When Charles the First Was King · Chapter
Of My Last Meeting with Rupert Watson explained
On Easter Sunday 1649, Will Dale and Ben Tuckett anxiously await their weddings the next day.
What happens
On Easter Sunday 1649, Will Dale and Ben Tuckett anxiously await their weddings the next day. After attending church where their banns are read, they dine with Parson Drumbleforth. That night, unable to sleep, they ride out and encounter the mad Rupert Watson, blind and riding a blind horse, who gallops wildly across the moor toward Smeaton Crag.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Courtship
Will and Ben's anticipation of their weddings, the reading of banns, and the evening walk with Rose.
Honor and Enmity
Will's past conflict with Rupert Watson and the haunting final encounter with his ruined adversary.
Fate and Providence
Rupert Watson's madness and blindness as divine retribution; the sense of an inevitable, tragic end.
Characters to notice
- Will Dale
Narrator, awaiting his wedding to Rose Lisle; rides out at night and witnesses Rupert Watson's mad ride.
- Ben Tuckett
Will's friend, also awaiting his wedding to Lucy; accompanies Will on the night ride.
- Rose Lisle
Will's betrothed; walks with him in the evening and attends church.
- Lucy
Ben's betrothed; insists the men attend church for the banns.
- Rupert Watson
Now mad and blind, he rides a blind horse at night and gallops toward Smeaton Crag.
- Jack Drumbleforth
Brings Will and Ben an invitation to dine at the Vicarage.
Key passages
“It was one of the most beautiful days I ever remember to have known, that Easter Sunday of 1649, for it was all sunshine and springing of flowers, and yet it went by surely in slower fashion than ever day did before.”
Easter Sunday 1649 was a gorgeous spring day, but it felt unbearably slow to Will as he waited for his wedding.
Sets the scene and mood of anxious anticipation.
“I have served my apprenticeship to this same love for as many years as Jacob served for Rachel. But the last days of the apprenticeship go very slowly, lad, and I would it were tomorrow, and Parson Drumbleforth had tied us up as securely as ring and book can do it.”
Ben compares his long courtship to Jacob's seven years for Rachel, and wishes the wedding were already over.
Highlights Ben's impatience and the theme of love and courtship.
“My God, Ben! What is that? Look—by the gate of the fold. Out of the gate right before us came a figure all in white, leading a gray horse by the bridle. My blood turned chill as I watched it, it looked so ghostly in the moonlight.”
Will sees a white-clad figure leading a horse, which terrifies him in the moonlight.
Marks the eerie appearance of Rupert Watson.
“A blind man riding a blind horse!”
Will is horrified to realize both Rupert and his horse are blind.
Emphasizes the tragic and grotesque nature of the scene.
“He drove his spur into the blind horse's side as he screamed out the last word. The horse neighed, rose on its hind feet, and then darted across the land like a mad thing, its rider shouting and yelling.”
Rupert spurs his blind horse and they gallop wildly across the moor.
Climax of the chapter; Rupert's final, mad ride.
