Hope Leslie - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The story begins in England with William Fletcher, a young man in love with a distant relative, Alice, whose father has forbidden her marriage to Fletcher on account of religious difference. Alice's father forces her to marry Charles Leslie instead. In despair, Fletcher decides to leave England and relocate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the Bay colony, Fletcher marries an orphan girl named Martha although he is still in love with Alice. After living in Boston, Massachusetts for a while, William moves the family to the newly founded Springfield, Massachusetts and calls his home Bethel.

While there, Fletcher receives a letter that says Alice died while voyaging to the new colonies in New England. The Fletcher's adopt her two children, Hope and Faith. Governor Winthrop procures two Indian servants to help Mrs. Fletcher with the increased domestic workload. The two servants are a sister and brother, Magawisca and Oneco, who are the children of the Pequot chief Mononotto.

Monotto is out for revenge. After attempting peace with the Englishmen, they killed his people, enslaved his family, and beheaded his son, Samoset. Mononotto and two Mohawk warriors attack Bethel. Mrs. Fletcher and her infant son are killed, and Magawisca and Oneco are reunited with their father. Everell and Faith are taken captive. When Mononotto attempts to execute Everell in retaliation to the wrongs he has suffered. Magawisca intervenes by throwing herself between the axe and Everell's neck. Her arm is severed and Everell escapes unharmed.

The next scene opens with a letter Hope has written seven years later to Everell who is studying in England. She writes of an episode where Cradock gets bitten by a rattlesnake while climbing Mount Holioke (later renamed Mount Holyoke). Nelema stops by and does a treatment and he is cured. Jennet calls it witchcraft and Nelema is made to stand trial. Hope frees Nelema from jail and Nelema promises to send her sister Faith to her.

Hope is sent to live with the Winthrops in Boston for a while. Everell returns to America and stays with Mr. Fletcher, who now lives in Boston. Esther Downing, a niece of Mrs. Winthrop’s, becomes good friends with Hope. She seems to be everything that Hope is not: faithful, prudent, and studious. She is also kind. She tells a story of how Everell came to her death bed and her ensuing recovery. Esther is infatuated with Everell, which saddens Hope greatly. Everyone hopes Esther and Everell will marry, except Mr. Fletcher, who hopes to match the two children he raised.

The Winthrops want to pair Hope with Sir Philip Gardiner, a stranger who arrived in town on the same boat as Everell, and who has developed an interest in Hope Leslie. Sir Philip's page, Roslin, seems very odd indeed. It is later revealed that Roslin is Rosa, a former lover of Sir Philip's whom he has disguised as his male page. One evening, Hope and Esther attend a lecture pertaining to the case of Mr. Gorton. Uncharacteristically, Hope appears quite anxious. We later learn that Hope had that day received a visit from Magawisca, whom she had made plans to meet in the cemetery at 9pm that night. On the way home from the lecture, Hope impatiently leaves her escort, Sir Philip, and takes a detour to the burial ground. Hope briefly meets Roslin, who tells her that she must not trust Sir Philip. Unknown to Hope, Sir Phillip follows her and overhears the conversation with Magawisca that night. Magawisca explains that Faith has married Oneco and tries to warn Hope that her sister is very different from the sister she remembers. Nelema managed to tell Magawisca that Hope had saved her and wanted to repay her with a visit from her sister. Magawisca also explains that her sister is now a Catholic.

To facilitate her meeting with Faith, Hope arranges for the party to stay on an island belonging to Winthrop, of which Digby is the guardian. While there, she implies to all present that Everell and Esther are going to get married, and puts their hands together. She never notices that Everell longs to be with her. Sir Philip comes, too, and she tells him that she never intends to marry him. Sir Phillip is upset by this.

Everyone else agrees to leave the island and Hope goes out to meet her sister on the shore. Hope embraces Faith and tries to talk to her only to realize that Faith no longer speaks English. Magawisca must interpret for them. Hope tries to get her to come home with her, but to no avail. As they are meeting, a trap is sprung upon them by Sir Philip. Magawisca and Faith are taken by English soldiers. Magawisca is imprisoned. Hope is taken captive by Oneco and meets up with Mononotto.

Mononotto is struck by lightning as Oneco is trying to get away. He stops to take care of his father and while he does so, Hope escapes, but then runs into a group of sailors who chase her. She gets into a boat and the Italian sailor Antonio believes first that she is the Virgin Mary, and later that she is his patron saint. Hope does nothing to disabuse Antonio of this belief, and convinces him to row her to shore.

Sir Phillip goes and visits Magawisca in jail. He gives her tools to escape with a promise that she take Rosalin with her. She refuses. Sir Phillip gets choked by Morton, whom he had claimed to be visiting. Sir Philip's true nature is momentarily revealed.

Everell attempts to save Magawisca, but fails. Hope takes Cradock with her to the jail and cleverly disguises him to look like Magawisca. She is so pleasant that the guard, Barnaby Tuttle, doesn’t notice the deception. Hope and Magawisca escape from the jail and Everell meets them on their way to the river where Digby is waiting in a boat to take Magawisca anywhere she wishes to go. They say their goodbyes and Hope gives Magawisca the necklace that Everell had, had made for her while he was away so the Magawisca will remember them both. Magawisca gets away safely. The Winthrops all realize that Hope is gone. Everell returns Hope to her home in what he believes will be the last time he sees her.

By the end of the novel, Esther has realized that Everell and Hope love each other and she decides to return to England for a few years and remain unmarried. As if to right the original wrong of separating William Fletcher from Alice, their children, Everell Fletcher and Hope Leslie, are finally united.