The Quincunx - Plot Details

Plot Details

1. An attempted burglary tempts Mary to show her hand. She possesses a codicil to a will which controls the inheritance of the nearby Mompesson Hall estate. She is put under further pressure by the death of her protector in London, Mr Fortisquince, and by subsequent treacherous advice which persuades her into a loss-making property speculation. She reluctantly visits Sir Perceval Mompesson, who wishes to buy the codicil. At the Hall, John encounters Henrietta Palphramond and her governess, Miss Quilliam. The codicil is not sold, but later an attempt is made to abduct John; it is possible that his death would alter the legacy. To escape, John and his mother travel to London.
2. With dwindling savings, John and his mother are forced into successively poorer lodgings and are pursued by bailiffs. They find refuge with the Isbister family, but flee when they discover they are amongst the body-snatchers of Bethnal Green. They discover Miss Quilliam, who takes them in. Mary decides to sell the codicil, but then fears betrayal and they flee to Fortisquince's widow. The codicil is purchased on condition that John goes to a school in the north. More debts wipe out Mary's gains and force Mary into a debtors' prison. John meets with cruelty and danger at the school and escapes back to London. He finds Mary who has got out of prison only by becoming a prostitute. On reencountering John she leaves that life but, still penniless, she ultimately dies of consumption.
3. John seeks out Henry Bellringer, who is a relation of a school friend. But instead he finds himself among a gang of thieves, living in a part-built mansion. There he reads his mother's journal, which gives tantalisingly incomplete details of his parentage and his chance of attaining the inheritance. Mary's family, the Huffams, were the original owners of the estate. But the legacy could pass to any of five families – the Huffams, the Mompessons, the Clothiers, the Palphramonds or the Maliphants. Eventually John escapes from the gang and is taken in by the Porteous family. But their act is not as generous as it first appears, for they too stand to benefit from the legacy. Once John learns this they have him sent to an insane asylum.
4. In the asylum John meets Peter Clothier, whom he now knows as his father. John escapes from the asylum with the help of the Digweed family, whom he once encountered in the countryside. He starts a new life with them, surviving by scavenging the sewers of London. He visits Jeoffrey Escreet, who tells the story of the murder of Mary's father. John resolves to take the name of Huffam. His salvation may lie in a second will, hidden in the Mompesson's London house. After a failed burglary he gets a job as a servant at the house and is eventually able to steal the will.
5. John again seeks out Henry Bellringer to help him take advantage of the will. But Bellringer betrays him to another potential legatee, Silas Clothier. Clothier burns the will and attempts to murder John, but John escapes. It emerges that the burnt will was only a copy and that Bellringer has the original. With that, it is possible for him to win the inheritance by marrying Henrietta. During a storm, John interrupts a secret marriage ceremony in a derelict chapel at Mompesson hall. Bellringer is killed by David Mompesson, who flees the country. As the book draws to a close John finally comes within reach of the inheritance. As he does so he loses his original heroic character, becoming cynical and dismissive of his past friends. At the last moment it is revealed that the inheritance is still being determined in Chancery and may be worth nothing because of debts. With the outcome unresolved the story ends.