Devlin the Barber guide

Summary

Characters

• ElizabethAlso Melladew, LizzieOtherFrom Chapter 1
• MaryAlso MelladewOtherFrom Chapter 1
• MelladewGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• RichardAlso PortlandReturnerFrom Chapter 1
• GeorgeAlso CartonSuitorFrom Chapter 3
• EphraimAlso LemonGuardianFrom Chapter 5
• FannyAlso Candied Peel, Fancy Peel, Lemon, Lemon Peel, Orange Peel, PeelLoveFrom Chapter 5
• DevlinReturnerFrom Chapter 7
• KennethAlso DowsettVillainFrom Chapter 8
• LetitiaSuitorFrom Chapter 24
• Mrs. DowsettGuardianFrom Chapter 24
• BillAlso FosterHelperFrom Chapter 26

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• Mary and Elizabeth seek financial independence to reduce the burden on their parents; both obtain employment and contribute regularly to the household.

  • Elizabeth's death ends her participation in the sisters' effort to support themselves and their parents; Mary's position is not updated.

• The narrator loses his longstanding employment while his children remain dependent on him.

  • Ephraim's hope of recall by his employers proves unfounded, and he finds he has less than four pounds. Fanny's savings relieve immediate want, while their pledge to persevere leaves the employment problem unresolved.
  • The narrator receives the promised reward and reports prospering business circumstances, ending the financial crisis opened by his lost employment.

• Having made his fortune and returned to England, Richard plans to travel to London on Saturday and visit the Melladews, chiefly prompted by the girls' portraits.

  • Richard has returned to England and visits the narrator, but the family tragedy frustrates his intended enjoyment of his nieces' company.

• Melladew hopes Richard's wealth will enable Mary and Elizabeth to leave employment and receive suitors at home, although Richard's financial support is not established.

  • Elizabeth's death makes Melladew's hoped-for future for both daughters impossible as envisaged.
  • Elizabeth's death makes Melladew's hoped-for future for both daughters impossible as envisaged; Richard's support remains unestablished.

• Melladew's prospect of helping the unemployed narrator acquires a sad and terrible significance in the narrator's later understanding.

  • Melladew arrives in a condition that alarms Fanny and Ephraim, then reports that Lizzie has been murdered, giving concrete tragic significance to his anticipated return.

• Melladew intends to reach home before Elizabeth so he can personally announce Richard's return and expected visit.

• Melladew plans to keep Richard's return and expected visit from Mary until she comes home on Saturday.

• Ephraim commits to complying with the request in the letter he receives.

• Fanny and Ephraim strengthen their partnership against financial hardship: she gives him her savings, and both pledge to persevere.

  • The retrospective account establishes Fanny and Ephraim's romantic attachment, mutual commitment and marriage, supplying the history of their existing partnership.
  • Ephraim's declared abandonment of speculation renews Fanny's hope of domestic comfort, and she undertakes to repair their finances by letting a room.
  • Fanny protects and comforts Ephraim and believes his denials of involvement in the murder and of having seen its perpetrator.
  • Fanny commits to believing Ephraim, receives his account and reassures him; they agree on seeking advice together.

• Elizabeth's fatal stabbing confronts Melladew with the violent loss of his daughter, which he discovers through a newspaper proof and reports to Ephraim.

  • The account establishes the fatal heart wound and discovery of Elizabeth's body. Melladew is overwhelmed by grief, police and reporters pursue information, and Mary hears rumours and arrives at Ephraim's house.
  • Melladew's grief leaves him unable to act, and he continues to lament Elizabeth in the narrator's room.
  • The reported aftermath extends the account of Elizabeth's violent loss to the profound despair of the Melladew family.
  • The fatal loss is corrected: Mary, rather than Elizabeth, was Kenneth's victim. Melladew's receipt of this correction is not established.
  • Public proof establishes Mary as the murdered daughter, correcting the original identification as Elizabeth; the parents' grief subsequently softens with Elizabeth and her husband's love.

• George reports mutual love with Elizabeth and intentions to court her openly, but her murder ends their prospect of a shared future.

• The first reporter seeks information about Elizabeth's murder, presenting his inquiries as serving justice.

• The first reporter plans to visit Elizabeth's workplace, Madame Michel's, to continue his inquiries.

• According to George, he and Elizabeth maintained a romantic relationship for four months without her parents' knowledge; he now discloses it to Ephraim.

  • George discloses his identity and history with Elizabeth to Richard, extending knowledge of their formerly secret relationship.

• Ephraim initially grows suspicious of George, then comes to trust his sincerity after hearing his account of Elizabeth.

  • Devlin's sympathy for George deepens.

• Elizabeth and George planned to disclose their relationship to her parents, obtain permission for courtship, exchange gifts and begin daily correspondence; her death prevents its completion.

• George seeks a private meeting with Mary at Ephraim's house, and Ephraim sends Fanny to convey the message; Mary's absence prevents the meeting.

• Mary's reported absence from home and work causes distress and urgent uncertainty about her whereabouts, despite her earlier recorded visit to Ephraim's house.

