Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 15 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with John heading to the Black Chamber. He wants to know more about Beauchamp, and he knows an old friend Arthur Norrington may have details. Norrington is a discreet man, and that’s important for John.
It turns out that the information on Beauchamp has been taken. By whom? Nobody knows. Norrington doesn’t even want to say much to John at first. That is until John shares that he is Percy’s stepbrother. That gives Norrington leave to say something.
Norrington doesn’t know much, but he does know that Beauchamp is a smuggler. He also knows that this smuggler has connections to a man named Amadine. This may be a fake name, and Norrington does later say that there may be a connection to French nobility. John also hears that there are connections to Edinburgh and the West Indies, places Fergus has been.
After this, John heads to see Hal. We get to see this light interaction between brothers. They care about each other, and it’s easy to see why Hal had allowed Jamie to leave at Culloden. This wasn’t just about family honor, but about his brother. When it came to getting Jamie the pardon, Hal was always going to step up to help his baby brother.
John talks to Hal about Percy, and then leaves to find Dottie. She runs straight to John, and it’s clear that both of them have an agenda. Dottie wants to sail to America, and John wants to find out if William has taken her honor. The best way to do that is to be indelicate and shocking. He asks if Dottie is still a virgin.
Her reaction is perfect. The slap makes it clear that she is still a virgin. How dare he ask that! Now John needs to figure out why William is so in love with Dottie. It is possible that it is the young girl’s beauty. Does Dottie return the feelings? John wants to figure that out, and he looks for any signs from Dottie.
Dottie wants to go to America to get married. Why hasn’t she said anything to Hal? Will he disapprove? It turns out that it is William she loves, and she wants to do it now because she fears something will happen to William. There is another problem, though. Dottie is supposed to marry a Viscount. John worries that Dottie will get pregnant just to be able to avoid it.