Over Sea, Under Stone, chapter 10

In which the kids hang out at at Kemare Head, and make an important discovery.

Well, first they investigate the rocks revealed by moonlight, and Barney volunteers that (according to Mr. Penhallow from chapter 1) the locals avoid the area, calling it the "gravestones."  This gets him thinking of Sir Bedwin being buried "over sea and under stone", and they search the rocky headland for any possible place the grail could be buried--skeptical Simon points out that the area's mostly bedrock with very little soil, so it's unlikely anything is buried there, but since they're out of ideas, Jane suggests methodically searching for a place the grail could be buried.

They don't find it.  Jane does pick up a neat petrified shell, however.

Everyone's getting pretty morose about never finding the grail at this point, when, fortunately, Rufus the dog gets lost.  In a transparent Deus ex Canine, they find him pawing at one of the rocks, which Simon discovers has a tiny gap in it.  He and Jane manage to shift it, revealing a seemingly bottomless hole.  "This must be it, mustn't it?  It must be where he hid the grail!"

Another clever idea for Jane: dropping a rock into the hole and listening for it to hit the ground. Unfortunately, it's too deep for them to hear anything.  We get another episode of 'fun details from their outside lives' when the kids turn out their pockets looking for something that will help them measure the depth of the gap.  [Simon loses another five points from Gryffindor for the "Two hair-grips. Just like a girl" remark.  Yes, Jane wears her hair long enough that having spare hair ties is useful.  It's not an inherent trait of her gender, nor does it require commentary from you, Simon.] Between the three of them, they work out a system using Jane's spool of thread, a pencil and Barney's scrap of wire, which determines that the hole is over 150 feet deep.

This knowledge probably won't help then get the grail, but while determining it, Jane noticed that she could hear the sea through the hole in the headland: it's the vent to a cave.  A cave with some sort of seaward outlet.

There's a Weathertop Moment, when Simon sees the Lady Mary (the Withers' yacht) and everyone hunkers down out of side behind the rocks.  Suddenly, they realize it's 11:30 and Great-Uncle Merry hasn't found them yet.  Could he still be sleeping?

My favorite bit of this chapter is the how the kids go about solving their problems creatively (new headcanon: Simon grows up to be less sexist, Jane gains some more confidence, and they both become engineers).  Least favorite bit is how often decisions are made based on 'having a feeling' rather than solid evidence: the grail must be hidden under these rocks, it must not have ended up underwater and degraded, time is running out, etc.  It does allow complications to be brought up, but it also means they are being dismissed rather than addressed.  Nonetheless, the race is clearly on!

Over Sea, Under Stone Chapter 9

Or, what Barney did that night, and what happened after.

Basically, Barney goes to sleep, but wakes in the night with a feeling that someone is in his room.

I like the little bits of detail that work their way into this chapter: the Drews' home in London, for instance, is a flat in a divided house, and it apparently does it's share of night-time creaking. Barney is used to this waking him, and has a whole little process for checking the room for burglars while appearing to roll over in his sleep, and then feeling silly because it's always just the house. The little tidbits like this make it seem like the characters have lives outside of the novel. Yay.

Except, here in the Grey House, it's nothing so benign. The door's slightly ajar, and SOMEONE IS IN THE ROOM WITH A TORCH! (That's flashlight to us Americans.)

Barney's still processing this, when he recognizes the mysterious invader's slight sniff; turning on the lamp confirms the intruder to be Mrs. Palk. ?!?! She claims to be looking for the cup Barney had earlier in the evening, which Jane had already returned downstairs.

Is Mrs. Palk evil? She could have legitimately forgotten about the cup and not want to disturb Barney, like she says (though in that case, why not retrieve the cup in the morning?).  Likewise, when she earlier saw Barney with the manuscript's telescope case, she could just have been curious about what he was doing. At the same time, the coincidences are starting to look suspicious, and I'm wondering if Barney's sudden sleepiness after the others left had more to do with a busy day outside or if Mrs. Palk purposefully detained him in the house and then drugged or enchanted him it in an attempt to steal the map.

The rest of the party arrives, and Simon catches Barney up on their discovery of the moonlight clue. Barney warns Simon against discussing anything in front of Mrs. Palk. I don't care for Simon's response, and am taking five points from Gryffindor:

“We shouldn't. She wouldn't understand it anyway.”

