RebeccaMary is determined to get home from Launceston, but its dark and she knows its foolish to attempt the journey. As she makes her way back toward the town, she is met once again by Francis Davey, the vicar who came to her rescue once before. He puts her back on her way, in the comfort of the carriage that he is riding in. Once again, she bares her soul to the vicar, sharing the secrets that her uncle has spilled in his drunken ramblings, hoping for some help in getting her Uncle stopped and her aunt away from Jamaica Inn once and for all. But once again, he seems unable to help her immediately.
As he leaves her on her way to the Inn, telling her the carriage will drop her at Jamaica Inn, she wonders what the future will hold, and if the information that the vicar has shared with her will actually do anything to stop the smuggling that is going on in the area. The hope is once again alive, but seems to be fleeting as she thinks through everything that they have going on. However, once the vicar leaves the coach, she does not make it much farther before the carriage is stopped again, this time with the sounds of shots being fired. As the carriage comes to a halt, the face of her uncle appears at the window of the carriage. He hauls her out, and forces her along with the motley crew that he has assembled. As they make their way through the dark, Mary is horrified to learn of their destination, and the horrors that will take place tonight. She knows that she has to get away, but instead of getting farther from the beach, she stumbles into their way, and is instead forced to sit and watch the terror as it unfolds on the beach. But something goes terribly wrong. Time gets away from the smugglers, and they are left trying to get away before the light of day exposes who they are to the world. But time is working against the landlord of Jamaica Inn, and the fear of being exposed is finally rearing its head. The inn is locked down, and the landlord armed. Mary is not sure what will become of her and her aunt in the madness that seems to have attached itself to her uncle.
Jem on the other hand, has not gone to prison as she thought, but instead shows up at her window late one night. He apologizes for her leaving her, and then seeing her face, and the damage that her uncle has inflicted upon her, becomes angry and threatens to kill him. Mary tells him that her uncle is planning on leaving the inn under the cover of darkness, and steal away to another area where he will not be so easily found. Mary has plans of her own, and she is planning to escape and come back with the people necessary to arrest her uncle. But her mission seems to be doomed to fail from the start. There is no one home who can help her, and when she finally arrives as the squires home, she learns that he has gone with a group of men to surround and arrest her uncle. Finally she convinces the squires wife that she must return to the inn, to check on her aunt, and she is sent off with an armed footman and a trap to ride in. As they arrive at the inn, they realize that they have gotten there before everyone else, but as she sets foot inside the inn, she has no idea the horror that she is about to uncover….
This week we are reading Chapters 10-14
Questions:
- Mary runs into the vicar for the second time when she needs help. Do you think its coincidence or something more?
- Why do you think her uncle took the chance of taking her along to the activities he has planned?
- She seems to still hold a spark for Jem. Is this something that is going to be a downfall for her?
