Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 98 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start the chapter with Claire and Lord John Grey already at the ball. Claire doesn’t really want to be here, but she has to be. She is John’s wife now, after all. She’s even called Lady John by one of John’s colleagues.

Claire does have some fun telling John just how history is going to play out. She makes it clear that the British Army will lose in three years, although she can’t tell John what happens to him exactly. John doesn’t want to believe that. Of course, he doesn’t. Why would he as a member of the British Army? He’s going to want to think that the British will win, just like they did in the two Jacobite rebellions.

When Claire goes off, she wonders about stealing some of the diamonds. However, soldiers are watching, and Claire notes that John gave her diamond earrings anyway. I get a sense that Claire is considering going back through the stones at this point.

She also thinks about listening in to conversations. She is still working as a spy, even though she knows that Captain Richardson is keeping an eye out for her. The spy thing comes up in even more earnestness. She finds out that Major John André is there. This is a man who is later hanged for espionage, and Claire can’t help but think of his fate the whole time he’s talking to her.

There is something from the chapter that I want to mention. Claire thinks back to the balls in Versailles during this, and she thinks of the last time she was separated from Jamie. I don’t think this is the only thought of Paris, though. She thinks about how she wishes William wouldn’t call her “Mother Claire,” feeling like a nun. This reminds me of Mother Hildegard, connecting back to Paris.