This reads like a classist, sexist, ageist, and/or region-ist dismissal (Mrs. Palk being older, a woman, a servant, and from a small rural village instead of London), and that's something I'd expect more from a villain than one of the heroes. Powerful villains underestimating seemingly lowly heroes is a staple of the whole fantasy genre. Simon could be (imprecisely) saying that she doesn't have the background information to connect their conversation to the manuscript and grail, but that's not how I or Barney understand it. Barney then explains about Mrs. Palk sneaking through his room and accuses her of wanting the map; Simon is “skeptical” about this new information.

At breakfast the next day, the kids are up earlier that Merry, and Mrs. Palk talks up the village festival while they eat; she encourages them to get outside so that Merry can sleep in after staying up so late. As Merry specifically said not to venture out without telling him, Barney finds this suspicious; Jane and Simon, however, disagree about Mrs. Palk being an enemy, and decide to leave a somewhat encoded message for Merry with her: they're taking Rufus on a walk. Merry will know that they mean 'going up to the Headland'.

I would like to recall at this moment that Jane's earlier stated an unfounded dislike of Mrs. Palk. While it bothered me, having it act as foreshadowing makes more sense that having Jane suddenly dismissing Barney's suspicions. Not that everyone you dislike is evil (though so far, it's between 4/4 and 5/5 for the kids, specifically Jane), but that it seems abrupt and out-of-character to presume this person benign, over-ruling not only that previous dislike, but also Barney's experience of the last night and the current pressure to divide them from their protector. Sure, it's all circumstantial, but the circumstantial evidence is mounting rather quickly.

When the kids leave (by a gap in the back hedge, since Bill, who chased Smon yesterday, is watching the front), Mrs. Palk cleans up very quietly, makes some tea, and tries on her fancy hat for the festival.

Two things that bother me here:

The first, is the use of the term “Red Indian Headdress” to describe the feather-and-ribbon-covered festival bonnet. The second is the focus on Mrs. Palk using the captain's best tea cup; while not explicit about motivation, it's depicted as somehow bad, like she's using things above her station because Team Evil is greedy and selfish.

Despite this, I was inclined to like her and assume naive good intentions which (coincidentally or through interference by the Dark) hinder the kids. That is, until she goes to wake up Merry and lies to him about where the kids are. Everything's done with the same largely-polite and helpful attitude she's always displayed before. Suddenly, it's clear that she drove them off and was being quiet, not out of concern for Merry, but because she wanted to separate him from the kids. She sends him off on a wild goose chase to Truro, by way of St. Austell, then heads off with her festival hat, smiling.

Yep, definitely working for "The Dark".

Character Update:

The “Light”

Prof. Merry Lyon: International Man of Mystery, Archaeologist, Bad Houseguest

Simon Drew: There's hope, but he needs to learn about not being a dismissive jerk.

Jane Drew: Hermione Granger, but occasionally handed the idiot-ball.

Barney Drew: Lucy Pevensie, but slightly less angelic; obsessed with King Arthur.

The “Dark”:

Mr. Withers: Fiendish antiquarian

Miss Withers: Friendly until the map comes up

Bill Hoover: Working for the Withers, fast runner, lousy bicyclist

Mr. Hastings: Vicar, wears black, frightens the kids

Mrs. Palk: Seems friendly, do not underestimate her

Unknown:

Dick Drew “Dad”: doctor, fishing enthusiast

Ellen Drew “Mom”: artist

Miss Haverton: family friend; artist and fishing enthusiast

Mr. Penhallow: the fisherman from chapter 1 who told Barney about Trewissick
Captain Toms: owns the Grey House, still unseen

Rufus: dog, gets along well with Barney

Vayne: skipper on the Withers' yacht; unseen

Rev. E. J. Hawes-Mellor: late vicar, wrote a guidebook to Trewissick which used the old name “King Mark's Head” for Kemare Head, which Merry found peculiar.  

Over Sea, Under Stone Chapter 8

On to the next clue. Well, first we get to see Mr. and Mrs. Drew having their own lives and interacting other adults! While the kids were running around during the day, Dick & Ellen (Mom's also got a first name now!) ran into an old friend, Miss Hatherton. She's a sculptor who lives nearby, and was one of Ellen's art school teachers. She also “has a passion for catching sharks”(!?!?!), and is thus ideal company for both parents. While, on the one hand, she's rather a transparent plot device to keep the elder Drews busy while Merry and the kids talk, it's really nice to have adult characters being absent because they have lives and interests, and not because they are dead. In universe, she could also be either a plant from the “light” (distracting the parents so the kids can solve mysteries) or a plant from the “dark” (distracting the adults around them so the kids have fewer potential allies), or purely an old friend meeting by chance.

