Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 27 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The Fiery Cross Chapter 27 started with Claire finding out about the Beardsley twins. Jamie shares the story that Josiah told him. He knows that Josiah is holding some back, but there’s enough truth there for Jamie.
It turns out Josiah and Keziah are immigrants from an unknown country. Their whole family died on the ship over, and the twins were just two or three at the time. They were sold into servitude to pay off the ship’s passage for the entire family, which meant 30 years to cover it. Josiah escaped the situation two years ago, but his brother is deaf and couldn’t run away until there was a real option.
That real option is Fraser’s Ridge. The night the militia camped, Josiah had gone to get Keziah and came upon the group. Jamie ended up going to get Keziah after hearing the story.
Jamie and Claire send Roger off to Brownsville with the men. The two of them needed to get to Mr. Beardsley, who would eventually realize that his bondservant was missing.
When they get to the Beardsley homestead, they realize that there’s something wrong. Mrs. Beardsley is the one to answer the door, and she eventually allows the two in. They smell something rotting, and eventually, Mrs. Beardsley takes the two of them to see her husband. He’s taken ill, and Claire realizes that he’s had a stroke.
Mr. Beardsley is still alive but can’t move or talk. He can hear and communicate, though.
We find out that Mr. Beardsley had abused his wife. He collapsed from the stroke while chasing her around the home, and she ended up mistreating him as a way to get revenge. When she thought Claire could save her husband, she decided to attack and kill him. Claire and Jamie stopped her from killing him, though.
Claire can’t do anything for the stroke, but she can help to take care of the gangrenous toes. They need amputation, along with the rest of the foot. They would then need to find someone willing to look after Mr. Beardsley for the rest of his life.
Mr. Beardsley doesn’t want that. Instead, Jamie decides to do the humane thing and kill him. He makes sure it’s what Mr. Beardsley wants first, and checks that with Claire and Mrs. Beardsley as witnesses.
After Jamie does that duty, he also digs a grave for the man. While digging, Jamie thinks about his own father, who suffered a stroke. Jamie wonders if his father ever suffered in the same way. Claire tells Jamie that Jenny would have said something, although she does have her own doubts that Jenny would have said that. It would have been a lot for Jenny to go through, and she wouldn’t have wanted Jamie to feel any guilt. However, Jamie needs to believe that Jenny would have said something.
To end the chapter, Jamie asks Claire to promise him that if he ever suffers a stroke or ends up like that, that Claire will do what is necessary. Claire promises him, but there is that sense that she would struggle to do something like that.