Chapter 21 - Une Mauvais Quart d'heure after Another

"One Bad Time Shift after Another." Yes, I had to go to Google translate to find out what the heck it meant.

I really liked this chapter. It had a lot of good stuff: the tense and witty dialogue between Randall and Claire; the gripping suspense of what he was going to do to her; the surprise rescue by Jamie; the daring escape from Fort William; and a good ol' adrenaline-fueled argument between the newlyweds. Let's break it down.

Good dialogue. And a good cartoon. :)

I LOVE good dialogue. Diana does not disappoint. The repartee of Randall and Claire in the barracks was thoroughly enjoyable, each character dancing around the situation, verbally lunging and parrying, thick with sarcasm and bluff. After sharing a glass of claret, Randall twistedly declares:

“I had forgotten to offer you felicitations on your marriage,” he said suddenly. “Forgive my lack of manners.” “Think nothing of it,” I said graciously. “I’m sure my husband’s family will be most obliged to you for offering me hospitality.”

And later:

The tension was slightly relieved by the entrance of an orderly, bearing a tray of tea things. Still silent, Randall poured out and offered me a cup. We sipped some more. “Don’t tell me,” I said finally. “Let me guess. It’s a new form of persuasion you’ve invented—torture by bladder. You ply me with drinkables until I promise to tell you anything in exchange for five minutes with a chamber pot.” He was so taken by surprise that he actually laughed. It quite transformed his face, and I had no difficulty seeing why there were so many scented envelopes with feminine handwriting in the bottom left-hand drawer of his desk. Having let the facade crack, he didn’t stifle the laugh, but let it go. Finished, he stared at me again, a half-smile lingering on his mouth. “Whatever else you may be, Madam, at least you’re a diversion,” he remarked.

As Claire struggles to find out her immediate fate, she comes up with a half-remembered name from Frank's research: the Duke of Sandringham, and she finds an opportune moment to inject the reputation for an unknown result. Randall falters briefly:

"...if you were working for Sandringham, why the devil would you act in such a damned ridiculous manner?” “Perhaps the Duke is testing your loyalty,” I suggested at random, preparing to leap to my feet if necessary. His fists were bunched at his side, and the discarded riding crop was within much too easy a reach on the desk nearby. He snorted in response to this suggestion. “You may be testing my gullibility. Or my tolerance to irritation. Both, Madam, are extremely low.” His eyes narrowed speculatively, and I braced myself for a quick dash.

Unfortunately for Claire, the intended result was achieved. However, such a bold ploy in the presence of a truly unstable individual simply motivates Randall's foregone conclusion to rape her.

Enter the wonderful timing of Jamie with the now famous, TV-series-cliffhanging-line:

“I’ll thank ye,” said a cool, level voice, “to take your hands off my wife.”

In the scuffle and escape that ensues, I totally bought the whole scene, and found it wonderful.

“You bluffed your way in here with an empty gun?” I croaked hysterically. “If it were loaded, I would ha’ just shot him in the first place, wouldn’t I?!” Jamie hissed.

Good point, J-man. Jamie then satisfyingly overpowers Randall, and both he and Claire jump out the window and escape over the fort barricade in the midst of a diversion elsewhere in the compound. A dashing execution of hastily-drawn-up plan by Jamie, as we come to find out later in the passionate argument that ensues when they reach safety.

Do ye know where I got the gun I used?” I shook my head numbly, my own anger beginning to fade. “I killed a guard near the wall. He fired at me; that’s why it was empty. He missed and I killed him wi’ my dirk; left it sticking in his wishbone when I heard you cry out. I would have killed a dozen men to get to you, Claire.” His voice cracked. “And when ye screamed, I went to you, armed wi’ nothing but an empty gun and my two hands.” Jamie was speaking a little more calmly now, but his eyes were still wild with pain and rage. I was silent. Unsettled by the horror of my encounter with Randall, I had not at all appreciated the desperate courage it had taken for him to come into the fort after me.

Upon making up and forgiving each other, they head off to the inn at Doonesbury with Dougal and the rest of the men to recover and gather their senses.

What strikes me about the scenes in this chapter is the intensity of emotion in every different place the narrative takes us. No one is an innocent or silent bystander; every character is heavily-weighted and charged with raw energy that leaps through the dialogue. I am beginning to sense the blurred lines when it comes to describing the kind of story that Outlander is, and why it appears to straddle several genres of "traditional" novels. This type of rich writing in this chapter easily demonstrates the ongoing appeal of the story to so many people over the years.