With their parents thus engaged in conversation after dinner, the kids catch Merry up on their day and the clue in the standing stones. I still think it's pretty conjectural, but to be fair, here's the actual quote from the medieval manuscript-writer:

“So, therefore, I trust it to this land, over sea and under stone, and I mark here the signs by which the proper man in the proper place, may know here it lies: the signs that wax and wane and do not die.”

The “signs that wax and wane” bit is more concrete that I was giving it credit for before. It's still a pretty tenuous conclusion.

Jane gets a few more good bits of reasoning in, figuring out that a smudge on the map is actually a moon, and that the next step could involve looking in the direction the standing stone pointed, by moonlight. Simon gets in the question I've been wondering about: solar and lunar positions change throughout the year—not to mention over the course of a day—so the directions they're getting right now in the summer will be wrong if the original route was planned in late autumn or early spring. Merry helpfully tells them that the present season will work (apparently with some special knowledge of his own). Less than a page before, however:

“This is your quest”, he said. “You must find the way every time yourselves. I am the guardian, no more. I can take no part and give you no help, beyond guarding you all the way.”

Um, yeah. 1) Why? What's tying his hands? Some sort of fair-play agreement with the other side? Laws of arcane magic? A belief in heroic narratives ala HPMOR's version of Dumbledore? 2) He earlier mentioned that he'd been looking for the manuscript (not knowing what it was) for years. What was he planning on doing with it if he can't be involved? Or it is some sort of quest-preemption thing where he could be the one searching for the grail if he'd found the manuscript first? 3) So, except for translating the manuscript, confirming the kid's speculations (the King Arthur connection, the seasonality of the signs), running interference with their opponents, rescuing Simon, etc., Merry can't be involved. I guess the last two could count under 'guarding', but this sanctity of the quest stuff seems both contrived and unevenly enforced.

The next night--their parents conveniently off in Penzance for art talk and fishing with Miss Hatherton--Jane, Simon and Merry head back up Kemare Head to test their hypothesis about the next clue involving the moon. Barney stays at the Grey House on manuscript duty, kept home by Mrs. Palk on account of a very bad sunburn (she thinks the others are going night fishing). Up on the headland, they work out the next sign: a rocky outcrop outlined by moonlight when viewed from the standing stone. Merry vanishes, and Jane and Simon find themselves confronted by the “man in black” (inconceivable!) who chased Simon last chapter. They flee and find Merry on the path: apparently, their enemies showed up and he went off to deal with them, but missed one.

Jane gets another revelation as the chapter ends: by moonlight, she recognized the “man in black” as the vicar who she asked about Trewissick's coast, and who saw her sketch of the map.  I suppose this explains the bad feeling she had about him.  It also brings are total villain count to four: Mr. Withers, Miss Withers, Bill Hoover (revealed by Merry to be the son of Mrs. Palk's "good for nothing" brother), and the vicar/"man in black".  

Over Sea, Under Stone: Chapter 7

The next day, the kids visit Kemare Head and speculate about the signs they're trying to uncover, while Great Uncle Merry goes fishing (to distract their opponents). Unfortunately, while the Withers' yacht follows Merry, Polly Withers has apparently stayed behind. She and Bill the Bad Bicyclist interrupt the kids' outdoor brainstorming session, full of polite small talk which ends with an abrupt demand to know if the kids “found a map”. They dissemble, though not very well (Barney apparently put a few skill points into bluff, but the others made untrained checks and rolled poorly to boot).

Alone again, they start thinking about yesterday's conversation with Merry, and the view of Kemare Head from the other headland; Barney remembers the shadow of one of the standing stones being note-worthy. They climb up to the stones and start working out where the shadows point, debating the possibility of the grail being buried under one of them, or that the stones point the way to the next clue. The age of the stones makes them rule out the grail being there (though it's a better idea than the earlier one that the grail was in the Grey House itself), and Barney notes that the headland is “over sea”, so the next step is to find the “under stone” bit.

Around this time, Polly and Bill reappear, see the kids with the manuscript, and demand a look. Simon actually does something useful, in grabbing up the manuscript and running away with it; Bill attempts to follow him. Somehow, I just know Miss Withers will get the Drew children's parents involved now, probably by mentioning how rude they were, and suggesting that they have something not-rightfully-theirs, perhaps lost by the Withers (in which case, it'll be interesting to see how the kids get out of the situation without being forced to hand over the manuscript). At least, if I were evil and maintaining friendly social interaction, I'd give it a try.

