Volume 2: Chapters 7–9 Summary

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Chapter 7

Lionel returns from London to Windsor and, on the way, revisits Perdita’s old cottage, which is now a ruin. While he is there, he sees that the country people in the park are frightened and learns that a man who has fallen ill is lying in a nearby hut. By the time Lionel reaches the hut, the man is already dead, and Lionel is horrified by the appearance of his corpse.

Lionel wanders around Windsor, unsure whether he should return to the castle, as he risks infecting his wife and children with the plague. He finds a state of general alarm and listens to a man who has lost his wife and child speaking to a crowd about the doom that awaits them all. The man seems close to madness and eventually points at one of the peasants in the crowd and announces that he has the plague. The peasant then drops dead on the spot, and the rest of the crowd flees in terror.

When Lionel returns to the castle, he discovers that an old servant, who nursed Idris when she was a child, is dying of plague, and Idris is now nursing her. She dies, and Idris goes to sleep, but Lionel stays awake and contemplates the gravity of the situation. The thought enters his head that one day he may be the last man left alive.

Chapter 8

Lionel tells the reader that he is taking up the story again after a long interval. He will not dwell at length on the horrors of the plague, since there are plenty of accounts dealing with such matters. The reader may turn to Boccaccio, Defoe, or Browne for accounts of calamity and pestilence.

The plague ravages England during the summer but becomes less virulent as the weather grows colder. However, it is succeeded by other disasters, an outbreak of typhus, a poor harvest, and then widespread flooding. Continental Europe is even more seriously affected by the flooding, and whole villages are carried away in Italy when the Tiber, the Arno, and the Po burst their banks. In England, society breaks down and quickly becomes lawless, but Lionel and his family are not directly affected and live contentedly together.

In spring, the plague returns, still without affecting Lionel directly, though he is troubled by what he sees of it. In the fall he goes to London to see Adrian, who has been striving to retain some semblance of order in the capital. At the Drury Lane Theater he watches a performance of Macbeth and is grieved by the appropriateness of some of the lines which refer to death and destruction.

Finally, the plague affects Lionel personally when his youngest son, Evelyn, becomes infected. However, he recovers quickly. The countess of Windsor returns to England after a long absence in Austria. Adrian and Idris are happy to see her, but she is as cold and haughty as ever.

Chapter 9

A few hundred Americans sail to Ireland and start to rob the local people. However, many of the Irish join with the invaders as they travel across the country so that, by the time they reach the east coast of Ireland, they are a large though disorganized army, which then embarks for England in a multitude of small vessels. The invaders create havoc in England, taking possession of and ruining houses as they move toward London. Adrian prepares for battle, with Lionel acting as his lieutenant.

The two sides are about to join battle when Adrian makes a speech, pointing out that they have all been victims of the...

(This entire section contains 744 words.)

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plague and should not be fighting against one another. His eloquence is successful, and both sides throw down their arms.

Adrian and Idris meet after being separated for almost a year while Adrian was fully occupied in London by his duties as lord protector. This occupation has been good for Adrian’s health, which has improved greatly since Idris last saw him, while hers has declined. Lionel tells Idris that he wants them to leave England to seek a warmer climate in “some natural Paradise, some garden of the earth.” However, even as he says this, he realizes that the extreme circumstances of the plague have largely deprived them of agency. He is no longer master of his own fate and does not even know whether he and his family will survive the summer. To entertain hopes for the future beyond this seems foolish to him.

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Volume 2: Chapters 4–6 Summary

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