Peter's Room Summary

Warning: this chapter-by-chapter summary is a "spoiler". Don't read on unless you want to know what happens when!

Chapters

Peter the Woodcutter
Treasure Trove
"A Parsonage called Haworth"
Dispatches to Angora: I
"The Farthest Distant Quarters"
"All the Birds of the Air..."
Dispatches to Angora: II
Dead of Night
The Twelfth Day of Christmas
Hounds are Running
The Dispatch is Delivered

Summary

Summary text copyright Kate Dixon, 1999.

Chapter 1: Peter the Woodcutter

Peter arrives home for the Christmas holidays before his sisters and chops wood in the farmyard, joined by Daks, the dog. Mrs. Bertie, the cook, tells him to put the wood in the Old Shippen, a former cowshed. Above the Shippen Peter finds a room full of fascinating junk and he decides to tidy it up and make it his den. He finds Rowan on the farm and she agrees that he can use the room. Ted Colthard, the cowman, warns the room is unlucky, as a Marlow ancestor used to hold the Black Mass there. A letter from Kingscote, which tells of the twins' misbehaviour, dismays Mrs. Marlow.

Chapter 2: Treasure Trove

Peter enjoys sorting out the junk in the Shippen, keeping interesting items and burning the rest. He finds some old guns and a chest containing old farm diaries, including a Civil War extract which tells how Malise Marlow left to join the Royalist army against his family's wishes. This captures Peter's imagination. The next day Peter cleans the room and arranges his possessions in it. He finds a huge stuffed falcon and a bag of coins he thinks are sovereigns. Ann, Ginty, Nicola and Lawrie arrive home from school. Nicola tells Peter about the Christmas Play row she and Lawrie got into, and Peter tells her about the Shippen. The coins turn out to be farthings, to his disappointment.

Chapter 3: "A Parsonage called Haworth"

Everyone goes into Colebridge to buy presents. Christmas is spent with the family. The day after Boxing Day Nicola goes over to the Merricks house to tend to her merlin, Sprog, who she keeps in Patrick's hawkhouse. She tells him about Peter's room. Patrick says Nicola can take his old pony, Buster, out hunting, but she must not let the others ride him. Patrick is worried that the hawkhouse will be too cold for Sprog, as merlins are prone to die in winter. Later, Peter and Nicola meet Patrick at the Shippen. He admires the stuffed falcon. Lawrie calls them to come and see what's happening in the yard. To their surprise Mrs. Marlow has bought a horse for herself and a pony, Catkin, for Ginty's birthday. Ginty is thrilled and Lawrie jealous. Patrick is struck by Ginty's looks. The next day, Ginty and Lawrie join Peter, Nicola and Patrick in the Shippen. It snows, and the Shippen is a cosy place for elevenses. Ginty tells the others that her holiday task is to research the Gondal and Angria romantic stories written by the young Brontes. Lawrie suggests they make up their own Gondal story, although Nicola thinks they are too old for pretence games. They invent characters for themselves. Peter chooses the name Malise, Patrick is Rupert, Ginty is Crispian, Lawrie is the king, Jason, and Nicola, prosaically, is Nicholas.

Chapter 4: Dispatches to Angora: I

In the Gondal story, Rupert, Crispian, Nicholas and Malise are officers in the service of Alcona, a wicked regent. The young King Jason is sent on a dangerous mission with them, Alcona hoping that none of them will return alive. They go on through the wintry mountains, afraid of an ambush. When Nicola insists it is time to stop for supper, the others are reluctant. They discuss animatedly what should happen next in the story. Patrick invites the Marlows to the Merricks' Twelfth Night party.

Chapter 5: "The Farthest Distant Quarters"

Nicola and Ginty look in the library for books on Polar exploration. Karen arrives to work in the library and discusses the Brontes with them. Karen thinks the Gondal stories were a waste of the Brontes' time and talent, and that continuing pretence games into adulthood is dangerous and unhealthy. Ginty is shocked by this viewpoint but Nicola rather agrees. Ann joins them and says that Charlotte was her favourite Bronte. Mrs. Marlow sorts out what dresses they should wear to the Merricks' party. Nicola hates the old dress of Ginty's she must wear. Doris, Mrs. Bertie's drab assistant, offers to make over an old dress of Mrs. Marlow's for Ginty, but Ginty is sure it will look awful. Later, they go on discussing their Gondal characters. Afterwards, alone at home, Patrick imagines that his character, Rupert, could be a traitor who agrees to betray his friends.