  • Mary's disappearance is confirmed to Richard; her whereabouts remain unknown, and he commits to finding and restoring her.
  • Mary remains missing, and Devlin identifies finding her as a possible route to the truth about the murder.
  • No news of Mary has arrived, and the family remains overwhelmed by her disappearance.
  • Two accounts establish an additional young woman in Kenneth's party, and the narrator suspects she is Mary; her identity and circumstances remain unconfirmed.
  • Mary's disappearance is explained: she attended the rendezvous in Elizabeth's dress and was murdered.

• George vows to find Mary without resting.

  • Mary's death makes finding her alive impossible; George is not shown learning this.

• George vows to identify Elizabeth's murderer and kill him personally.

  • George renews his determination to expose the truth and pursue the murderer, allowing either justice or personal revenge.
  • George renews his commitment to live for revenge for Lizzie's death.
  • The pursuit focuses on Kenneth's suspected implication and a planned disclosure about Elizabeth, advancing the search for her murderer without establishing guilt or carrying out George's threatened revenge.
  • Kenneth is publicly identified as Mary's murderer, but his death prevents the vowed personal killing.

• Fearing immediate violence, Ephraim tries to restrain George, who breaks free and leaves.

• Richard commits to identifying Elizabeth's murderer and bringing him to justice, even at the cost of his fortune.

  • The inquiry obtains Kenneth's account of a deceptive summons and fatal stabbing, but his discovery that the victim was not Elizabeth complicates identifying Elizabeth's murderer.
  • Richard learns that Kenneth murdered Mary and that Elizabeth survives; Kenneth has been identified, but his being brought to justice is not established.
  • The murderer is publicly established as Kenneth, although his death prevents a judicial prosecution.

• The narrator develops a liking for Richard because of his generosity and affection; Richard accepts the narrator's argument for keeping investigative possibilities open.

• Richard determines to find Mary, rescue her if necessary and restore her to her family.

  • The unidentified travelling companion supplies a possible lead to Mary, but neither her identification nor her recovery is established.
  • Richard learns Mary is dead, making her rescue and restoration to the family impossible.

• Richard offers the narrator £1,000 for finding Elizabeth's murderer, increased to £2,000 if he also restores Mary, and leaves £100 as an advance without securing the narrator's acceptance.

  • Richard represents Devlin as having undertaken the investigation; Devlin subsequently promises George to do what he can, although acceptance of Richard's financial terms remains unestablished.
  • The narrator identifies Kenneth and reports the corrected identities of victim and survivor to Richard; payment and the reward's applicability remain unsettled.
  • Richard pays the narrator the promised two thousand pounds.

• The narrator resolves to safeguard Richard's £100 advance and return it to him.

  • The narrator decides to use Portland's £100 to fund the pursuit and takes it with him, compromising his intention to safeguard and return the advance.

• The narrator seeks further information about Elizabeth's murder through newspapers, but finds no substantive news and recognizes that delay favors the murderer's escape.

  • Devlin buys a newspaper advertised as containing discoveries, but finds no new information and recognizes the cry as a sales trick.
  • Fresh newspapers supply no substantive murder news or arrests, only a claim of police progress.
  • The narrator arranges for his wife to report fresh newspaper information, but her telegram confirms that there is none.

• Fanny and the narrator renew personal contact after their visits have dwindled; his arrival answers her urgent appeal, and his welcome moves her to tears and revives memories of his childhood.

  • Their renewed contact becomes a confidential collaboration: Fanny shares her fears and diary, and the narrator commits to helping her.
  • Fanny expresses intense gratitude for the narrator's presence.

• Fanny has urgently summoned the narrator and appears troubled, but the reason for her appeal remains undisclosed.

  • Fanny explains her summons: Ephraim's worsening condition, the disturbing objects and his alarming utterances have frightened her into seeking help, and she fears possible criminal proceedings against him.

• The connection between Ephraim's condition, his disturbing portrait, the bird and the stone figure remains unexplained; the painter supplied all three and allegedly resembles them.

  • Devlin is identified as the objects' maker or supplier and as the household's lodger. The diary repeatedly associates him with Ephraim's movements, while the objects increasingly horrify the narrator; the nature of the connection remains unexplained.
  • Fanny recounts Ephraim's portrait sittings, her shock at the portrait and Devlin's gift of the bird and image; his threat binds their retention to fear, but their connection with Ephraim's condition remains unexplained.
  • The narrator recognizes Devlin's expression as the source of the evil likenesses perceived downstairs, without establishing their connection to Ephraim's condition.
  • The narrator confirms Devlin's resemblance to the portrait, bird and stone figure, without explaining their connection to Ephraim's condition.

• Ephraim has squandered most of his savings, and Fanny seeks to reduce household expenses by letting a room, a decision she now regrets.

  • The regretted lodger is identified as Devlin, whom Fanny blames for Ephraim's condition and says she cannot evict.
  • Fanny supplies the financial history: savings supported retirement, speculation consumed half their capital, Ephraim admitted the loss and declared he would stop, and Fanny decided to let the second-floor front room to recover the loss.
  • The history of letting the room reveals two troublesome tenancies followed by renewed advertising and Devlin's arrival as the third lodger, bringing further income.

• Ephraim's illness confines him to bed, while his nightmares and alarming utterances frighten Fanny and resist her attempts to obtain an explanation.

