Maisie Dobbs

Maisie sits with Maurice as he smokes a pipe, a sign that he is close to solving a case. They speak briefly about how war can give some men direction, though it is fundamentally a “loss of innocence” (255).

Maisie meets Billy, who tells her that the man who most recently wanted to leave is definitely missing. Maisie tries to convince him to leave with her then, but he insists on staying to learn more. Billy reports that a doctor who resembles Jenkins recently arrived—Maisie suspects this is Armstrong Jenkins, the medical examiner who signed the other death certificates. Maisie tries again to convince Billy he cannot risk himself for her. He reminds her of their first meeting when Simon saved his leg, adding, “I know what happened after I left. Hard about it. Amazing you weren’t killed” (257). Maisie shows Billy her scar in response. He says they will meet tomorrow, and he will return to Maurice’s with her then.

Maisie stays up all night, alert to a possible turning point. The telephone rings, and Maisie is connected to Billy, who tells her something is wrong. From a distance, he saw Jenkins and others forcibly dragging the man who had asked to leave. Maisie orders Billy to remain hidden and meet her soon. To her surprise, Maurice accompanies her, insisting he can handle the exertion.

The point of view switches to Billy’s attempt to make his escape. He is found and restrained by Jenkins and his men. Jenkins tells him he is guilty of “desertion, Billy. Terrible thing. Nothing worse in a soldier. Nothing worse” (261).

The narrative switches back to Maisie, who prepares to save Billy, finding the tracks he left behind. Maurice agrees to use Billy’s telephone to summon the police. Maisie takes her knife and runs through the farm, ending up at the quarry. She suspects all the inhabitants are there, awaiting interaction from Jenkins. She finds the assembled wounded men, struck by their expectant faces and grave injuries. They are facing a makeshift gallows, to which Jenkins drags Billy with a noose around his neck. Maisie is terrified but decides to “fight like with like,” remembering singing war songs with Iris (263). She breaks out into a war memory of her own, a song about the valor of Red Cross nurses, and the men join her.

Maisie approaches Jenkins, struck by his military uniform and stern gaze: “She knew of his inner confusion, his torment, and his pain. And in looking into his eyes, she knew that he was mad” (264). Maisie follows the role she knows Jenkins has set for himself, trying to remind him that all deserters have earned a formal hearing. Billy’s breathing is beginning to be constricted, so Maisie appeals directly to Jenkins’s inner wound. She tells him, “‘The war is over…you can rest’ and instinctively place[s] her palm over the place where she kn[ows] his heart to be” (265). Jenkins dissolves into tears. He takes out his revolver and begins to turn it on himself, but Maisie wrests it away.

Just after this, the police arrive with reinforcements. Maisie cuts Billy free with her knife, and he assures her he will be well. The local police inspector introduces himself, telling Maisie he understands how quickly she had to act to prevent tragedy.

Maisie watches the veterans around her, clearly lost and confused by their fresh brush with more tragedy. Maisie looks at them and thinks, “They were all innocents. Perhaps even Jenkins” (268). She watches Jenkins leave, struck by his continued adherence to military protocols.

At Maurice’s home, Billy asks Maisie to explain how she solved the case. She describes her initial suspicion of too many men at a single cemetery who all died at the Retreat after Vincent Weathershaw. Maisie also explains that she was suspicious of the atmosphere of deference around Jenkins and the use of only first names to separate the men from the world. Maisie also noticed that all of the men’s death certificates were consistent with a possible death by strangulation. The final proof came from Jenkins’s own history and war records: Jenkins became an expert in punishing deserters, which meant, in accordance with military code, their executions. Maisie posits that he developed a kind of psychological coping mechanism to do this: “So close was he to the act of desertion that it made him loathe the actual deserter, and in meting out this terrible, terrible punishment, he maintained control over the part of him that would have run away” (271).

Jenkins equated leaving the Retreat with similar behavior, using strangulation rather than guns to disguise his acts. Billy reflects that it strikes him as barbaric to harm men who are only expressing natural fear. Maurice assures him that other social reformers agree, and the practice may soon be banned. Vincent Weathershaw had been a vocal opponent of desertion before his own injury. He came to the Retreat hoping for refuge, only to recognize Jenkins and recall his history, which led Jenkins to kill him.

Maurice argues that Jenkins abused his authority and found an audience due to the trauma and uncertainty of war: Billy is embarrassed at the reminder of his earlier admiration of Jenkins, and Maisie regrets her inability to persuade Billy to leave. He reminds her of his debt to her and Simon and that another doctor would have merely amputated his leg. He asks her what happened to Simon and apologizes when he sees her hesitate. Sensing the tumult ahead, “Maurice moved to Maisie’s side and took her hand in his. She answered Billy’s question” (274).

The timeline shifts to 11 years in the past. Maisie has a nightmare where her father abandons her as tides of blood engulf her. At breakfast, Maisie learns that some doctors from the field hospital are joining them and wonders if she will see Simon. That afternoon Simon arrives, and Maisie is delighted to see him. Maisie and Simon work seamlessly together. The narrative recounts their meeting with Billy and Simon’s promise to save his leg.

That night, Simon and Maisie reflect on their shared horror, but Simon also declares his hope for their future. She promises Simon she will answer his proposal after the war, thinking to herself, “How I fear this question” (281). The next day, the hospital is shelled. Simon, trying to bolster the others, says, “Let’s get on with it,” and Maisie reflects that “those were the last words she would ever hear Simon speak” (282).

Maisie arrives at another hospital, summarizing the case as she summons her courage to enter. Jenkins has been institutionalized, along with some of the other men. Billy has become somewhat famous for his role.

Maisie has moved into a nicer office, in keeping with her new residence in the Comptons’ former home, as they have decided to retire to the country. Maisie occupies the third floor. James, saved from disaster at the Retreat, has returned to Canada. Maisie undertakes what she calls a “personal accounting” of the places and people in the case (286), visiting landmarks and contacting key individuals. She visits the cemetery and the Retreat itself, now silent and closed. To honor her war memories, she writes to Priscilla and Iris. Her final stop is the hospital depicted in the chapter’s opening. It is implied she is finally visiting Simon.

As she walks through the halls as directed, Maisie realizes that the “final part of her healing was near” (287). A nurse is expecting her, based on word from Simon’s mother. She finds him in the conservatory, seated in a wheelchair near a fountain. The sun and light make him look younger. Simon is silent, as the explosion has made him unable to move or speak.

Maisie apologizes for not coming sooner, saying that everyone in her life has been confused by her refusal to do so. Only Maurice held firm that someday she would have to face him. She tells him why she never accepted his proposal, saying, “I knew something dreadful was going to happen, and I couldn’t promise you a future when I could see no future. Forgive me, dear Simon, forgive me” (290). In their reflections in the conservatory glass, Maisie imagines their younger selves. Maisie tells the nurse she will come again.

Maisie arrives back at her new office, finding Billy hanging another nameplate. He tells her Scotland Yard has called, and she has a new case. Maisie declares, “Well then Billy, let’s get on with it” (292).