III explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Deception and Identity

  Peter assumes a false identity as a prospective schoolmaster to infiltrate Sanstead House, relying on Lord Mountry as a reference to maintain the ruse.

• Class and Snobbery

  Mr. Abney's deference to the Duke of Devizes and his emphasis on molding 'hereditary legislators' highlight the class-consciousness of the setting.

• Wealth and Corruption

  Peter pays a premium to offset the financial harm of kidnapping Ogden, illustrating how money is used to assuage moral qualms.

Characters to notice

• Peter Burns

  Narrator and protagonist; arranges to pose as an assistant-master at Sanstead House to kidnap Ogden Ford.

• Mr. Arnold Abney

  Headmaster of Sanstead House; meets Peter at his club and hires him as classical master.

• Cynthia Drassilis

  Peter's fiancée; helps plan the scheme and reveals Ogden is to attend Sanstead House.

• Ogden Ford

  The boy to be kidnapped; described as about thirteen years old and soon to attend Sanstead House.

• Lord Mountry

  Old Oxford acquaintance of Peter; provides a reference and knows about the scheme.

• Augustus Beckford

  Lord Mountry's younger brother; a pupil at Sanstead House.

• Smith

  Peter's servant; ordered to procure Latin and Greek grammars and Caesar's Gallic Wars.

Key passages

• “Looking back, I think I can fix the point at which this insane venture I had undertaken ceased to be a distorted dream, from which I vaguely hoped that I might shortly waken, and took shape as a reality of the immediate future. That moment came when I met Mr. Arnold Abney by appointment at his club.”

  Peter realizes his kidnapping plan became real when he met Mr. Abney at the club.

  Peter marks the transition from fantasy to commitment.

• “I gathered from Cynthia that the boy Ogden was shortly to be sent to a preparatory school, and that I was to insinuate myself into this school and, watching my opportunity, to remove him”

  Cynthia told Peter that Ogden would soon go to prep school and Peter's job was to get a job there and kidnap him.

  Cynthia outlines the plan to Peter.

• “I was to pose, Cynthia told me, as a young man of private means, anxious to learn the business, with a view to setting up a school of his own.”

  Peter would pretend to be a wealthy man wanting to learn schoolmastering to start his own school.

  Peter's cover story for infiltrating Sanstead House.

• “The proprietor of a preparatory school, if he is a man of wealth, need not be able to teach, any more than an impresario need be able to write plays.”

  A rich school owner doesn't need teaching skills, just like a theater producer doesn't need to write plays.

  Peter reflects on the low standards for wealthy school proprietors.

• “By kidnapping Ogden I should be taking money from Mr. Abney. By paying my premium I should be giving it back to him.”

  Peter reasons that kidnapping Ogden takes money from Abney, but paying the premium returns it, easing his conscience.

  Peter's moral compromise to justify the scheme.