  • Fanny attributes Ephraim's condition to Devlin and emphatically establishes his recent confinement to the house from Friday until yesterday.
  • The retrospective account adds persistent fear and irritability, distressing behavior followed by sudden sleep, and a subsequent plea for forgiveness that Fanny explains to herself. It does not establish the cause of his present illness.
  • Ephraim grows extremely thin, trembles and withdraws; his horrifying sleep-talk supplies disturbing particulars while leaving their explanation uncertain.
  • Ephraim suffers a violent convulsive fit requiring urgent medical treatment. He regains consciousness and sleeps after a draught, giving Fanny temporary reassurance without establishing recovery.
  • A doctor's strong sleeping draught keeps Ephraim deeply asleep; his apparent peace gives Fanny no opportunity to question him.
  • Ephraim wakes after restorative sleep but has lost his appetite, suffers severe head pain and learns of his recurrent agitation and frightening sleep-talk.
  • His disclosures reveal recurrent losses of awareness, severe despair and a terrifying episode preceding his present condition; they provide an account of his distress without resolving it.
  • Fanny reports that Ephraim appears to be improving and has been comforted by learning that the narrator has taken up the case.

• The narrator undertakes to help Fanny by seeing Ephraim and investigating the objects' possible connection with his condition.

  • The narrator examines the diary, establishes Devlin's connection to the objects and Ephraim's movements, obtains recent chronology and resolves to meet Devlin if possible.
  • Devlin keeps the consultation private, secures Fanny's agreement to disclose everything and listens to her account.
  • The narrator receives the fuller account of Devlin's influence, Ephraim's experiences and the couple's agreement to seek advice.
  • The narrator hears Fanny's account, visits Ephraim and obtains his confirmation through questioning.
  • The investigation establishes Kenneth's guilt and brings Devlin's part into the public account, though the objects' connection with Ephraim's condition is not explained here.

• Fanny records events in a diary to protect Ephraim if she must testify to save him from execution; the narrator agrees to inspect it.

  • The narrator completes the promised inspection and returns the diary, having learned its pattern of references to Devlin and heard Fanny affirm the latest chronology. Its intended protective use remains untested.
  • Fanny's account supplies her grounds for excluding Ephraim as the killer while recording the disturbing correspondence between his earlier sleep speech and the reported murder.

• Fanny blames her lodger Devlin for Ephraim's condition but says she cannot evict him.

  • The retrospective account establishes Devlin's tenancy and his immediate frightening influence over Fanny, who becomes faint and obeys his commands; it does not yet explain Ephraim's condition or why she cannot evict Devlin.
  • The retrospective account supplies further grounds for Fanny's fear and opposition: Devlin overcomes her resistance while securing Ephraim's allegiance and a partnership she cannot persuade him to reconsider.
  • Ephraim visibly fears Devlin, questioning brings threats against Fanny, and an attempted escape is rejected; Devlin's intimidation further entrenches his presence.
  • Fanny openly resists Devlin, retreats under his intimidation, and seeks a way to remove him. She resolves to persuade Ephraim to give him up, but achieves no separation.
  • Fanny explicitly opposes further harm from Devlin, but remains too intimidated to rebuke his unannounced entry.

• The narrator resolves to see Devlin if he returns before the narrator leaves.

  • After learning that Devlin has returned, the narrator commits to interviewing him and reaches his door.
  • The narrator enters Devlin's room and meets him.

• Devlin's whereabouts during his recorded overnight absence remain unexplained, with the street door still chained while Ephraim sleeps.

  • Fanny supplies her evidence that Devlin remained home on the murder night, including the secured street-door chain and his subsequent presence upstairs; his movements remain unverified.

• Fanny promises to recount the intervening years as fully as she can remember after the narrator finishes her diary.

  • Fanny renews her promise to tell her story, obtains an uninterrupted hearing and delivers the account.
  • Fanny delivers the promised retrospective account, tracing their marriage, retirement, financial losses and decision to let a room.

• The cause of Fanny's sudden terror remains undisclosed.

  • Fanny's alarm centers on murder news, possible police inquiries and whether Ephraim was discussed. Her insistence that he stayed home and denial of his involvement clarify the focus of her fear without establishing its underlying cause.
  • Fanny describes fear and recurrent faintness caused by Devlin's speech or laughter, supplying evidence of his disturbing effect without explaining its mechanism or conclusively identifying the cause of her later sudden terror.
  • Fanny's account reveals recurring terror associated with Devlin, apparent mind-reading and a disturbing perception of her hair, although it does not establish which experience caused her later sudden terror.
  • Fanny links her greatest fright to the Victoria Park murder, and Ephraim's later sleep-talk evokes that location and a woman in danger; the intervening incident remains withheld.
  • Fanny's terror is explained by Ephraim's apparently precise foreknowledge of the killing, her vivid imagining of the victim's last evening and her guilt over failing to recognize a possible warning.

• Kenneth fears George may harm himself and seeks to guide him home and regulate his conduct; George's sleeplessness, desperate vows and refusal of further opiates complicate his efforts.

  • Kenneth apparently continues trying to persuade George to leave, but both remain outside.
  • George asks forgiveness for his violent speech but initially insists on his own course. He subsequently agrees to return home and rest, with Kenneth accepting his refusal of opiates.
  • The narrator learns that Kenneth gave his ward an opiate on the night Elizabeth was killed, causing him to sleep until late the following morning.

