XXI: How Eames Spent the Evening explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Deception and Fraud

  Brinkman's furtive actions and flight suggest ongoing deception.

• Detection and Rationality

  Eames's methodical pursuit and observation of Brinkman's actions.

Characters to notice

• Mr. Eames

  Follows Brinkman through the storm, retrieves an envelope, and reports to Leyland.

• Mr. Brinkman

  Flees on foot, makes a mysterious leap near the gorge, then escapes by car.

• Mr. Leyland

  Receives Eames's report and coordinates pursuit.

• Angela Bredon

  Arrives hatless to offer her fast car for the chase.

• Mr. Pulteney

  Sent to alert Leyland's man at the stables.

Key passages

• “Eames stood behind the window of the passage into the bar parlour, making sure that there was no light behind him to show a silhouette.”

  Eames positioned himself in the dark passage window to avoid being seen.

  Shows Eames's cautious surveillance.

• “He could not be walking to Pullford, a distance of twenty miles more or less.”

  It was unlikely Brinkman was walking the twenty miles to Pullford.

  Eames's reasoning about Brinkman's destination.

• “In that flash, he saw the little man leaping up in the air, his right hand outstretched at full arm’s length, as if to reach the top, or something behind the top, of that very ledge.”

  In the lightning, Eames saw Brinkman jump and reach toward the ledge.

  Key moment revealing Brinkman's secret action.

• “He reached it with little trouble, put it in his pocket, and ran.”

  Eames easily retrieved the envelope and pocketed it before running.

  Eames retrieves the crucial envelope.

• “It read: 'To His Lordship the Bishop of Pullford. Private and Confidential.'”

  The envelope was addressed privately to the Bishop of Pullford.

  Reveals the intended recipient of the hidden message.