Outlander Book Club: Book 2, Chapter 19 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
We pick up after the ruined dinner party. Comte St. Germain is delightful in the commotion that’s happening, and you just know that he’s going to spread a few illicit rumors about Claire Fraser. This is his chance to ruin the Frasers after everything that happened to him.
Jamie is among the people arrested. Claire was going to be arrested, but Jamie manages to talk the police out of that due to her pregnancy. It would be interesting to know what would have happened had Claire not been pregnant at the time. Would we have seen inside the jails in 18th century France?
Fortunately, Jamie has friends in the right places. While Alex Randall and others are taken to the Bastille and kept there, Duverney arranges for Jamie’s bail to be released. Claire points out that this only happened because Duverney needs a chess opponent, but it also shows how Jamie is making friends in the right places.
Duverney can’t see how Jamie would be running a brothel, and that’s something that many are concerned about. The claim against Claire and Jamie is that they lure unsuspecting women in and allow men to have their way with them.
While Claire waits for Jamie’s return, Fergus is with her. He can’t sleep while she doesn’t. Instead, he helps to brush her hair, making her feel relaxed. It’s something he did while living at the brothel, which is when Claire learns that Fergus was born at the brothel but doesn’t know which woman was his mother. He was allowed to remain there, though. Even though he slept in the cupboard at the brothel, it was better than being on the streets.
When Jamie gets back home, Murtagh also returns. He feels like he’s failed everyone and admits that he never took the charge of Claire and Mary seriously; not feeling there was a danger. He believes he should be killed for his failings. This is when he shares with Jamie that he made an oath to Ellen when Jamie was just a week old that he would always look out for Jamie. This is why Murtagh follows Jamie everywhere.
Jamie doesn’t see Murtagh being knocked out as a direct failing—not one that deserves death. Instead, Jamie wants Murtagh to make a new oath: one to get revenge against those who attacked Mary and Claire.