Barney and Jane go for help (ie, Great Uncle Merry). Meanwhile, there's a dramatic chase scene (on foot) through the outskirts of Trewissick, but Simon gets a little lost and ends up near the church instead of the safety of the Grey House. He cleverly manages to hide before Bill can catch him, only to see Bill meet a man dressed in black, who appears to be yet another confederate, though the snippet of conversation Simon overhears doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know.

He waits until the coast is clear, then starts for Trewissick. Surprise! Bill and the man in black (inconceivable!) are actually not that far away. They start to chase Simon again as he makes his way towards the village. He's exhausted and out of ideas, and worried that any passer-by he might approach for help will side with the strange man chasing him rather than helping.

Fortunately, the car Simon nearly runs into at the cross roads is being driven by Great Uncle Merry. They drive off, and the chapter ends.

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. The kids' work on the manuscript puzzle feels very...non-concrete. They have almost nothing to go on, so it all feels like guesswork, with no real way to check if they're on the right course or not. The actual developments here seem to be the enemy breaking cover (though we already established that the Withers, and by extension, Bill, are on the opposing side), and the escalation of aggression as shown in the chase: not a lot happens, per se, but it feels like the stakes just rose and time just got shorter, because the kids were being personally confronted.

The other thing that felt weird was in the original discussion: this time it's Barney and Simon coming up with all the ideas (at least where the dialogue is clearly attributed), while Jane gets to scold and be “petulant”. She gets in a good point that something which has stayed hidden for 900 years (if it's indeed still hidden) is likely buried, but she's not given many good lines in this chapter—even the idea of going for Merry when Simon is being pursued comes from Barney.

Over Sea, Under Stone, Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A Great Deal of Exposition

As chapter five ended, Mother told the children that Great-Uncle Merry wanted to take them out for the afternoon, and Barney proposed to the others that they tell him about the map. For the first time, no one (read: Simon) argued that telling an adult would ruin everything.

Chapter six opens with the three children and their uncle heading out for a walk, with all three children requesting that they go “somewhere lonely”, “somewhere miles from anywhere” and “somewhere we can talk”. It's anyone's guess who said what.

The group climbs the headland opposite Kemare Head (which, Jane learned, is labelled “King Mark's Head” on the map), once again in silence, with the children “trotting” to keep up with Great-Uncle Merry. He's really not good at all about being friendly or accommodating other people. Maybe I'm weird, but going on a fun outing, it feels much more natural to make conversation with one's companions, and walk at a speed comfortable for the slowest members of the group.

Reaching the top, Merry gives us a Latin reference to King Arthur (“Hic incipit regnum Logri...”/“Here begins the realm of Logres...”) and asks the kids what's wrong. Inexplicably, Barney and Jane look to Simon to explain—perhaps he's supposed to be the 'leader' as the eldest, but he's also the designated useless party thus far, not to mention the last hold-out against telling adults. So, naturally, the two who have proposed seeking help, advanced useful hypotheses about the manuscript and found information about it, defer to him. In a moment, they're all three talking anyway, but the seemingly-out-of-character deference is apparently a theme in this chapter--which also explicitly confirms that Simon is a whole eleven months older than Jane, and thus see himself as the trio's rightful spokesman.

Anyway, they show Great-Uncle Merry the scroll and explain about finding it, then start asking him their questions regarding it's age and purpose. Most of the dialogue is not attributed, though I expect Barney's behind the “Is it important? Is it buried treasure?” line.

Merry promptly goes into wise-old-plot-dispenser mode, explaining via Socratic questions that all fairy stories are true, give or take some slight magical embellishments. Simon reasserts his role as skeptic (in contrast to Barney's fantastic beliefs) by initially asserting that “once upon a time stories” aren't true; Jane takes the middle path by proposing that “perhaps they were true once, but nobody could remember when”.  She is, of course, right, according to Merry.

Barney gets to info-dump his favorite subject of King Arthur, and Merry confirms that he was, in fact real. And then he really gets back into exposition mode. The short version, is that the light and the dark are constantly fighting and neither side can permanently win, because everyone's at least a little good and bad. King Arthur was apparently one of the people working for the light, and even though he failed, people of the future need his inspiration for their own fight... You know, I love reading stories in which the protagonist struggles against the inevitable because it's the right thing to do. I see that that's where this light versus dark conflict is trying to go (which is perhaps why I liked the series so much when I was a kid). Nonetheless, it feels rather contrived and inconsistent, like it's trying to shoe-horn high and dramatic ideals into a plot which doesn't quite fit; I think the whole concept would have come across better if less attempt was made to explain it.