Chapter 6: "All the Birds of the Air..."

The next morning Nicola goes to feed Sprog and is broken-hearted to find him dead. She buries him and decides not to tell the others unless they ask, as she would find it too upsetting to talk about.

Chapter 7: Dispatches to Angora: II

In the Gondal story, Crispian, Rupert, Malise and Nicholas are still accompanying Jason through the mountains. Jason shows them that the dispatch they are carrying to the King of Angora gives orders for their death. They are ambushed, but fight off their attackers, although Rupert is taken prisoner by soldiers from Gaaldine. He is about to be tortured but can't face it and agrees to betray his friends. The others are shocked when Patrick reveals Rupert's treachery, but agree to work it into the story. Rupert is released, having agreed to kill Jason.

Chapter 8: Dead of Night

Nicola wakes after a nightmare and hears noises downstairs. She goes to investigate and finds Rowan in the kitchen warming some new-born lambs. She and Rowan drink cocoa and discuss the farm. Rowan suggests Nicola could be a vet, but admits she sometimes finds being at home and farming pretty dull. She advises Nicola to do whatever she really wants in life. They feed the lambs and Rowan goes back to the lambing-pen, while Nicola falls asleep in front of the kitchen stove.

Chapter 9: The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Twelfth Night is Ginty's birthday, and as the ground has thawed she goes for her first real ride on Catkin. She thinks about her character, Crispian. The Merricks' party is that evening, and Ginty is thrilled to find that Doris has made a perfect dress for her. At the party, Patrick takes Ginty to see the Merricks' chapel, and they invent another character for Ginty; Rosina, Alcona's daughter with whom Rupert is in love. They agree not to tell the others about this private bit of the story. Nicola is annoyed when she notices that Patrick and Ginty are "Gondaling" at the dinner table and while dancing. At the end of the party, Patrick and Ginty are found outside watching wild geese fly over, and Nicola is hurt that Patrick has not called her to see them.

Chapter 10: Hounds are Running

The Marlows prepare to go hunting. Peter and Nicola are nervous. Nicola is annoyed again when the others decide to pretend they are Gondal characters hunting. Buster loves hunting and he charges ahead with Nicola, losing the others. Patrick is staggered to find that Buster and Nicola have jumped "the Cut", risking a thirty-foot drop. Gradually they separate, Lawrie gives up, and Peter falls and breaks his collar bone. Nicola also falls from a tiring Buster, and Patrick, wearing his "Rupert face", nearly jumps on her and doesn't seem to care. Nicola and Buster walk slowly home, seeing the fox go to ground on the way.

Chapter 11: The Dispatch is Delivered

In the Gondal story, the group of friends arrive in Angora. The dispatches are opened and Malise, Crispian and Nicholas realise Rupert is a traitor. They confront him just as he is about to kill Jason. As guards arrive to arrest him, Rupert threatens to shoot himself. Peter protests that Rupert is a coward and a traitor. Patrick responds by revealing that the real Malise Marlow - Peter's hero - betrayed his Royalist garrison to the Parliamentarians, causing one of Patrick's ancestors to be shot. Peter is silenced, and Patrick returns to the story, raising one of the old guns to his head. Nicola panics and hits his wrist, and the gun goes off and smashes a window. Rowan hears the shot and arrives, furious, and confiscates the guns, although they do not tell her the truth of what happened. After she leaves, Nicola announces she is finished with Gondaling and leaves too, despite the others' protests. Peter also says he is finished and asks the others to leave his room. Lawrie is upset at not finishing the acting. Left alone, Peter reflects on Malise's treachery, wonders if the Shippen really is unlucky, and decides to spend the rest of the holidays building a canoe. Nicola meets Rowan, who says she can help with the lambing next day. Ginty and Patrick go for a walk, feeling flat at the sudden end to their imaginary world, and discussing how ordinary everyday life feels after this. They decide to go riding together.