Outlander Book Club: Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 7 breakdown

Lord John gets some information of everything that had happened the night before in Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 7. He also gets information about Joseph.

I love seeing how vulnerable Nessie is with John. She realizes that she can trust him, and she isn’t interested in figuring out why that is. All she wants is to survive in life in some sort of way.

She has information as well. It doesn’t tell John everything that he needs to know, but it’s enough to continue the search into whether Joseph has syphilis or not. This is a good night for him in general.

Breaking down Lord John and the Private Matter Chapter 7

John wakes up the next morning to find that Nessie is already up. She explains to him that she undressed him and hung up his clothes. It wasn’t to sleep with him, but it was a way to make it harder for him to leave. She didn’t want to be handed to another man, and having John there meant that she had the best night’s sleep in a long time.

Nessie also has some information. However, she wants paid before she gives him that. They haggle on price, but John ends up giving her more than she asked for because of the information.

It turns out that Joseph has visited the brothel a few times, but not for any of the women there. He always goes to Mags’s room, but when “Mags” is seen leaving, it’s clearly not her. Nessie shares that some of the girls have seen a woman with no butt and a flat chest.

During the night, the “lady” leaves by the back door, is picked up in a sedan chair, and then returns before dawn. Nessie doesn’t know where she goes, but she thinks that she could get information from one of the chairmen. John gives her money for the chairman called Rab who could be willing to talk.

Harry interrupts the two. John has to pretend about the night that he had, and Harry questions whether he should ask for Nessie next time. John points out that she’s Scottish to protect him.

As the two men leave, John shares what he knows about Jospeh. Now they need to find out about the woman seen leaving the brothel.

Could this chapter be used in the TV series?

This chapter would definitely be needed to continue the story of John getting information about Joesph. That’s why I think the Nessie parts from the previous chapter would be used. This is a Lord John Grey spin-off was ever used, of course.

I would love to see Nessie feel comfortable with John. There is so much about him that leaves a lot of women feeling comfortable, and I would love to see him have to cover up for a night of nothing when Harry walks in. It’s clear that Harry has no idea about John being gay.

This chapter brings up so much to allow John to delve more into Joseph and whether he’s potentially got syphilis. With it being one of the big mysteries of the book, we’d need it to play out in an episode.

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