And then there's the bit that just has to be quoted, it's right after Great-Uncle Merry explains that the light and dark are constantly struggling and neither side can win:

“Sometimes, over the centuries, this ancient battle comes to a peak. The evil grows very strong and nearly wins. But always at the same time there is some leader in the world, a great man who sometimes seems to be more than a man, who leads the forces of good to win back the ground and the men they seem to have lost.”

I wonder how the other side's version goes. Do they also need a great leader when their enemies appear to have the upper hand? Or is it just that some jerk show up to rally the opposition every time they're about to win?

On a more practical note, how can one side grow and 'nearly win' when the previous paragraph states that “...sometimes one of them seems to be winning and sometimes the other, but neither has ever triumphed altogether. Nor ever will [Uncle Merry said] for there is something of each in every man.”

That “nor ever will” seems to be key point in making the whole effort futile. I could see it working if the point of the struggle was to improve the world by keeping the good side in ascendancy as much as possible (in which case, doing good in the world would make more sense as a strategy than speaking of battle and searching for lost artifacts.)

Anyway, we get another long info dump with Merry reading the manuscript. There's the Latin introduction, from a 14^th century monk explaining that he found and copied this earlier manuscript. It, according to Merry, was an 11^th century piece written in early English. And it makes No. Sense. At. All. That is, we get nearly three pages of translation, and 80% of it is the writer, a Cornish knight, discussing how the information (a grail engraved with King Arthur's deeds and a “promise and proof” of him coming again) came to him and why he doesn't have anyone else to pass it on to. It's an interesting outline and suggestion of its own story, but much of it makes no sense for the guy writing it to have written it. The last paragraph is a cryptic remark to certain 'signs' that will lead one to the grail, though it's more of a statement that such signs exist than, say, even a coded reference to what to look for. Standard fantasy tropes are invoked: the riddles leading to a need relic from the past, the hereditary stewardship of the relic, the fading of the good old power (new kings aren't as good as the old ones, etc.).

The kids and Merry catch each other up on the Withers situation (they're looking for the manuscript, they're on the other side, Merry knows that they are not, in fact, brother and sister). Merry mentions that he has been looking for the manuscript (not knowing what, exactly, it was); Barney guesses, and get Merry to admit, that he brought the Drews to Trewissick for them to stumble on it, and that he's been away so often in order to mislead their enemies.

I suppose that explains why Merry keeps disappearing without notice, but it really confuses his relationship with the kids. He knows them well enough to guess that they'll find an unknown artifact, lost for centuries, which he hasn't been able to uncover, and that they won't tell their parents or other authority figures (the police, Capt. Tom, Mrs. Palk); they, however, don't know him well enough to confide in him until the robbery forces their hands.

On the topic of the robbery, we waste two whole pages with the kids and Merry discussing why they didn't tell the cops about the manuscript and the Withers' connection to the break-in. It basically re-hashes a lot of the kids' tell-or-not arguments from before, and comes down to assuming that the police would be condescending to the kids, or would decide it was an irrelevant, private quarrel between Merry and Mr. Withers, or would conclude that Merry was imagining things. I suppose this conversation does resolve all the previous 'should we tell or not?' discussions, but as it's the third time the topic's been addressed in 60-odd pages, and the same viewpoint prevails each time, it feels a bit repetitive.

The four of them look at the map again, and Barney points out that it looks like one of the mother's “perspective sketches” (knowing very little of art history, isn't perspective handled quite differently in the 9th century than it is in the 20th?). They decide it's actually a picture, the viewpoint from the very headland they're on, but draw no further conclusions for how to proceed; Merry suggests that they sleep on the matter. The plan, such as it is, is for the kids to try to locate the grail, while Merry continues to play the decoy. As far as fantasy tropes go, I'll give them credit that it's a plausible reason for the wise-old-dispenser-of-plot-points to leave vital matters in the sole hands of the people infinitely less qualified.

Sexism watch: Simon does credit Jane with the coastline research she did last chapter. Yay! Perhaps he can learn. Nothing else egregious popped out at me, though at one point Jane declares that she doesn't trust Mrs. Palk, and that pronouncement seemed to come out of nowhere. I'm putting that here, because Jane and Mrs. Palk make up 50% of the named female characters, and their interactions thus far have been cordial, so making one suddenly dislike the other feels like an attempt to shove in some cattiness.  Perhaps, however, Jane is speaking as Hermione-of-the-great-deductive-power rather than as the-only-female-lead and it's actually foreshadowing that Mrs. Palk is in league with The Dark. We'll see.

