Hope Leslie: Volume 1, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

The Sabbath is an important occasion for the Puritans. It begins at sunset on Saturday, as all worldly tasks are suspended. Sunday morning is peaceful and nearly silent, as everyone from the minister to the doctor to the merchant and laborer proceeds solemnly to the meeting-house. After church, as the Sabbath afternoon wears on, children wistfully watch the sun, and as soon as it sinks behind the horizon, they spill out of the house for cheerful walks and visits.

Every opportunity she gets, Hope tries to put Esther and Everell together. When they take walks, Hope lets Sir Philip Gardiner walk with her so that Everell can be Esther’s companion. She finds Sir Philip’s gallantry annoying, but his stories of foreign lands are interesting enough.

One Saturday evening, Mr. Fletcher finds Everell sitting in the Winthrops’ parlor. Everell is daydreaming about Hope’s eloquence—she had just been talking to him about Esther’s virtues. Mr. Fletcher asks Everell if he’s planning to attend that evening’s lecture at the church. Seeing Hope preparing to leave, Everell says yes, but Hope, looking tearful, explains that she is going to walk with Aunt Grafton. Everell doesn’t know why Hope is crying, but Mr. Fletcher says it’s because she has been too indulged in her life.

Mr. Fletcher tells Everell that Hope loves him like a brother, and that he should leave things that way. He starts telling Everell that he should instead focus on Esther, but before he can name her, Everell asks him to stop talking of such things. Mr. Fletcher explains what he discussed with Governor Winthrop about Everell’s marriage, adding that even in the case of marriage, individual desires must be sacrificed to the greater good. Then Madam Winthrop and Esther appear, cutting short the conversation.

Everell offers Madam Winthrop his arm on the way to the lecture, so Mr. Fletcher walks with Esther. Esther is so reserved that Fletcher cannot imagine his son ever preferring her to Hope. As the group walks, they see several prisoners being led into the church. Madam Winthrop explains that they are Gorton’s company, who are set to be tried next week, and are being given the opportunity to hear all public teaching until then. Everell jokes that this might be considered punishment before trial; but Madam Winthrop explains that the group has been granted a chance to speak in their own defense that night.

Gorton and his group are seated in front of the ruling elders. The Governor and his family set themselves in their normal pew, where Hope is already seated with Mrs. Grafton and Sir Philip Gardiner. Hope whispers with Esther about a young boy they see standing in a corner. Hope wishes the service would not last too long, then sees that the slated preacher is one who “always talks of eternity till he forgets time”—to Esther’s shock.

Hope tries to pay attention to the service, but she soon runs out of patience. No sooner has the lecture finally come to an end than Gorton stands up to refute the points with which he disagrees. Hope finds Gorton—“the Swedenborg of his day”—somewhat interesting, but then the elders stand up to give a rebuttal, and a minister adds a rebuke about the wearing of costly apparel. At last, the meeting is dismissed.

Madam Winthrop instructs Everell to walk Esther home, and Sir Philip offers his arm to Hope. Hope is anxious and restless, and Aunt Grafton scolds her for rushing home in such an unladylike way. Hope abruptly withdraws her arm and disappears around the corner, to Sir Philip’s chagrin.

Before Hope has gotten very far, she hears footsteps and looks back to see the young man she’d noticed earlier at church. She masks her fear and asks the stranger if he has lost his way. In a foreign-accented, melancholy voice, the young man says he has indeed lost his way, sounding as if he intends a double meaning. Hope continues taking him literally, offering to guide him, until the youth bursts into tears.

The stranger explains that he is Sir Philip Gardiner’s page, or slave, although he loves his master. He says that there is nothing Hope can do for him, but warns her to take care of herself. He warns her, no matter what she does, not to trust Sir Philip or to love him. Hope says this will be easy. The strange boy kisses her hand and disappears. Hope has no time to dwell on the mysterious exchange.

Hope enters the churchyard burial ground, undeterred by the shadows. She stoops in front of a familiar grave and implores her mother’s spirit to be with her. Then she passes a thicket of evergreens to “the appointed spot.”