The Official Book Club Guide: The Binding. Kathryn Cope

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СКАЧАТЬ a plan to keep his sister at home. By hiding one of her boots, he ensures that, when Lucian comes to call, Alta has to stay behind.

      Finally alone together, Emmet and Lucian make love at the ruined castle. Afterwards, Lucian repeats his former proposal that Emmett should become his secretary. Eventually persuaded, Emmett also agrees to spend the night with Lucian at Lord Archimbolt’s house.

      After spending the night together, Lucian and Emmett ignore a knocking on the front door in the early hours of the morning. Later, Lucian discovers a note from his father instructing him to return to Castleford immediately. Emmett returns home to find that his parents have been crying.

      XVIII

      Initially assuming that something has happened to Alta, Emmett soon realises that his parents know about his affair with Lucian. Unable to find her hidden boot, Alta had put on her dancing shoes to follow Emmett and Lucian and had seen everything. On hearing what his daughter had witnessed, Mr Farmer had written to Lucian’s father. Confronting their son, Emmett’s parents issue Emmett with an ultimatum – he can continue to be their son but only if he never touches Lucian, or any other man, again.

      Soon afterwards, the Farmers receive a visit from Acre – an employee of Lucian’s father. Implying that Lucian is in the habit of seducing young men and women (including the recent conquest of an underage scullery maid), Acre offers to pay for Emmett to visit a binder so that he can forget the whole experience. Determined to retain his memories of Lucian, Emmett turns down the offer. Before leaving, Acre returns the shirt that Emmett once lent to Lucian. When Acre has gone, Emmett finds a message from Lucian sewn into the collar. The note instructs him to go to the crossroads of the Castleford road that night.

      XIX

      As soon as night falls, Emmett runs to the crossroads When he approaches, however, he realises that the waiting figure is Acre and not Lucian. In a nearby horse and cart, Alta lies, unconscious, under the watchful eye of a thug named Wright. Acre tells Emmett that, if he does as he is told, his sister will receive no further injuries. To underline his point, he produces a sack containing Splotch and restrains Emmett while Wright hits the sack repeatedly with a cudgel.

      Taking Emmett to Seredith’s bindery, Acre instructs him to say that he wants to forget about Lucian Darnay. Going into the bindery alone, Emmett repeats his lines to Seredith and darkness consumes him.

      PART THREE

      XX

      Emmett collapses, his memories flooding back to him as his book burns in the hearth. Meanwhile, Lucian looks on dispassionately. Only when Emmett vomits on the rug and falls face down does Lucian finally ring the bell to summon help. Piers Darnay instructs his staff to carry Emmett out of the room and return him to de Havilland’s workshop.

      Once they are alone, Lucian confronts his father about his repeated rape and binding of the servants. Taking a perverse pleasure in the fact that his son knows about his crimes, Darnay senior tells Lucian that he is welcome to read any of their servants’ bindings.

      Lucian recalls that, only a year earlier, he was his ‘father’s favourite’. Their relationship changed on the day when, alone in his father’s study, he tried to open the curiosity cabinet and discovered a secret bookshelf behind it. The books bore the names of their female servants – many of them repeated several times. Lucian read one of the books until he was discovered by his father and then threatened to tell his mother. His father responded by saying that, if he did so, Mrs Darnay would also have to be bound. Shortly afterwards, Lucian was packed off to his uncle’s house.

      Unable to sleep, Lucian goes to Nell’s room and asks to talk to her. When he offers her money and advises her to pack her things, however, Nell assumes that she is being sent away as a punishment. As Lucian tries to explain that he is trying to protect her, Piers Darnay enters the room and instructs his son to tell Nell everything.

      XXI

      Lucian’s father sits beside Nell and recounts the many times he has raped her. Unable to hear his words, Nell is confused and chews her lip until it oozes with blood. Before leaving her, Darnay senior tells Nell that if she fails to remove the vomit stains from the rug in his study, money will be docked from her wages.

      Having demonstrated the futility of his son’s attempt to undo Nell’s binding, Piers Darnay hits Lucian across the face. He then advises his son to put a steak on the injury as a bruised face may deter Honour Ormonde from marrying him.

      De Havilland calls on the Darnays to deliver Nell’s binding. Congratulating Lucian on his forthcoming marriage, he suggests that he and his future bride may wish to undertake pre-nuptial bindings – adding that it could be arranged for Lucian to read Miss Ormonde’s. Lucian declines, declaring that he would never agree to be bound under any circumstances. When Piers Darnay opens Nell’s binding, an envelope, addressed to Lucian, falls to the floor. Recognising the handwriting as Emmett’s, Lucian snatches the envelope and throws it in the fire.

      XXII

      During afternoon tea with the Darnay family, Honour Ormonde asks Lucian to escort her around the garden. Once they are alone, she says she knows that Lucian does not love her but hopes that he will be a kind husband. Honour explains that, since marrying, her sister has regularly been bound and she fears meeting the same fate.

      Lucian and Honour are interrupted by an unexpected visit from Emmett. Unapologetically, Lucian tells Emmett that he did not read his letter. He also frostily informs the binder that his visit will have to be brief, as he is due to be fitted for his wedding suit. Visibly distressed at the news of Lucian’s forthcoming marriage, Emmett says there is something he must tell him. When he continues, however, Lucian finds his words unintelligible. Frustrated, Emmett realises that Lucian will not be able to hear or read anything that concerns their shared history. In a final attempt to get through to him, he reveals that Lucian has been bound. Angrily denying this, Lucian suggests that Emmett is trying to blackmail him. Emmett leaves as Lucian rings the bell to have him ejected.

      Later, a red-eyed Nell brings Lucian tea and thanks him for trying to help her. Soon afterwards, he hears one of the servants screaming and, following the sounds to his father’s study, sees Nell hanging against the curiosity cabinet. Smashing the cabinet, Lucian uses a shard of glass to cut down Nell’s dead body. Lucian’s father arrives on the scene and, showing no signs of distress, instructs a servant to have Nell’s body removed. When Lucian confronts his father, accusing him of raping Nell again, Piers Darnay declares that he is not the only one with secrets. Confirming that Lucian has been bound, he claims not to know the whereabouts of his book but assures his son that the contents are horrifying.

      XXIII

      Lucian calls on de Havilland demanding to see Emmett, but the binder tells him that his apprentice has been sacked. De Havilland denies any knowledge of Lucian’s binding and says he cannot help him.

      Lucian wanders past the town’s binderies searching for Emmett. Eventually, he finds him, cold and destitute, trying to secure a job at Fogatini’s – one of the most disreputable binderies. Lucian tells Emmett that he wants to get his book back before he gets married in three days’ time. Emmett reveals that the book is in a locked vault in a bindery many miles away. Only de Havilland has the key and Emmett lost his job trying to steal it. Lucian vows that he will get his hands on the key somehow and tells Emmett to stay at a nearby inn until he sends word.

      XXIV

      Lucian goes to his father, intending to ask for his help in retrieving his book. Back in his father’s study, however, he is reminded of Nell’s death and changes his mind. Trying to conceal the real purpose of his СКАЧАТЬ