_____  _   _  _____   _____  _____  _      _____  __   _  _____  _   __ _____
|_   _|| | | || ____| /  ___|/  _  \| |    /  _  \|  \ | || ____|| | / // ___/
  | |  | |_| || |__   | |    | | | || |    | | | ||   \| || |__  | |/_/ | |___
  | |  |  _  ||  __|  | |    | | | || |    | | | || |\   ||  __| | |    \___  \
  | |  | | | || |___  | |___ | |_| || |___ | |_| || | \  || |___ | |___  ___| |
  |_|  |_| |_||_____| \_____|\_____/|_____|\_____/|_|  \_||_____||_____|/_____/
                       _____   _____   _____     _   _   _____   _____   _____
 BY: JTROST           |  _  \ | ____| /  _  \   | | | | | ____| /  ___/ |_   _|
    JTROST@ROUTE24.NET| |_| | | |__   | | | |   | | | | | |__   | |___    | |
                      |  _  { |  __|  | | | |   | | | | |  __|  \___  \   | |
                      | |_| | | |___  | |_| |_  | |_| | | |___   ___| |   | |
                      |_____/ |_____| \_______| \_____/ |_____| /_____/   |_|
 _____  _   _      ___  _____       ___  _____  _____  _____  _____
/  ___|| | | |    /   ||  _  \     /   |/  ___||_   _|| ____||  _  \
| |    | |_| |   / /| || |_| |    / /| || |      | |  | |__  | |_| |
| |    |  _  |  / / | ||  _  /   / / | || |      | |  |  __| |  _  /
| |___ | | | | / /  | || | \ \  / /  | || |___   | |  | |___ | | \ \
\_____||_| |_|/_/   |_||_|  \_\/_/   |_|\_____|  |_|  |_____||_|  \_\
                          ___  __   _      ___  _     __    __ _____  _  _____
                         /   ||  \ | |    /   || |    \ \  / //  ___/| |/  ___/
                        / /| ||   \| |   / /| || |     \ \/ / | |___ | || |___
                       / / | || |\   |  / / | || |      \  /  \___  \| |\___  \
                      / /  | || | \  | / /  | || |___   / /    ___| || | ___| |
                     /_/   |_||_|  \_|/_/   |_||_____| /_/    /_____/|_|/_____/

1.0 - Finished the Crouton Sidestory and FAQ.  I also added a Family Tree (for
the Dijon Family) and an Important Facts section.  The Guide is completed, but
more updates will be made in the future.

0.9 - Finished all of the characters, but the Cruton Sidestory and FAQS are no
finished yet due to a lack of time.  I hope to finish them shortly, though.

   II. Family Tree
  III. Important Facts
   IV. Laura Bow
    V. Ethel Prune
   VI. Colonel Henri Dijon
  VII. Gertude Dijon
 VIII. Lillian Prune
   IX. Gloria Swangson
    X. Rudy Dijon
   XI. Jeeves
  XII. Clarence Sparrow
  XIV. Dr. Wilbur Feels
   XV. Celie
  XVI. The Crouton Sidestory


The Colonel's Bequest has a great story.  It goes beyond the single-story plot
that many games today follow, but instead this game is made up of many smaller
stories.  Of course the driving force of all of these stories is Lillian's
psychological problems,but that's just the surface of the game's plots.  In the
many sections below, I have analyzed every character, their problems, delimas,
and how they feel about the other characters.

In the Dijon family, there's Ethel and Lillian against Gloria, Rudy, and
Gertie, against Wilbur and Clarence.  The Colonel is in the dark about most of
his family's problems, but that doesn't make them any less aparent.  Each
characters sticks to his or her feuding lines.

II. Family Tree

There are three generations of the Dijon family in The Colonel's Bequest.  The
first generation (one that is not shown at all) is Henri's, Ethel's, and
Gertie's husband's parents.  Next are their children, and finally their
grandchildren.  Laura Bow is not shown because she is in no way associtaed with
the family except through a friendship with Lillian.

|C - Child (of the previous generation)                           |
|I - In Law (of the current generation)                           |
|NS - Not Shown (Not seen anywhere in the game, but mentioned)    |
|L - Lawyer (of the person whom the lines stem off of)            |
|D - Docter (of the person whom the lines stem off of)            |
|M - Maid (of the person whom the lines stem off of)              |
|B - Butler (of the person whom the lines stem off of)            |
|Co - Cook (of the person whom the lines stem off of)             |

