Lord John and the Custom of the Army Section 3 initially picks up with the hustle of the camp from the section before. It then goes into two of the big storylines for the short story.
This chapter sees Lord John Grey go in search for two people. The first is Carruthers, which is why he’s in Canada in the first place. This is pretty easy to figure out based on what we already know.
The second is Malcolm Stubbs, who is staying in a poorer part of the town. That’s surprising to John, and we know the storyline is going to get even more surprising.
Breaking down Lord John and the Custom of the Army Section 3
There’s the initial focus on everything that happened in the previous chapter. With the camp calming down, John is able to get some sleep. He’s awoken to Manoke in his tend. Manoke giggles, kisses him, and then runs away. John thinks that this is all a dream, but is it? That’s something for him to figure out at a later point.
As there are shouts of things going on in the camp, John doesn’t have any orders. All he can do is head to see Carruthers, who is staying at a widow’s home. There is a surge of feelings from John as he sees Carruthers and remembers the past.
We find out what happened to land Carruthers imprisoned. It turns out that Wolfe is ransacking villages to starbe out the fortresses as a way to win the siege. Major Siverly is selling the plunder, but then he doesn’t give anyone anything. He just withholds pay and has started stealing from the commissary. Carruthers was watching Siverley carefully as he realized what was going on.
This built up to when the troops were sent new rifles by mistake. Of course, the troops went out in search for them, only to find old muskets there. They all learned that Siverley had stolen the rifles and hid them under the floor of his quarters. Siverley ran away as a mutiny happened. Carruthers had no idea about the mutiny, but he is being court martialed to make an example of. Carruthers would like John to speak of his character to help save him.
After this, John decides to head out to see Malcolm Stubbs, who is staying in a poorer part of town. John doesn’t find him, though, and he settles on Malcolm being on some sort of secret mission. He does find an Indian woman, a bunch of children, and a white, cinnamon-colored-haired baby in the billet that is supposed to be Malcolm’s, though.
The woman asks John if something has happened to “Le Capitaine.” John shares that he came with a message but that it isn’t urgent. He leaves, and it’s clear that there is something bigger going on with this situation.
Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?
If Lord John and the Custom of the Army was used as an episode of a Lord John Grey series, this chapter would be needed. There are two parts that connect to a bigger storyline overall. We have the whole reason John is in Quebec as it is, and then the mystery surrounding Malcolm Stubbs.
The latter is the part that I am on the fence about. You see, it would depend on whether John Cinnamon is introduced in Outlander. If he is, then we would need to understand who Cinnamon is and why he would believe John is his father. If Cinnamon isn’t introduced, then this part of the story isn’t as important.
I actually could see the whole of this short story being skipped over, though. Apart from Cinnamon, it offers little in the grand scheme of Lord John’s story.
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