• George offers to assist Devlin's investigation and supplies his address; Devlin promises to do what he can and conditionally accept useful assistance.

• Devlin receives Fanny's extraordinary account, but its contents are withheld from the reader.

• Fanny and Ephraim's marriage alternates between quarrels and reconciliations, challenging Fanny's initial belief that marriage guarantees uninterrupted happiness.

  • The spouses clash over Devlin's hairstyle and partnership; Ephraim physically restrains Fanny and resists her attempt to change his decision.

• Fanny attributes Ephraim's persistent irritability and extreme fear to a terrible scare whose nature remains unexplained.

  • Fanny identifies Devlin as the object of Ephraim's fear, but Ephraim says he dares not explain and refuses to be left alone with him; his sleep-talk adds clues without disclosing the cause.
  • The doctor suspects mental trouble or shock and finds no evidence of drink. Fanny's tentative explanation involving fiction is challenged by a newspaper report matching Ephraim's disturbing words; the nature of his experience remains unknown.
  • Devlin's movements prompt renewed alarm and secrecy, while learning the details of his own sleep-talk visibly distresses Ephraim without revealing the original cause of his fear.
  • Ephraim explains his terror through Devlin's apparent foreknowledge, threats about disclosure and the disturbing Friday vision.

• Fanny objects to Ephraim serving female customers privately, but his refusal to yield leads her to stop pressing him and conceal her objections to his visits to ladies' houses.

• Ephraim proposes selling his hairdressing business and retiring on their investment income, with Fanny's agreement.

• Retirement leaves Ephraim bored and longing for his former business; dressing Fanny's hair provides only partial consolation.

  • Ephraim's longing for hairdressing develops into enthusiasm for Devlin's techniques and a concrete commitment to return to business.

• Ephraim takes up speculative investments in pursuit of a fortune.

• The clerk's bassoon playing torments Fanny and Ephraim and provokes neighbours' threats of legal action; Fanny's ultimatum ends with his departure.

• The printer's concealed separation from his wife is exposed when she discovers his lodgings; Fanny learns of it and requests his departure, which he accepts and completes.

• Fanny cannot account for Devlin's inaudible footsteps or his knowledge of her name before she has supplied it.

  • Devlin's repeated soundless, unexpected appearances intensify Fanny's fear without explaining how he approaches unheard.
  • Devlin again enters without Fanny hearing him, renewing the unexplained absence of audible footsteps.
  • The narrator hears nothing of Devlin's arrival and learns of it from Fanny, adding another instance of his apparently inaudible movements.

• Devlin becomes Fanny's lodger and immediately establishes a commanding relationship: he answers her request for a reference with money and directs her actions.

  • Devlin extends his command into the parlour, games and physical contact; Fanny repeatedly submits despite fear and feels enormous relief when he leaves.
  • Devlin combines regular payment with increasing control, gaining authority over the partnership and coercing Fanny's expressions of welcome, compliance and retention of his gifts.

• Devlin and Ephraim declare reciprocal brotherhood, reinforced by Ephraim's fascination with Devlin's tricks and claimed professional accomplishments.

  • Their declared brotherhood becomes a business partnership under Devlin's direction, but Ephraim's enthusiasm gives way to fear and a refusal to remain alone with him.
  • Devlin repudiates Ephraim as a companion and temporarily replaces him with the narrator.

• The nature and means of Devlin's apparent supernatural powers remain unexplained: Fanny suspects an unearthly identity and believes he reads thoughts through physical contact.

  • Soundless appearances, evasive suggestions about his age and a threat of perpetual haunting reinforce Devlin's uncanny presentation without establishing supernatural powers.
  • Devlin knows Fanny has locked Ephraim in his bedroom, although no means of acquiring that knowledge is established.
  • Fanny suspects Devlin of the murder but accepts his account as making his commission of it impossible; the suspicion supplies no settled explanation of his powers or involvement.
  • Corroborated allegations, apparently fulfilled predictions and induced lapses of awareness strengthen the appearance of extraordinary powers without establishing their nature or means.
  • The narrator accepts ordinary inference as the explanation for Devlin's anticipation of his visit, but Ephraim's account of the predicted murder remains a challenge; Devlin's treatment also produces striking bodily and mental effects whose means remain unexplained.
  • Devlin reveals knowledge of private events and the exact reward, prompting the narrator to consider thought-reading through hairdressing; newspapers explain only his knowledge of Melladew's name.
  • Devlin's character readings increase the narrator's wonder; his claimed access to a customer's thoughts and curious hand movements leave his methods unexplained.
  • Devlin's cigar deprives George of full consciousness, and Devlin abruptly disappears from the narrator's side; the means underlying his disturbing abilities remain unexplained.

• Devlin promises to take Ephraim to the unnamed source of his hairstyles, and Ephraim eagerly wishes to go.

• Devlin and Ephraim form a hairdressing business partnership to make their fortunes and agree to seek a shop the next morning; Ephraim envisages expansion throughout London and a carriage for Fanny.

  • Ephraim reports acquiring a shop and forming the partnership; Devlin receives directing authority and their repeated outings follow, although the promised fortune and expansion remain unrealized.