                          Thomas Simon Crouton--------------Mary Frances O'Neil
1.                Sarah's Husband---------------Sarah Marie Crouton
         (Last name was Dijon)  /      |        \       (C)
                               /       |         \
                              /        |          \
    (I)            (C,NS)    /         |           \            (I, NS)
2. Gertie---------Gertie's Husband   Henri    Ethel Prune-----Ethel's Husband
        /         \                    |(C)    (C)         |
       /           \                   |                   |
3.  Gloria(C)     Rudy(C)              |                 Lillian(C)
                         |            /|\            |
                         |           / | \           |
                         |    Clarence | Wilbur      |
                         |    (L)      | (D)         |
                         |             |             |
                       Jeeves         Fifi         Celie
                        (B)           (M)           (Co)

III. Important Facts

There are a few facts that you need to know before you can understand this FAQ.
 First, and foremost, you have to play the game.  Without knowledge of this
game, you'll never understand this.  Other than that, your prerequisite
knowledge is listed below.

I. Clarence (the lawyer) and Wilbur (the doctor) used $100,000 of Henri's money
   to buy a racing horse.  The horse broke its leg, and now they have to come
   up with $100,000 to pay Henri without him knowing.

II. Lillian suffers from a severe psychological problem.  This causes her to
    kill seven people in the house.

III. Fifi is having an affair with both Jeeves and Henri.  She truly likes
     Jeeves, but she is only having an affair with Henri so she can have some
     of his money.

IV. The Cruton family lived on the Dijon Estate.  Then Sarah Cruton married
    Henri's father, and they became the Dijon family.

V. Lillian only trusts Laura, Henri, and Celie.  She thinks that everyone else
   is plotting against her, hence she kills them all.

II. Laura Bow

Laura's mother died when she was very young, and her father raised her as a
single parent.  Because of this, Laura has a soft stomach for death, which
makes Henri's estate a bad place to be.  She a a brave, aspiring journalist,
however, and will stop at nothing to discover who is behind all of this.

On the surface, it appears that Laura is investigating these murders for the
solely because she's the protagonist.  There are deeper reasons for this,
however.  Firstly, her best friend, Lillian Prune, is in the mansion, thus
making her a potential (and eventual) victim.  Secondly, her mother's death not
only could have given her a weak stomach when it came to death, but it could
have also encouraged her to help others who were in similar situations.

We don't get to know Laura much in this game, but in the sequel, "The Dagger of
Ammon Ra", her personality comes out more.

III. Ethel Prune

The only person that Ethel trusts in her family besides Lillian is Henri.  As
his sister, she feels that she is entitled to his money more so than Gertie,
who is only a blood relative.

Ethel's husband died seventeen years before this event, and its ramification
for Ethel was a serious drinking problem.  Ethel has been known as the family
drunk ever since, loosing her emotions of sadness and grief in alcohol. 
Throughout most of the game in which she's alive, Ethel is drunk.  The only
time that Laura can actually talk to her is at the very beginning.

IV. Colonel Henri Dijon

Henri is one of the main characters of this game, despite the fact that he
rarely talks.  He is a bitter old man, and will refuse to talk to Laura about
anyone in the family.

The Colonel fought in the Spanish-American war, and took many bullets while
trying to rescue a fellow soldier.  He sought medical attention, and was given
an honorable discharge from the United States military.  Henri is mostly always
in a wheelchair, but Laura discovered that it is actually a ploy, and he can
walk on his own.  This is proven at 9:15 in his room, and at the end sequence
where he is struggling with Rudy.

But why does Henri need the wheelchair?  Rudy and Gloria suspect that he will
go shortly, but Wilbur Feels, Henri's doctor, states that the colonel will live
for many more years.  Could he possibly be fooling everyone into thinking that
he'll be dead shortly?  What is his motivation for this, though?

Henri likes his seclusion from the rest of the world.  He believes that people
are greedy, ruthless creatures that will do anything to get what they want, and
his own family proves that by killing each other.

