The Outlaw of Torn · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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Chapter 1
I
The narrator introduces a rediscovered 13th-century manuscript about the lost Prince Richard of England, focusing on a remarkable revenge and the life of its innocent victim. The story begins in 1243 when King Henry III insults Simon de Montfort, who boldly rebukes him. Later, the King takes out his rage on Sir Jules de Vac during fencing practice, but De Vac defeats him. Enraged, Henry strikes and spits on De Vac, who silently vows a terrible revenge against the King and all England.
Chapter 2
II
De Vac, brooding over King Henry III's insult, devises a terrible revenge plot. While watching Prince Richard play in the garden with Lady Maud, he conceives a plan to kidnap the prince and raise him as an outlaw, using the boy as a tool for vengeance against the king.
Chapter 3
The Abduction of Prince Richard
Sir Jules de Vac meticulously plans and executes the kidnapping of Prince Richard, second son of King Henry III, after killing Lady Maud and a guards officer. The chapter details his preparations, including obtaining a key to a postern gate and arranging a hiding place, and concludes with the discovery of the bodies and the initiation of a twenty-year search for the prince.
Chapter 4
IV
De Vac murders Lady Maud and kidnaps Prince Richard, disguising himself as an old woman and hiding the prince beneath a dock. He overhears Simon de Montfort and others searching for the prince, narrowly avoids discovery, and later kills the old woman Til to eliminate a witness. He then secures the prince in a hidden garret room.
Chapter 5
The Birth of Norman of Torn
For three years after Prince Richard's disappearance, a bent old woman raises a young boy in a London attic, teaching him French, swordsmanship, and hatred for the English. When the boy is six, a Frenchman visits and offers her a ruined castle, Castle Torn. They travel to Derby, witnessing a knight's death and a brutal highway robbery, which harden the boy. After purchasing the castle, the old man (revealed as the old woman in disguise) trains the boy, now named Norman of Torn, and instructs him to hide his resemblance to Prince Edward. Norman of Torn is born, destined to terrorize England.
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