Did Mrs Marrable's husband know he had a valuable stamp collection? He was so much in debt and surely would have cashed in the collection if he had known, but upon discovering the stamps worth, Mrs Marrable said something like "He must have hated me more than I hated him" which leads me to believe he deliberately hung on to the collection, but that doesn't make sense because his wife might never have found out their true worth.
That was the purpose. He apparently didn't like his wife, and vice versa, therefore, he never told her the collection was valuable because he didn't want her to have the money it was worth. He never intended for her to find out - his only intention was for her to not get anything when he died.
shareI wondered why at the time he never cashed his stamps in as he was in financial difficulty and could have lived well, but then we wouldn't have had a movie plot would we!
Well, at the time of his death, he was in that much financial difficulty. He would have been had he lived, but he apparently lived pretty good until he died.
They still had servants in the house if you remember the Will-reading scene.
It was only after his death that all the debts came to light.
I think he liked knowing he was doing that to his wife, and since he had no children or relatives, he knew if he cashed in his stamp collection, his wife would ultimately get the money.
In a way, I guess he could be partly blamed for the murders. His actions ultimately caused them.
Proof that even dead people can cause problems for the living.
Thanks, you make good points
Thanks for your comments, totally makes sense. The end just cut off on me as I had DVR'd it off TMC and it must have ran over or something. I saw up until the little boy handed her back the stamp collection and it cut off. Did they take her away to jail, I assume?
shareI think we could say she was arrested. Among the people around her garden was a sheriff.
What she actually said at the end was something like (paraphrasing), 'Would you please drive me into town? I need to apply for a position. I think I'd make a wonderful companion. I have savings of my own and no family.'
Then she walks over to one of the unearthed graves and says, 'After all...I'd make a very handsome Pine Tree!'
Then she laughs and the movie ends.