Henry isn't directly involved with people during this play, however he does
have interesting relationships with both Fifi and Lillian.  Fifi is playing the
colonel, trying to get his money.  Everyone sees through this except Henri,
which is unfortunate for the poor old guy.  Lillian sees Henri like a father
figure, and loves him like a father.  However, he tells her that he treated her
special for the well-being of his sister, Ethel (Lillian's father killed

V. Gertude Dijon

Gertude is Henri's sister-in-law, and mother of Rudy and Gloria.  Gertie's
husband (Henri and Ethel's brother) died years ago.  Gertie, like most mothers,
always looks out for her children.  She is concerned about Gloria dating
Clarence, however she seems to totally ignore Rudy's gambling problem.

We don't get to know Gloria very well since she dies at the beginning of the
second act, but we do know that she hates Ethel and Lillian, sticking to the
family's rivalry lines.

She hates Clarence.  She doesn't know why Gloria is dating him.  Somehow,
Gerite discovered Clarence and Wilbur's embezzlement, and threatens to tell
Henri about it if he doesn't watch his back.

VI. Lillian Prune

Lillian is the secret antagonist of this game, and is one of the most
interesting people you'll meet in the Dijon family.  Her father committed
suicide when she was just two or three years old.  This resulted in Ethel's
drinking problem.  Now if you have a mother who is emotionally dependant on
drinking, and a father who killed himself when you were an infant, it is
inevitable that you'll have some type of psychological problems.  Lillian has
many psychological problems.

Lillian vows in her diary to get rid of anywhere who gets in the way of the
colonel and her.  This includes everyone who she feuds with in the family.  The
funny thing about this is that she kills her mother too.  Her mother is the one
person on her side in this whole feud, so why does Lillian kill her?  Well
Ethel was drunk as could be in the midst of Lillian's killing spree.  Lillian
could have come upon her mother, saw what a wreck she was, saw what a wreck she
made Lillian, and Lillian killed her mother out of anger.

The colonel was like a father to Lillian, or so she thought.  Henri ultimately
admits that he liked her no more than his other bratty grand children.  This
devastated Lillian, and only furthered her rage.

The thing about Lillian is she did not kill out of greed.  She didn't want the
money like the other character did.  Instead, she wanted to get back at her
family for coming between her and Henri.  She succeeds in killing Gloria, Dr.
Feels, Gertie, Ethel, Clarence, Jeeves, and Fifi.  However, when she was about
to kill Rudy with Henri's derringer, he forced it away from her and shot her

Knowing that she wanted to kill her entire family raises another question,
would she have killed Henry too?  The answer, I believe, is no.  She didn't
kill Celie because she cared for Celie.  She also cared for Henri, despite the
fact that he said she didn't matter to him.

VII. Gloria Swangson

Gloria is Gertie's daughter.  She is a Hollywood actress-wannabe who is dating
a famous director.  However, first she has to break off her short-lived
relationship with Clarence, Henri's lawyer.  Gloria didn't want to do any harm
to anybody.  She was simply on the wrong side of the family feud.  She deeply
cares for both her brother, Rudy, and her mother, Gertie, and doesn't mind
showing it to them.

Dr. Wilbur Feels treated an embarrassing medical problem that Gloria had.  This
problem is suppose to be a secret, and she doesn't want the doctor to tell
anyone about it.  For this reason, her and the doctor have a bad relationship
because they do not trust one another.

VIII. Rudy Dijon

Rudy is Gloria's brother, and he is very concerned for his sister's well-being.
 He hates Clarence, and the two get physical when expressing their hate towards
one another.  Rudy tells Clarence straight up that Gloria hates his guts. 
Clarence, however, being the ignorant fool he is, thinks Rudy is trying to
bring Gloria down to his level.

This man is a gambling womanizer who has many debts due to his unhealthy habit.
 He hits on Fifi a lot, trying to kiss her.  After she refuses his
advancements, he calls her a prostitute, who wants nothing more than Henri's

IX. Jeeves

Jeeves is the large, lanky butler who keeps to himself.  We don't get to know
much about Jeeves, seeing how he doesn't talk to Laura at all.  However, we do
know that he does like Fifi a lot.

X. Clarence Sparrow

This is Henri's lawyer.  Clarence appears to be a clean cut, trustworthy guy on
the outside, but he has a secret embezzlement that he must keep secret. 
Clarence and doctor Feels bought a racehorse together, and used $100,000 of
Henri's money to do so.  However, Henri doesn't know about this.  The horse
broke his leg, though, putting the two men in debt to Henri $100,000.  Clarence
will do anything to keep this a secret despite the fact that Gertie knows about
this and doctor Feels threatens to tell Henri.