• Fanny seeks to undo Devlin's frightening hairstyle and oppose the partnership, but Ephraim restrains her to study the hair and remains committed to Devlin.

  • Fanny succeeds in undoing the hairstyle, but the partnership proceeds, Ephraim rejects escape and she eventually gives up arguing with him.

• Ephraim promises Devlin to conceal the new shop's location, which both withhold from Fanny.

• Fanny proposes selling the furniture and escaping Devlin, but Ephraim rejects the proposal.

• Devlin compels Fanny to accept his portraiture and gifts, threatening perpetual haunting if she parts with the gifts.

• Fanny hopes an apparent quarrel between Ephraim and Devlin will dissolve their partnership and restore domestic happiness.

• Ephraim's sleep-talk evokes a young woman, bloody daisies, Victoria Park and an appeal to save her, suggesting an unexplained connection with the murder without establishing his involvement.

  • Fanny discovers a newspaper in Ephraim's pocket and reads of a girl stabbed to the heart and blood-stained daisies in Victoria Park. The correspondence establishes that his sleep-talk concerns a reported murder, but does not establish his involvement.
  • Fanny finds that the reported location, victim, wound, daisies and timing match Ephraim's earlier sleep speech. She believes his presence at home excludes his committing the murder, leaving the source of his knowledge unexplained.
  • Fanny confronts Ephraim with his precise sleep-talk about the stabbed girl and bloodied daisies. His denials do not explain how he knows these details.
  • His account supplies a possible source for the Victoria Park imagery: an unidentified couple, a shriek and a golden-haired woman lying dead. It does not establish his participation in the murder.

• Fanny commits to protecting Ephraim and seeks to free him and their household from Devlin's influence, but intimidation and her inability to devise an escape obstruct her.

  • Fanny acts to protect Ephraim by locking his bedroom and vows to prevent Devlin treating or further harming him; Devlin professes to withdraw his demand for access.
  • Fanny handles Ephraim gently, protects his room against Devlin's access and comforts him.
  • Fanny supports Ephraim's disclosure and places their situation before the narrator, securing an opportunity for outside help.
  • Fanny adopts concrete measures intended to quiet and reassure Ephraim, including telling him that the partnership has ended.

• Devlin insists on prescribing for Fanny despite her refusal; she retains his labelled nerve tonic after abandoning her intention to discard it.

• Devlin seeks access to the ill Ephraim and offers to treat him, but professes to abandon the demand after Fanny opposes him.

  • Devlin's attempt to see Ephraim is refused, and Fanny locks the bedroom to prevent access.

• Fanny resolves to take Ephraim to the police as soon as he is lucid so he can disclose what he knows and help identify the murderer, regardless of the consequences.

  • Fanny prepares to act and presses Ephraim to accompany her to the police. He denies ever seeing the murderer and withholds further answers until she explains her accusation; she supplies the sleep-talk evidence, but no departure or disclosure to police occurs.
  • Fanny explicitly postpones taking Ephraim to the police until they receive their friend's advice.

• Ephraim denies committing or helping plan the murder and ever seeing the murderer, but the source of his detailed knowledge in sleep remains unexplained.

  • Ephraim attributes his knowledge to an apparent vision experienced while deprived of normal awareness under Devlin's gaze. His sworn denial is disclosed, but the vision's mechanism and relation to actual events remain unexplained.
  • Devlin claims that he supplied Ephraim's murder forewarning after apprehending a customer's thought. This offers an account of Ephraim's knowledge without independently establishing its source.

• Ephraim asks Fanny to bring him the Bible; his purpose remains undisclosed.

  • Ephraim uses the Bible to swear that he was not involved in the murder, disclosing the purpose of his request.

• Fanny and Ephraim agree to seek the narrator's advice before approaching the police, and Ephraim promises to meet him.

  • The agreed meeting takes place: Ephraim receives the narrator and confirms Fanny's account. No advice or subsequent approach to the police is recorded.

• Devlin repeatedly deprives Ephraim of normal awareness and attributes predictions to him afterward; apparent newspaper confirmations make Ephraim despair and accept Devlin's authority.

• Ephraim keeps silent about Devlin's apparent foreknowledge after Devlin warns that disclosure would expose Ephraim to arrest, execution or confinement.

• The narrator intends to use Devlin to help bring Elizabeth's murderer to justice.

  • Although the encounter initially diminishes the narrator's hope of catching the murderer, Devlin declares himself ready to discuss the crime and calms the narrator before their discussion.
  • The narrator commits to keeping Devlin in sight and using him to find both the murderer and Mary, devises investigative and identification measures, recognises possible allies outside and demands a solemn pledge of full assistance. Devlin's acceptance of that demand is not established.
  • Devlin pledges assistance without guaranteeing success, and the narrator accepts his guidance and a proposed visit to his business.
  • The narrator renews his determination to find the murderer and obtains Devlin's account connecting him to Ephraim's forewarning.
  • The narrator watches Devlin's customers in search of a practical clue, suspects one departing customer, then fears deception when no cue comes and unexpectedly recognizes Kenneth.
  • Devlin supplies alleged evidence concerning Kenneth and accompanies the narrator's investigation. Richard's information explains the time and address, but establishes no involvement in the murder.
  • Devlin joins the pursuit, assures the narrator of eventual success and guides the party to accommodation in Margate.
  • Devlin accompanies the narrator, offers his services and joins the search for Kenneth's carriage driver, though their inquiries fail.
  • The narrator gives Devlin command of the pursuit; Devlin locates Kenneth and proposes obtaining his disclosures before a concealed witness.
  • Devlin's interrogation produces an account of Kenneth's violence and mistaken identification, advancing the narrator's investigation without establishing that Kenneth killed Elizabeth.
  • Devlin retains control of Kenneth and supplies further information; the narrator leaves Kenneth to their joint handling and returns to the house.
  • Devlin helps expose and pursue Kenneth; the murderer's identity becomes public, while his death ends the prospect of arrest and trial.

