Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 50 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Claire gets to the room Betty was left in to find everything upturned and blood everywhere. Betty is convulsing on the floor, but it’s soon clear that she’s not going to make it. In fact, Betty dies in front of Claire and Dr. Fentiman, and Claire double checks that by looking for a pulse.

Claire finds out that Betty was Pheadre’s mother. She never knew that before this moment.

Duncan is the one who quickly steps up as man of the houses and deals with Betty’s body. That gives Claire and Dr. Fentiman a chance to walk away from the room and talk. Claire offers Dr. Fentiman some compassion, realizing that he is torn up about the loss of a patient.

Claire doesn’t agree with the work that Fentiman does, but she does know what it’s like to lose patients. She knows what it’s like to feel like there should have been something a doctor could do to keep a patient alive; to feel like a failure when the patient dies.

There’s also a moment that Claire realizes that Fentiman is also a little scared. Betty was one of Jocasta’s slaves. Would Jocasta go after him financially for the loss of a slave?

The two are interrupted by Phillip Wylie, who finds it amusing in an insulting way that Claire and Fentiman are together. After all, Claire is in her nightclothes! Fentiman quickly puts Wylie in his place and then escorts Claire back to Jamie.