Volume 3: Chapters 5–7 Summary
Chapter 5
The English emigrants decide to spend the remainder of the winter in Versailles before heading for Switzerland in the spring. They have a relatively tranquil existence there, finding plentiful food in the granaries and accommodation in the palace. However, they are disturbed by the continued presence of the false prophet, who sends missionaries from Paris to lure away Adrian’s followers.
The false prophet has between two hundred and three hundred acolytes. One of them is a young, beautiful woman called Juliet, the sole survivor from an aristocratic family. Juliet has lost not only her parents and her brothers and sisters, but also her husband, and grief made her an easy prey for the promises of the false prophet. Lionel attempts to bring her back to Adrian’s camp, but he is discovered and taken prisoner by the false prophet, who intends to have him killed.
After spending some hours in the dungeons of the false prophet, Lionel is set free by Juliet. He asks her to come with him back to Versailles, but she refuses and tells him that it is only on the orders of the false prophet that she has freed him. She tells him that he should be thankful for the false prophet’s mercy, but Lionel replies that the false prophet has only set him free out of fear, since Adrian would be certain to avenge his death. Juliet seems somewhat convinced by his arguments but says that she cannot go with him, because the false prophet holds her only child as a hostage.
Chapter 6
Adrian’s company, which now consists of fourteen hundred people, prepares to leave Versailles. Adrian himself, however, is despondent, believing the end is quickly approaching for the entire company and welcoming it as a merciful release from suffering. Lionel, who has hitherto drawn courage from Adrian’s spirit, offers some words of encouragement but is himself downhearted. He leads the company to Fontainebleau, where several of them die of plague. After four days at Fontainebleau, Lionel advances to Villeneuve-la-Guiard but hears that Adrian is in trouble at Versailles and rides back there alone.
When Lionel arrives at Versailles, he finds “everything in a state of tumult.” A disciple of the false prophet has attempted to assassinate Adrian, who is, in any case, on the brink of giving up the struggle for survival. Meanwhile, the false prophet has declared that he and his band are exempt from the plague and has fostered the illusion that this is the case by surreptitiously murdering anyone who shows any signs of infection. When he kills Juliet’s child, she denounces him, and he is forced to shoot himself to escape a more painful death. His former followers seek protection and leadership from Adrian.
Chapter 7
It is already June 18th by the time the entire company sets out for Switzerland. They pass through France, where almost no one survives. Only the larger towns have one or two inhabitants remaining. The people are nervous and see ghosts in every tree and bush. One particularly persistent apparition whom they call the Black Spectre turns out to be a French nobleman infected by the plague, who has been following them on horseback.
The company enters Dijon with a sense of relief, feeling that the worst of the journey is over. However, they are a pitiful sight, since only eighty of them survive, and those survivors are worn and wretched. The countess of Windsor dies at Dijon, though of old age, not of the plague. After a week’s rest at Dijon, they proceed to Geneva. By the time they reach Jura, on the second day, there are only fifty of them. Desperate as they are, they are astonished and delighted by the beauty of the Alps at sunset and feel something like happiness in the midst of their despair.
At Ferney, the members of the company hear music and find that a young woman is playing the organ in a church. She is infected with the plague and worried about leaving her father alone. However, he holds her hand as she dies, and within twelve hours he is dead himself.
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