• Fanny agrees to watch for Devlin and immediately tell the narrator if he comes downstairs.

• The narrator's encounter with Devlin combines suspicion of deliberate provocation with acceptance of an ordinary explanation for his foreknowledge; Devlin's hair treatment subsequently calms him.

  • The narrator regains composure but makes his dealings with Devlin increasingly coercive through threatened arrest and publicity, while undertaking to avoid physical force; Devlin agrees to remain and not vanish.
  • The narrator becomes enchanted by Devlin's storytelling, believes his denial of involvement and accepts temporary comradeship, while retaining security and attempting to conceal his address.
  • The narrator asserts his ability to resist Devlin and grows more admiring of his abilities, but later suspects that Devlin has duped him.
  • Devlin physically restrains the narrator's outburst; the narrator accepts his advice, apologizes, recruits his assistance and presents him to Richard as a helpful friend.
  • Devlin's assurance that the hunt will succeed brings the narrator tentative comfort and near gratitude.
  • Devlin's success brings relief and renews the narrator's confidence, although his announcement that he will stay away causes alarm and his abrupt disappearance again defeats ordinary observation.

• The narrator demands a satisfactory explanation of Devlin's apparent powers and vows to expose them if he can.

  • Further unexplained knowledge intensifies the puzzle, but the narrator abandons his attempts to understand Devlin's nature.
  • Devlin supplies another claim of thought-reading, but the narrator's impaired senses and sleep prevent him from pressing for a satisfactory explanation.

• The narrator undertakes not to use violence against Devlin or forcibly detain him.

  • After Devlin restrains his raised arm, the narrator resolves to control his passion and asks pardon for his outburst.

• The narrator plans to follow Devlin if he leaves and ask the police to arrest him for implication in Elizabeth's murder.

  • Believing Devlin's denial, the narrator agrees to keep him out of publicity and the case, subject to possible need as a witness, and follows his guidance instead of pursuing immediate arrest.

• The narrator proposes obtaining Lemon testimony, searching Devlin's business and examining his writings to identify Elizabeth's murderer.

  • A visit to Devlin's business is agreed as an investigative starting point. The narrator obtains the desk but conditionally promises to leave its writings unread.
  • The narrator reaches Devlin's establishment, discovers its luxurious interior and begins observing its business from concealment.
  • The investigative effort gains a concrete means of obtaining evidence directly from Kenneth, with the narrator to record the conversation.
  • The narrator prepares to record disclosures concerning Kenneth's deception, forgery and killing; the planned searches and other testimony are not established.

• Devlin promises not to vanish to evade arrest and abandons his intention to leave the house.

  • Devlin specifically promises to remain until the narrator returns.
  • Devlin becomes unaccounted for after the collision and later leaves the narrator's sight at the exhibition; whether either disappearance serves to evade arrest remains unestablished.

• The narrator draws Devlin's portrait and plans to publish it with allegations of his foreknowledge if he resists, to secure his arrest and prevent him from remaining unrecognised in London.

  • The narrator believes Devlin's denial and agrees to avoid publicity, suspending the threatened publication of his portrait and allegations.

• The narrator holds Devlin's locked desk as security and promises to return it intact and unread if Devlin claims it within three months after the murder is solved.

  • The narrator entrusts the desk to George, who promises to deliver it directly to the narrator's wife without surrendering it to anyone else.

• Devlin says his locked desk contains private writings, confessions and secrets; the narrator takes custody without learning their contents.

• The narrator agrees to follow Devlin's guidance for at least twenty-four hours, accepting his hospitality and a proposed visit to his business as the starting point for the inquiry.

  • The narrator joins Devlin in his room, accepts his hospitality and arranges to spend the night there.
  • The narrator accompanies Devlin to his business despite Ephraim's warning and accepts further restrictions on his actions there.
  • The narrator acts on Devlin's claimed disclosures and continues the inquiry in his company, though the surveillance scheme is the narrator's own.
  • The narrator continues following Devlin's guidance, accepts his command in Boulogne and agrees to the next morning's concealed observation.
  • The narrator follows Devlin's direction by attending the shop and preparing to record the interrogation.
  • The narrator follows Devlin's instructions through the deception, boarding and pursuit that conclude the investigation.

• The narrator plans to send Devlin's desk and a letter home through George, asking his wife to secure the desk and visit Richard to report progress; neither delivery nor compliance is established.

  • George receives the letter and desk and promises direct delivery to the narrator's wife; delivery and her compliance remain unconfirmed.
  • Richard confirms that he delivered the letter and desk to the narrator's wife despite Kenneth's attempt to postpone delivery. Her compliance with the letter's instructions remains unestablished.

