Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 16 breakdown

Lord John Grey gets some answers in Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 16. The question is whether he has time to get to Trevelyan before the man leaves the country.

It’s now clear that Trevelyan is responsible for murder. John still needs to prove it, but he is a man on a mission. That’s not surprising considering John was poisoned by the man.

John turns to Neil Stapleton, also known as Neil the C**t, for help. This is a man John is able to force to do his bidding thanks to the secrets John knows. However, John is not a stupid man and figures out that Stapleton’s secret is likely already known by Mr. Bowles.

Breaking down Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 16

Lord John is still groggy and weak in this chapter, but he needs to get to Trevelyan. He knows that Trevelyan is likely to leave the country, and there is only a short window of time to get to him. However, he also needs to make sure that anything Mayfhofer knew is handed to the right people. He’s sure that Hayrhofer is a spy.

John heads to Neil Stapleton for help. He makes it clear that he will inform Bowles of Stapleton’s business at Lavender House unless Stapleton quickly helps him. Stapleton heads to the closer print shop to get the details of all East Indian Company ships leaving England.

There is one leaving in three weeks, but there is also one leaving the day after tomorrow. John needs to get to that ship knowing that Trevelyan is likely to be on it.

While waiting for Stapleton, though, John realizes that Caswell knows every person who comes in and out of Lavender House. This is man who makes sure that he knows everyone’s business, and that means he’s passed all the information onto Bowles. John contemplates warning Stapleton of this, but decides against it in the end.

Why wouldn’t John warn him? John realizes that there is no point. If there is ever a time that Bowles decides to use the information that he has, there’s no way that Stapleton can prevent it. What’s the point in worrying the man?

Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation?

If there was a Lord John series, this chapter would likely be used. I could see it being a short moment in an episode, though. After all, there isn’t much that’s going on.

The issue is with John’s internalized thoughts about Bowles and Caswell. The show would need to find a way to bring that up to the audience if it was to be used. There isn’t really a need to use it since John decides not to tell Stapleton about it anyway. So, if there was an adaptation, it would likely just be the action part with Stapleton getting the information about the ships.

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