Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Haunted Soldier Part 2A breakdown

Lord John Grey is visiting a few people to get some answers in Lord John and the Haunted Soldier Part 2. The first half sees him visit three people, one of whom is a half-brother.

I think I missed it in the first section. I hadn’t quite realized that Edgar and Paul are half-brothers of Hal and John via their mother, Benedicta. I’m not sure how I missed that, but I had to reread the part as I read this one to fully understand. There is a lot to take in through this short story.

John is also in the area to get some answers for Mr. Lister. It doesn’t take long for those answers to come out.

Breaking down Lord John and the Haunted Soldier Part 2A

The chapter starts with John going to see Edgar, who is angry that people would think he was responsible for the cannons exploding. He is angry that John is there accusing him, misunderstanding the fact that John isn’t. John just wants to get to the bottom of it all.

The next morning, Edgar has calmed down and takes John to meet Bill Hoskins, who oversees the mill. On the way, John catches his foot on a stile and feels a sharp pain in his chest. He thinks about the metal that is in there, and Edgar now understands just how bad the injury could have been.

Edgar spends the morning showing how much he knows about the creation of gunpowder. John takes it all in, and he notices that Edgar has a sense of pride. I think he loves showing what he knows, proving that he is smarter than his half-brother in something.

At the end, John thinks that Edgar should invite all proprietors of the mill to the consortium. This helps him avoid singling Edgar out, and it could allow everyone to get to the bottom of what happened to the cannons.

John then moves on to pay Reverend Thackeray a visit while Tom heads to gather gossip from the locals. It turns out that Annie did have a baby, and Thackeray disowned his daughter. He makes it clear that he can’t forgive her for her sin. While the reverend won’t share much, Annie’s sister, Barbara, does share some things.

Annie wrote to Simon Coles, a lawyer and a friend. Coles could have information. John also learns that Philip Lister had gotten Annie somewhere to live and that Captain Fenshawe was once a suitor for Annie, but Thackeray sent him away as well due to his profession in the military. Fenshawe is horribly disfigured now due to an explosion at his mill, which led to the deaths of two men.

With that over, John heads to see Coles, who has a withered leg. Coles knows who John is and kept up to date with the incident with the cannon. As John reads one of the publications about the cannon event, John notes that it is all “poppycock.” The lawyer is interested in warfare and wants to discuss this at length with John.

John simply has to answer questions until he is finally able to ask about Annie. Coles confirms that Annie was with child, and he sent Annie money when she was at Southwark, but her landlady put her out. Coles is worried that Annie has died. John still has a journey to go on for answers, and now someone else would like the answers.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series?

If there was a Lord John Grey series, I could see this short story being skipped over completely. Maybe there would be a bit about the cannons being defective or tampered with, but I can’t see the storyline of looking for Annie being included. It doesn’t help to further John’s character development all that much.

If the short story is used, then we would need this whole chapter. This takes John on another trek for Annie. After all, it’s not like it can be easy finding Annie. There has to be some sort of wild goose chase for John to go on.  

Let us know what you spotted in this chapter via Facebook or Twitter.