Suffering and Endurance

Physical and emotional pain pervade the story—Adèle's captivity, Mansel's mortal wound, and the long, tense waits in hiding. The characters endure these trials without complaint, treating suffering as a test of character.

Major Pleydell's anguish over his daughter's abduction and the lack of a ransom demand highlights the suffering endured by the family.

Mansel endures his mortal wound without complaint, and the narrator and Adèle endure the painful vigil.