• The narrator attempts to conceal his home address from Devlin by destroying the addressed envelope, but Devlin recognises his purpose.

• The narrator commits to speaking to Fanny shortly.

  • The narrator speaks with Fanny about Ephraim's care and later meets her privately in the passage.

• George entrusts himself to the narrator and accepts his guidance, while Kenneth feels heartbroken at George's apparent preference for a stranger's counsel.

  • George learns the narrator's concern about his guardian and prepares to accompany the pursuit.
  • George reluctantly accepts the narrator's control of the approach to Kenneth and cooperates with the investigation of his cheque.

• George agrees to return home with Kenneth and rest after delivering the items, and to remain home the next day; Kenneth promises that he will receive no opiates.

  • George joins the journey to Margate instead of remaining at home as previously agreed.

• The narrator undertakes to visit or write to George so that George need not seek him at the Lemons' house.

  • The narrator has reached George at his house and spoken with him; they subsequently leave together.

• Fanny agrees to keep matters secret, avoid calling a doctor, reassure Ephraim that the partnership has ended, and keep him quiet on milk or barley water.

• The narrator resolves to spend the night on Devlin's floor, remaining fully clothed and awake against the possibility of being killed; the overpowering cigar defeats his intention to stay awake.

  • The narrator awakens after the night, bewildered by remembered dreams; his intention to remain awake was not fulfilled.

• Fanny fears for the narrator's safety with Devlin and blames herself for involving him; the narrator violently shakes her and threatens abandonment to secure her cooperation, then rejects her offered alarm rattle.

  • Devlin again alarms Fanny, who fears he will gain power over the narrator; the narrator insists that he can manage their association.

• Ephraim tries to prevent the narrator from accompanying Devlin to the Twisted Cow, but the narrator insists on going.

• Devlin stations the narrator as a concealed observer to await a regular customer whose thoughts he claims concerned Elizabeth on the night of her murder; the narrator promises to remain concealed and silent until Devlin cues him.

  • The awaited customer is identified as Kenneth, receives his shave and leaves; Devlin then explains the alleged thoughts that made him an investigative lead.

• The identity and involvement of the customer whose thoughts Devlin claims to have read remain unknown; Devlin denies knowing his name or residence.

  • The customer's identity is established as Kenneth. Devlin alleges murder-related mental images and supplies a time and address that correspond to Kenneth's journey, but Kenneth's involvement in the murder remains unproved.

• The narrator suspects a bearded customer's altered appearance conceals involvement in Elizabeth's murder, but has no confirmation.

  • The narrator regards the customer who removed his beard and moustache as a missed lead, but Devlin claims that customer's disguise has a purpose unrelated to Elizabeth's murder. No independent confirmation settles the suspicion.

• The narrator recruits Devlin to watch Kenneth's residence and follow him secretly, but their surveillance yields nothing and they subsequently learn that Kenneth has already departed for Margate.

  • The unsuccessful London surveillance becomes an active pursuit to Margate, supported by the address associated with Kenneth's correspondence.

• The narrator decides to fulfil his promised visit to Richard immediately, accompanied by Devlin, and completes the visit.

  • The promised visit has been completed, and the narrator leaves Carton's house with George and Devlin.

• The narrator deliberately withholds Devlin's revelations concerning Kenneth from Richard while introducing Devlin as a helpful friend.

  • Kenneth's guilt becomes public, and the narrator discloses Devlin's previously withheld involvement.

• The narrator, George and Devlin pursue Kenneth to Margate, intending to reach 28 Athelstan Road; a railway accident delays them, and they take rooms for the night before any encounter is established.

  • The narrator reaches the Margate address but finds that Kenneth's party has already left for an unknown destination. A boy identifies their driver, opening a further inquiry without yet locating Kenneth.
  • The inquiry redirects the pursuit from Margate through Folkestone to Boulogne, where Devlin reports sighting Kenneth and identifies his lodgings; no confrontation has yet occurred.
  • The pursuit yields Elizabeth's recovery and confirmation of Kenneth's crime, although Kenneth's final disposition remains pending.

• Kenneth's financial interest in his ward becomes relevant to the inquiry: he receives annual payments, is the beneficiary of the ward's will, and has recently received a £2,000 bearer cheque whose cashing remains unknown.

  • The bank confirms that Kenneth endorsed the £2,000 cheque and requested payment in gold; this unusual withdrawal increases suspicion but does not establish his purpose.
  • The narrator identifies the guarded box's contents as two thousand sovereigns, strengthening the connection between Kenneth's departure and the money under investigation.

• The ward's account reveals frustrated expectations that he would marry Letitia: he regards her as a sister, while he understands her to love him and suffer over his attachment to Elizabeth.

• Kenneth's disparagement of Elizabeth and insinuation that she had another lover provoke his ward's anger and demands for retraction; Kenneth apologizes for the insinuation.

• Mrs. Dowsett and Letitia's sudden departure to Margate remains unexplained; Kenneth withheld their destination, and the narrator learns that their address became known only through a paper accidentally dropped from Kenneth's letter.

