Jamaica Inn

The wagons come again on the night after Jem’s visit, causing Mary to suspect that Jem is involved with Joss’s smuggling. She is disappointed; she wanted to like Jem and even hoped that he might be an ally.

A few days later, Squire Bassat, the local magistrate from whom Joss purchased the inn, visits to inspect Jamaica Inn when Joss is gone. Aunt Patience falls to pieces when Bassat questions her, so Mary takes the lead to protect her. Bassat questions them about the locked parlor door. Mary truthfully tells him that she does not know what is inside, and that her uncle keeps the key. Bassat and his henchman break down the door, only to find the room empty. Bassat is angry. He admits that Joss has outsmarted him this time. He questions Mary about Joss and Jem, but she does not reveal anything to him. Squire Bassat leaves. Aunt Patience remains a nervous wreck for the rest of the day.

When Joss returns, Mary informs him of the squire’s inquiry. Joss shouts and rages, but he tells Mary that she did well. She tells him that she did not lie to Bassat for his sake. They eat, and then Joss sets off on foot across the moors.

Mary decides to follow him at a distance, but the landscape proves too difficult to traverse. She soon loses Joss after climbing to the highest point on the moor. She sets off in what she thinks is the direction of Jamaica Inn, growing more and more concerned as the December sun begins to set.

Mary is rescued by a man with albinism on horseback, who offers to take her to his home so that she can recuperate before he takes her to Jamaica Inn. He introduces himself as Francis Davey, the Vicar of Altarnun.

Mary feels comforted in Francis Davey’s home, which is a stark contrast to Jamaica Inn. The vicar makes supper himself; he prefers to be alone, so he sends his housekeeper home early every day. Despite how strange Mary finds his white eyes and hair, she finds herself opening up to the vicar when he asks why she was on the moors alone. She describes the smuggling wagons and the murder. Davey assures Mary that her story is safe with him and coaxes her to continue.

As she speaks, Mary is conscious of how strange and unbelievable her story must seem, but the vicar believes her. However, he reminds her that any evidence connecting Joss to smuggling or murder is scant. Smuggling is common, and Mary did not actually witness the murder, just inferred it based on the swinging rope. Moreover, Francis Davey says that Bassat is something of a fool, and the only chance of convicting Joss would be to catch him in the act of a crime. He advises her to lie low and wait for an opportune moment to act. Altarnun is only a few miles away; Mary can come to him when she needs help.

The vicar drives Mary back home in his coach. They fly across the moors, and Mary sees the vicar animate with an almost supernatural excitement. He tells her of his deep love for the moors. When they get to Jamaica Inn, Mary’s fears of Joss confronting them are dispelled; he is passed out, drunk.

Joss is drunk for five days. Mary sees another side of Aunt Patience, who shows “a calm coolness and a presence of mind that Mary had not believed her capable of possessing” as she cares for Joss (95). Patience actually becomes something of a companion for Mary while Joss is incapacitated. Joss normally gives into these bouts of drinking every two months or so, but it is becoming more frequent. Bassat’s inquiry is what set him off this time.

A few days before Christmas, Mary grows disgusted with the atmosphere at Jamaica Inn and ventures into the moors again. She wanders toward Kilmar Tor and eventually stumbles upon Jem Merlyn with a bunch of ponies. Mary is pleased to see him in spite of herself.

Jem tells Mary to come and cook for him in his cottage. His kitchen is filthy; Mary cleans it up and makes supper. As they eat, Jem describes his childhood. Joss and Matt were both adults when Jem was born. Mrs. Merlyn suffered cruelty from her husband and neglect from her sons. After Matt died and Joss went to America for a time, Jem went to sea and then to Plymouth, only to return to find their mother had died. Mary is disgusted with Jem’s nonchalance toward his mother’s suffering.

Jem asks Mary about what has been happening at Jamaica Inn. He is surprised about Squire Bassat’s visit. He takes her to the yard to show her a pony, which he stole from Bassat, dyed black, and plans to sell in town on Christmas Eve. Jem again warns her of staying at Jamaica Inn. He cryptically insinuates that Joss is involved with murder. To Mary, this confirms that Joss murdered the stranger. Mary toys with the idea that Jem was Joss’s unknown accomplice. Jem warns Mary against walking on the moors alone and invites her to come with him to the market on Christmas Eve to sell Bassat’s horse. Mary agrees to go to prove that she is not afraid of him.

When Mary returns home, Aunt Patience nervously tells her that Joss has been asking for her all day. He is in the dangerous part of recovering from his drunkenness and she must humor him if he calls again. They wait a long time, and Aunt Patience goes to bed, assuming that Joss settled down.

Time moves slowly, and Mary is filled with apprehension. Joss suddenly flings the parlor door open. He is in a frightened, confused state, afraid of people Mary cannot see. He makes her fetch some brandy for him. He beckons Mary to sit beside him. Joss drunkenly confesses to being a wrecker—a pirate who lures ships to crash into the rocks by the shore, then plunders the wreckage. He has killed numerous people, but he is only haunted by it under the influence of alcohol. Mary is momentarily taken back to childhood when she witnessed a shipwreck with her parents. Joss passes out again, slumped forward on the table as if he were praying.

In the following days, Mary begins to notice a similarity between her and Patience’s appearances. She tries her best to avoid everyone. She sees Patience as almost as guilty as Joss for keeping his crimes a secret. She has lost all fear or sympathy for her uncle, and “she would never rest until [Joss and his accomplices] were trodden underfoot, and cleared, and blotted out” (115). Only Aunt Patience and Jem remain to be considered. She knows that she could easily fall in love with Jem. Her hard life on the farm left her with no romantic feelings about love, but something in her responds to Jem and will not let her be.

Mary meets Jem on the high road. She wishes that she could stamp out the weakness she feels for him. Jem greets her with a new handkerchief for her. Mary insists on driving the carriage. Jem comments that she looks older and more worn out than she had four days ago. After some coaxing, Mary bitterly tells him that Joss told her his drunken dreams, but she does not go into specifics. Jem says that Joss is pushing his luck—the more ships that are sunk, the greater suspicion will be cast. Jem is affronted that Mary thinks he is a wrecker; he has never yet killed a man.

By the time they arrive at Launceston, Mary and Jem are riding like companions; Mary “had thrown trouble and responsibility to the winds, and, in spite of her firm resolution of the early morning, she had melted to Jem’s mood and given herself to gaiety” (123). The festive scene in town reminds her of better times back in Helston. She watches with amusement as Jem nonchalantly attempts to sell Squire Bassat’s pony. Mary has to hold back her laughter when Jem ends up selling it to Mrs. Bassat herself, who had come to the market to search for a replacement for the stolen horse.

Mary and Jem enjoy themselves until they visit a fortune teller who says that Jem has blood on his hands and tells Mary to beware a dark stranger. It starts to rain. Jem kisses Mary in a doorway and tries to get her to stay with him in town because of the weather, but Mary refuses. Jem kisses her again and goes to get the carriage.

Mary waits for over half an hour in the rain, though the stable was only a few minutes away. She goes to the stable, where she is directed to a tavern. At the tavern, she learns that Jem had been forced into a carriage by some men—likely arrested. Mary is overwhelmed. She realizes that if she had consented to stay with him, he would not have been captured.

Mary begins the 11-mile walk back to Jamaica Inn. She passes a carriage on the road, and, for the second time, is rescued by the Vicar of Altarnun.