Clarence had a short-lived relationship with Gloria.  He clearly liked her and
wanted to keep on seeing her, but she found a new beau, a director.  He refuses
to believe that Gloria would not want to see him, so he therefore develops a
bad relationship with Rudy (who he ironically shares a room with).

XI. Fifi

In one word, Fifi can be described as a slut who wants money from Henri and
will do anything to get it.  Everyone sees that she is very close to him only
to get a piece of his estate after his death, but Henri still keeps her around.
 At the same time as her affair with Henri, she is also seeing Jeeves, the
butler.  The night of the murders, they plan a date, a date that would kill
them.  Lillian decides to poison the cognac decanter, so when they take their
early evening drink, they would die.

It is wrong to say that Fifi would fool around with anybody.  Rudy tries to get
with her on two separate occasions, both of which end in failure.  She doesn't
like Rudy, and after Rudy discovers that she won't put out for him, he hates
her too.

It is not too hard to discover that Fifi is greedy, and doesn't like Henri at
all.  Luckily for that old man, Fifi dies before she can do any damage to him.

XII. Dr. Wilbur Feels

Dr. Feels is Henri's doctor, and embezzles $100,000 with Clarence to buy a
racehorse.  Wilbur probably knows that Henri doesn't need a wheelchair to get
around, but he doesn't make that known to anyone else.

He knows that Henri will live many more healthy years, and the colonel is
healthier than he appears on the outside.

Many members of the family don't like Wilbur, and think that he doesn't care
for Henri at all.  This isn't the case, however.  Wilbur finally comes to the
conclusion that what he did to Henri (with the embezzlement) was wrong, and
threatens to tell him.  However, Clarence, being the stuck up person he is,
doesn't allow Wilbur to do that and says that he'll take care of it.

XIII. Celie

Celie has an emotional attachment to the Dijon estate.  Her parents were slaves
here under the Cruton dynasty, and she feels as if she has to stay here.  She
is the cook, a voodoo cook to be specific, who is befriended by Laura.

Lillian and Celie share a very close friendship, and appreciate each other's
company.  Lillian doesn't see Celie as much of a threat to Henri, so she leaves
Celie to live (how nice of her).

Celie takes care of the chickens outside of her shack, which is located on the
north eastern edge of the Dijon estate.  She lives there happily and freely. 
She is a religious person who helps Laura out as much as possible in her
investigation.  Overall, Celie is one of the nicest people you'll meet in the

XIV. The Crouton Sidestory

The Crouton's are the ancestors of the Dijon's.  They are only mentioned in two
notes in The Colonel's Bequest, making them a very insignificant part of the
story.  Let's start out by making a Crouton Family Tree.

|C - Child (of the previous generation) |
|I - In Law (of the current generation) |

Francis Pierre Crouton------------Claudette Marie Tourte
(1787-1832)            /          \(1796-1856)
                      /            \
Ruby Couton--Claude Fancois Couton Thomas Simon Crouton-----Mary Frances O'Neil
(I)          (Born 1819, C)          (Born 1816, C)    |   | (Born 1827, I)
                                                       |   |
                                                       |   |
                                      Sarah Marie Crouton  William Thomas
                                      (1854-1871, C)       (1851-1851, C)

By prying open a floorboard in the Church, Laura finds a Bible with the Crouton
Family Tree, and a small note from Mary Crouton to Sarah Crouton.  In the
following paragraph, I am going to explain what I BELIEVE happened to the
Crouton Family, and back it up with proof.  Keep in mind that this may not be
entirely true, and no one aside from Roberta Williams truly knows what the real
story behind the Crouton family is.

In the note Laura finds inside the armor, Mary and Thomas say something about a
war to Sarah.  Common, chronological sense tells us this is the American Civil
War.  So we know that this note was written in the early to mid 1860's, when
Sarah was just a child.

Mary says in her Bible note that when the bell sounds, her and Thomas will fall
(die).  It is possible that Union forces could have headed towards the Crouton
Mansion and killed Thomas and Mary.  They did own slaves after all (Celie's
parents were slaves at the Crouton Mansion).  Maybe some Union forces decided
to free those slaves.

