Adam Salton



Adam Salton, the main protagonist in The Lair of the White Worm, is a very wealthy twenty-seven year old Australian who was invited to central England by his grand-uncle, Richard Salton, as heir of Lesser Hill. Adam utilizes the mongoose to test his suspicions concerning the Lady Arabella March of Diana’s Grove.

Suspecting Arabella
Adam possessed a mongoose, a killer of snakes, that became accustomed to him and was willing to let itself be handled freely. Adam had his mongoose on his shoulders as he was approaching Lady Arabella on the same path. When the mongoose took notice of Arabella, its behaviour changed from a playful state to the wildest of fury, with every hair standing on end. It jumped from Adam’s shoulder and ran towards Lady Arabella with fury. Adam called out, “Look out—look out! The animal is furious and means to attack.” The lady drew out a revolver and shot the animal dead in its tracks, unloading the magazine until it was exhausted (1911, Chapter 8).

In reflection of Adam’s mongoose’ aggressive behaviour toward Lady Arabella, Adam supposed to his colleagues, “If we followed it out with pure logic it would lead us to believe that Lady Arabella is a snake.” This comment led to a discussion about whether or not the mongoose was scenting a snake, or ‘evil’ itself. The conversation led to a light dialogue concerning the philosophical nature of ‘good and evil’, and which neighboring estates were to be considered evil, and which are holy (Mercy Farm) based on their understanding of the territory’s history (1911, Chapter 9).