Arguably, this quote definitely embodies the irony of the story and, at the same time, explains the exact moment when pregnant Mary Maloney seems to snap and kill her husband after learning that he was leaving her.

At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.

Here is why this is a very important quote. First, the use of the adverb “simply” to describe the manner in which Mary goes to kill her husband is quite ironic.

It is ironic because there is nothing simple about what she is about to do. Moreover, unless Mary is a born psychopath, the idea of someone walking behind someone else and hitting them dead denotes a number of psychological and behavioral choices that are undeniably complex. Then again, perhaps she is a closet psychopath. We will never know.

Second, the quote talks about the murder weapon, which is also ironic. It is the leg of a lamb—an animal universally seen as a symbol of innocence and vulnerability. It is also a sacrificial animal and one related to Christ himself. To use that symbol of purity and innocence as a murder weapon is what makes it ironic.

The lamb is also symbolic of the image that Mary Maloney portrays at the beginning of the story. She is a loving wife, expectant mother, and, seemingly, the sweet and innocent one in her relationship. Whether she was sane or not at the moment, the fact remains that she would have resembled a lamb to the slaughter if she had been found guilty and sent to jail pregnant, alone, and socially destitute.

Finally this quote is also important because it depicts exactly what Mary did and tells how she did it. She “brought it down as hard as she could,” which clearly shows the intention to harm. She wants to make him feel the hit on the back of his head. She wants to hurt him, because she is hurt, too.

Therefore, this quote shows not just the description but also the motive behind the death of Patrick Maloney. The quote is pivotal to the story, and it shows the biggest irony of the story.

We know that his murder will remain unresolved and that Mary will get away with it. We also know that Mary does not really feel guilty for her actions. This is because

. . . in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.

There are several possibilities for the most important quote. The plot hinges around Mary Maloney’s use of the frozen lamb to kill her husband, which is a weapon of opportunity rather than of premeditation. The driving force behind her decision to use it and to destroy the evidence is her concern for her unborn child. She worries that if she is tried and convicted, she will be executed with the fetus still inside her. One important quote reveals her concerns.

What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill then both-mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do?

Mary Maloney didn't know. And she certainly wasn't prepared to take a chance.

Because it is the policemen who destroy the evidence, Mary’s offering it to them is also an important line.

Why don't you eat up that lamb that's in the oven. It'll be cooked just right by now.

The men acknowledge that they are hungry and go into the kitchen and serve themselves. Finally, once they have eaten it, Mary realizes she has accomplished her purpose.

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.

The most original aspect of this story has to do with the murder weapon. The perpetrator, Mary Maloney, gets away with her crime of passion mainly because she kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and then cooks it and gets the detectives to eat the very murder weapon they are searching for. The most important quote is in the following paragraph:

"It's the old story," he [one of the detectives] said, "Get the weapon and you've got the man." Later, one of the det4ctives came up and sat beside her. Did she know, he asked, of anything in the house that could've been used as the weapon? Would she mind having a look around to see if anything was missing - a very big spanner, for example, or a heavy metal vase.

It would never have occurred to the detectives that Patrick Maloney could have been murdered by being hit over the head with a frozen leg of lamb, especially after they have checked his wife's alibi and dismissed her as a suspect. The fact that her husband was a detective helps to mislead his fellow detectives. They assume that some criminal was taking revenge or something along those lines. If they had found the leg of lamb still in its frozen state, that might have prompted them to consider it more carefully, and they might have found some blood on it and an indentation in the meat where it had struck Patrick on the head. That was why Mary made haste to put it in the oven. Being the wife of a man who had a long career as a policeman had taught her a great deal about the way policemen think.