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Adam Bede Chapter 47 Summary

The Last Moment

  • Hetty is approaching the scaffold, where she will be hanged before a "waiting watching multitude" (47.1). But Dinah is with her, and compassionately exhorts her to "pray without ceasing to God" (47.4).
  • All at once, without warning, Hetty shrieks. And the crowd cries out, too. Why is everyone shouting? "It was a shout of sudden excitement at the appearance of a horseman cleaving the crowd at full gallop" (47.8). And who is that horseman?
  • It's Arthur, bringing Hetty "a hard-won release from death" (47.9). And bringing us a hard won-release from seriousness. Hetty is saved.