Short Fiction · Chapter
Fourth Night explained
Years after the events on Marlbury Downs, the former shepherd William Mills, now the Duke's steward, confronts his patron about a buried secret: the Duke's involvement in Captain Ogbourne's disappearance.
What happens
Years after the events on Marlbury Downs, the former shepherd William Mills, now the Duke's steward, confronts his patron about a buried secret: the Duke's involvement in Captain Ogbourne's disappearance. The old shepherd, dying, is about to confess what he witnessed. The Duke, in a sleepwalking state, revisits the scene. He dies that night after a fall, and Mills finally reveals the truth, though his own life ends soon after.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Secrecy
The entire chapter revolves around a twenty-two-year-old secret, the oath of silence, and the impending confession that threatens to unravel the Duke's hidden past.
Fate and Coincidence
The old shepherd's deathbed confession and the Duke's sleepwalking return to the scene of the crime occur on the same night, as if fate compels the truth to emerge.
Time and Change
The passage of twenty-two years transforms the shepherd into a steward, the Duke into a skeleton, and the lambing ground into a place of haunting memories.
Characters to notice
- William Mills
Former shepherd, now the Duke's steward, who kept a twenty-two-year oath of silence about the events on Marlbury Downs.
- Duke of Shakeforest
Aged and frail, the Duke is haunted by the secret of Captain Ogbourne's disappearance and dies after a sleepwalking episode.
- Old Shepherd
The dying shepherd who witnessed the events on Marlbury Downs and is about to confess to the Vicar.
Key passages
“Old times have come to life, owing to something waking them.”
Memories of the past have resurfaced because of a recent event.
Mills explains to the Duke that the old shepherd's impending death has revived the buried secret.
“I have four-and-twenty years to the good!”
I still have twenty-four years left to live.
The Duke compares his own age to the shepherd's, feeling he has time remaining.
“He must have returned, and—found reason to keep in hiding.”
He likely came back and decided to stay concealed.
Mills deduces that the old shepherd witnessed the Duke's actions and chose to remain silent.