is the most futile job I ever took on.”
Greenslade called the task of remembering the source of the facts pointless.
Greenslade's frustration with the memory exercise.