But where was Sarah during all of this?  Thomas and Mary could have hidden her
in one of the secret passages, or in the basement, under the WATER NYMPH.  In
the Armor note, Mary and Thomas mention Sarah's favorite water nymph, and
opening it leads to the basement.

William Thomas Crouton was more or less of a space filler.  He was born in 1851
(three years before Sarah), and died as an infant.  He likely contracted a
disease somehow and died of that.

Sarah grew up (we don't know how, where, or under who's supervision), and
married a man with the last name of Dijon.  They lived on the estate, and their
children were Henri, Ethel, and Gertie's husband.

Sarah died in 1871 when she was 17.  She apparently married young, and somehow
popped out three children beforehand.  Back in those olden days, though,
marrying young was very common.  In fact, Sarah may have died while giving
birth to one of the three Dijon children.  We don't know anything about Sarah's
husband.  He is never mentioned.

Who is Ruby?  She isn't mentioned in the Crouton Family Bible.  However, her
remains can be found in the Crouton Crypt by opening the water nymph.  We are
never told that she is Claude's wife, but since she is not mentioned in the
bible, it is the only possible way she could be related to the Crouton family.

The Crouton sidestory is a confusing one to say the least.  If you have any
information or any more theories about who they could have been, please feel
free to e-mail me (JTROST@ROUTE24.NET), and tell me what you think.  If your
theory is sensible, I'll be happy to incorporate it with mine.


Q. How is Laura associated with the Dijon family?
A. Laura is Lillian's friend from college, and Lillian invited Laura to spend a
   weekend at the Dijon residence.

Q. I don't understand this whole Crouton family!
A. Check the Crouton Sidestory section.  I have explained everything about

Q. Who has the surprising secret, and what is it?
A. Henri has the secret.  He can actually walk.  Look into his room at 9:00 via
   the secret passage.

Q. Where are Gerite's husband and Ethel's husband?
A. They are both dead, but are mentioned in the game from time to time.
   Ethel's husband commited suicide when Lillian was 2 or 3 years old.

Q. Why is the Dijon family feuding?
A. The feuding sides are mentioned in the second paragraph of the introduction.
   They have never really liked each other.  We are not told why, but like
   every extended family, not everyone is going to like everyone else.  Plus
   this feud adds to the tension between family members.

Q. Why doesn't Lillian kill Rudy?
A. She tries to kill Rudy with Henri's derringer, but he forces it away from
   her and kills her.

Q. So why does Rudy try to kill Henri?
A. With the other members of the family dead, Rudy decides to get the money all
   for himself at that moment by killing Henri.

Q. Does Fifi really love Henri?
A. No.  She just wants his money.  We know this mainly because she is having an
   affair with Jeeves at the same time.

Q. Who else knows about the secret passages?
A. Both Henri and Lillian know about them and use them in the game.

Q. Why doesn't Lillian kill Henri, and just take the money?
A. Lillian doesn't want the money.  She wants to get back at everyone who ever
   got between her and Henri, which is everyone except for Celie, Laura, and

IV. Closing Remarks

This is one short game.  However, length, or lack thereof, doesn't necessarily
constitute shoddy quality.  In fact, The Colonel's Bequest is possibly one of
the best PC games on the market.  It can be beaten in just under an hour if
you're a speed demon, yet it has such an interesting, mysterious story plot
that it's shortness becomes lost in its many other good features.  The
Colonel's Bequest isn't a well-known game among today's high-action,
low-thinking game among blood-hungry gamers, but if you're any type of gamer
that appreciates traditional games with absolutely wonderful stories, you must
check this game out.

While it is very difficult to find on its own (you can check E-Bay), you may
purchase the "Roberta William's Anthology", which includes this game, among its
sequel, The Dagger of Ammon Ra, the first seven King's Quest games, many of
Roberta's Apple 2 games, and a short, but sweet Mother Goose game.  While we
may never see Laura Bow in a video game again, we can always hope that Roberta
will one day realize that this game has made a huge impact on the gaming
society, and another title that meets and exceedes the standards of The
Colonel's Bequest is needed.

In closing, do yourself a huge favor, and play this game.

   | _|_   __   __    __ _|_
(__,  |_, |  ' (__) __)   |_,

MORE OF MY GUIDES: http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/19570.html
Do not copy or repost this FAQ anywhere other than GameFAQS.com without my
personal permission.