Over Sea, Under Stone, Chapter 5

Apologies for the delay.

Chapter five begins with the children catching each other up on their day's separate activities: Simon and Barney's time on the yacht, and Jane's discoveries with the map. Jane once again proves herself to be Hermione Granger: she's explaining the results of her research to two boys who would rather disagree over the need for outside help than acknowledge her contribution to the project. At least, Simon decides to berate her for copying part of the scroll and showing it to an adult, though Barney eventually manages to admit that her discovery is, in fact, useful. To recap: Jane's discovered that the manuscript contains a map of Trewissick, albeit with a slightly different coastline, and consulted with the local Vicar, who asserts that the coastline hasn't changed.

We then skip to the next day, where Simon wakes up to discover that the Grey House has been burglarized. Every book and picture is in disarray, but obvious valuables are left alone; the children eventually will realize that the only items missing are maps. Barney's suggestion of a ghost or poltergeist is ruled out by a single foot print found under an open window, while the police eventually declare it all to be a juvenile prank, perhaps from someone with a grudge against Captain Tom. The police sergeant also apparently knows and respects Uncle Merry to a certain extent. In another world-building tidbit, the police are summoned from St. Austell; apparently, Trewissick is too small to have its own force. Also, my reading of Simon 'trying to act like an adult but not being particularly good at it' gets some vindication:

“Simon was looking forward to eager questions about his discovery of the crime. At the very least, he thought vaguely, he would have to make a statement. He was not quite sure what this meant, but it sounded familiar and important.”

The sexism update for this chapter includes the police talking to Mr. Davies (and a little to Simon and Professor Merry) but not to Mrs. Davies, who actually discovered the footprint. She also deduced that it came from a crepe-soled shoe; I see her as a grown-up version of Jane, noticing useful details, but not being credited for it.

The children converse, with Jane and Barney figuring that the intruders were deliberating searching for something, and that they specifically took maps. All three realize that the manuscript could be the target, and have a moment of panic when it's not on the boys' wardrobe. Fortunately, Jane recalls that she hid it in her bed during her outing the previous day, and discovers that it's still there. In a change of pace, Simon credits her for finding such a safe hiding spot; unfortunately, the narrative uses some unpleasant terms to describe Jane's “hysterical” laughter upon remembering where the scroll is, and has her “babbling” the explanation for why it's there.

Also unfortunately, the last two pages of the chapter start giving Jane Simon's idiot ball. She gets to assert that it's “silly” to think the break-in was related to the map as no one could have known about it. While she's right that it lay undisturbed in the attic for years, their earlier argument about her showing it to the Mr. Hasting suggests an obvious rebuttal to her assertion: he could have deduced the presence of some sort of map with the coastline Jane sketched, and either wanted it, or related the information to someone else who did.  Instead, Simon brings up a “funny feeling” about Jane showing the sketch, and Jane insists that vicars can't be bad—which either shows great faith in humanity, specifically in the Church of England, or else a naivete that feels slightly out of character for Jane, particularly in light of the misgivings she felt while talking to this exact vicar the day before.

Barney quite naturally brings up Mr. Withers' strange interest in maps in the Grey House. Now it's Simon's turn to defend the suspect, though he doesn't even offer a half-baked reason for asserting that “It couldn't have been him”.

Jane once again brings up the idea of telling their parents about the manuscript. Under the circumstances, she's really has a point. Simon tries to insist that it wouldn't help and that they should have a chance to decode it alone. Barney insists that it's their “quest”. Apparently, first rights to treasure and chivalry ideals of quests outweigh their family's actual security. The narrative earns my enmity by declaring Jane to be pompous when she reasserts that “after last night” they really should tell their father (who may be able to take steps to protect the family and/or the manuscript) or the policeman (who's trying to figure out the break-in and might benefit from knowing about a possible motive, though his condescending words and conclusion-jumping suggest he wouldn't be a particularly attentive audience).

The chapter ends with Barney realizing they could tell Uncle Merry. It literally ends with this, so there's no time for further reiterations that telling any adult would ruin things—Simon has apparently forgotten his entire “no adults” argument all of a sudden, or else he bring it up off-page, only for Jane and Barney to outvote him. At any rate, the next chapter will start all three children unanimously angling for a private talk between them and him.