  • The inquiry establishes that an unidentified young woman stayed and departed with the Dowsetts. Their onward destination and the reason for their movements remain unknown; the narrator suspects the companion is Mary.
  • Bill reports that Kenneth left 28 Athelstan Road with a middle-aged lady and two young ladies, taking a Ramsgate train with an intended Boulogne connection; their identities and reasons for leaving remain unconfirmed.
  • The departure to Margate is explained as part of Kenneth's attempt to conceal Elizabeth and protect himself, with Mrs. Dowsett informed of his peril.

• The narrator undertakes to disclose his suspicions to Kenneth at a time and in a manner of his own choosing; George agrees to remain at the hotel and follow his direction.

• Kenneth closely guarded a small heavy box during his departure; its contents remain unknown, although the narrator connects the weight of his gold withdrawal with the inquiry.

  • Bill confirms Kenneth's continued protection of the box, and the narrator confirms the inference that it contains two thousand sovereigns, without any recorded inspection.
  • The broken-open box and two sovereigns support the narrator's inference that the women fled with Kenneth's gold, without confirming the full contents or their removal.

• The narrator offers rewards for the boy to bring Bill Foster to the hotel promptly, seeking information from the driver who carried Kenneth's party.

  • The boy brings Bill, who agrees to answer questions and supplies the sought account of Kenneth's departure.

• George begins to suspect Kenneth after learning of the gold withdrawal, and becomes terrified when the narrator suggests that the third woman travelling with his guardian is Mary.

• Devlin arranges to serve customers at the barber's shop where Kenneth lodges, intending to intercept him and compel disclosure about Elizabeth; the narrator agrees to come alone early and record the conversation from concealment.

  • Devlin intercepts Kenneth in the barber's chair, places him in a trance and elicits disclosures while the narrator prepares to record them; completion of the record is not established.
  • The interception has produced disclosure and corroborating details of Kenneth's scheme, and Devlin keeps him confined.

• Devlin vows that Kenneth will meet his doom.

  • Kenneth dies following the collision and is publicly established as Mary's murderer, fulfilling the threatened doom without establishing that Devlin caused his death.

• Kenneth seeks to prevent Richard from marrying Elizabeth so that Richard will marry Letitia, using a deceptive summons, fabricated scandal and a sleeping draught to conceal his movements.

  • Kenneth's scheme is exposed to Richard, and Elizabeth is reunited with Richard and leaves with him, defeating the immediate attempt to separate them.

• Kenneth has forged Richard's signature on bills; the extent and consequences of the forgery remain undisclosed.

• Kenneth kills a woman he mistakes for Elizabeth, then discovers his mistake through the victim's letters; her identity and the significance of the nearby sleeping woman remain unexplained.

  • Mary is identified as the victim and Elizabeth as the surviving woman left elsewhere in the park; the dress exchange explains Kenneth's mistaken identification.

• The woman Kenneth approaches rejects his fabricated scandal and threatens to expose his exploitation of Richard; Kenneth responds by fatally stabbing her.

  • The fatal confrontation is clarified: the woman Kenneth stabbed was Mary, whom he mistook for Elizabeth.

• Elizabeth entrusts herself to the narrator, who removes her from the house and reunites her with Richard.

• The narrator and Richard temporarily withhold Mary's death from Elizabeth, who still expects to see her sister.

  • Mary's murder becomes publicly established, and the closing family account supersedes the temporary concealment, although Elizabeth's moment of learning is not shown.

• Mary agrees to investigate Kenneth's anonymous summons in Elizabeth's place; the sisters exchange dresses, and Mary attends the rendezvous where Kenneth kills her.

• After discovering his mistake, Kenneth conceals Elizabeth to protect himself, securing her compliance through forged instructions and telegrams in Richard's name and false assurances about Mary.

  • Kenneth's concealment fails: his murder of Mary becomes public, and Elizabeth is subsequently part of her parents' domestic consolation.

• Richard undertakes to escort Elizabeth back to her parents and departs with her for Dover; their arrival home remains unconfirmed.

  • The closing account places Elizabeth and her husband's love in her parents' continuing life, establishing the family reunion anticipated by the escort plan.

• The narrator intends Richard to deliver letters to his wife and Mr. Portland; delivery is not established.

• Kenneth seeks to resist and evade his pursuers through legal threats, a possible appeal to the captain and escape in darkness; intimidation checks his resistance before the collision ends his opportunity to escape.

• Devlin and the narrator lure Kenneth back toward England with a telegram impersonating his wife, then board his boat and maintain surveillance; the collision and Kenneth's death end the pursuit.

• The narrator finds Kenneth's wife and daughter absent beside a broken-open box and infers that they fled with the gold after fearing exposure; their destination and possession of the money remain unconfirmed.

• Devlin disappears in the collision and remains unaccounted for, but later appears alive at an exhibition and leaves before the narrator can reach him; his survival and intervening whereabouts remain unexplained.

Places

Baker Street, London, Australia, Southampton, England, The world, Victoria Park, The Twisted Cow, Langham Hotel, Westminster, Chapel Street, Margate, Nayland Rock Hotel, Marine Parade, Dover, Boulogne, Ramsgate, Royal Crescent, Folkestone, Hôtel de Poilly, Rue de l'Amiral Bruix, River Liane, Rue de la Paix, Ramsgate Pier