Thereafter progress slowed, and the second volume was not finished until October: much of Scott's summer was taken up with arranging and superintending George IV's visit to Scotland, and he was deeply distressed at the death of his close friend William Erskine on 14 August.

There is no reason to think that Scott was involved with the novel again until the late summer of 1830, when he revised the text and provided new notes and an introduction for the 'Magnum' edition, in which it appeared as Volumes 28, 29 and 30 in September, October, and November 1831.

After the Restoration, the Countess of Derby, who, through treachery, had suffered a long imprisonment by the Roundheads, sought protection at Martindale Castle, where Bridgenorth would have arrested her for having caused his brother-in-law, William Christian, to be shot as a traitor, had not the knight interfered by tearing up the warrant, and escorting her through Cheshire on her return to the Isle of Man.

Several years afterwards Sir Geoffrey's son Julian became the companion of the young earl, and, with the nurse Deborah's connivance, renewed his intimacy with his foster sister, who was under the care of her widowed aunt, Dame Christian.

The next night, having undertaken to proceed to London, to clear the countess and her son from the suspicion of being concerned in Titus Oates's pretended Popish plot, Julian was conducted to a sloop by Fenella, his patron's deaf and dumb dwarf, and, as she was being taken ashore against her will while he was asleep, he dreamt that he heard Alice's voice calling for his help.

At Liverpool he met Topham with a warrant against Sir Geoffrey, and on his way to the Peak to warn him, he travelled with Edward Christian, passing as Ganlesse, a priest, who led him to an inn, where they supped with Chiffinch, a servant of Charles II.

On reaching Martindale Castle, he found his father and mother in the custody of Roundheads, and he was taken by Bridgenorth as a prisoner to Moultrassie Hall, where Alice received them, and he recognised Ganlesse among a number of Puritan visitors.

During the night the Hall was attacked by the dependents and miners of the Peveril estate, and, having regained his liberty, Julian started, with Lance as his servant, in search of his parents, who he ascertained were on their way to London in charge of Topham.

At an inn where they halted, Julian overheard Chiffinch revealing to a courtier a plot against Alice, and that he had been robbed of the papers entrusted to him by the countess, which, however, he managed to recover the next morning.

Meanwhile, Christian, under whose care Bridgenorth had placed his daughter, communicated to the Duke of Buckingham a design he had formed of introducing her to Charles II, and, at an interview with her father, endeavoured to persuade him to abandon the idea of marrying her to young Peveril.

Having reached London, Julian met Fenella, who led him into St. James's Park, where she attracted the notice of the king by dancing, and he sent them both to await his return at Chiffinch's apartments.

Alice was already under the care of Mistress Chiffinch, and escaped from an interview with the duke to find herself in the presence of Charles and her lover, with whom, after he had placed the countess's papers in the king's hands, she was allowed to depart.

After startling Christian with the news that his niece had disappeared, the duke bribed Colonel Blood to intercept his movements, so that he might not discover where she was, and was then himself astonished at finding Fenella instead of Alice, who had been captured by his servants in his house, and at her equally unexpected defiance of and escape from him.

The last high-profile victim of the climate of suspicion was Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, whose unjust slaughter is retold by Scott with no small dose of bitterness.

In order, however, to avoid the mob, they take refuge in a room, where they encounter Bridgenorth, who convinces Julian that they are in his power, and allows Christian to propose to the Duke of Buckingham that several hundred Fifth-Monarchy men, led by Colonel Blood, should seize the king, and proclaim his Grace Lord-Lieutenant of the kingdom.

The same afternoon Charles has just granted an audience to the Countess of Derby, when the dwarf emerges from a violoncello case and reveals the conspiracy which Fenella had enabled him to overhear.

It then transpires that Bridgenorth had released the Peverils, and that Christian had trained his daughter Fenella, whose real name was Zarah, to feign being deaf and dumb, in order that she might act as his spy; but that her secret love for Julian had frustrated the execution of his vengeance against the countess.

He is allowed to leave the country, and the major, who on recovering Alice by Fenella's aid, had placed her under Lady Peveril's care, having offered to restore some of Sir Geoffrey's domains which had passed into his hands as her dowry, the king's recommendation secures the old knight's consent to the marriage which within a few weeks unites the Martindale-Moultrassie families and estates.

Principal characters in bold Prefatory Letter: Dr Dryasdust informs Captain Clutterbuck that he believes he has received a visit in York from the Author of Waverley, newly elected to the bibliophilic Roxburghe Club in London, who defended his novels against charges of perverting and usurping serious history.

1: In 1658 the Presbyterian Bridgenorth loses his wife in childbirth and in his depression hands the newly-born girl over to be brought up by Sir Geoffrey and Lady Peveril, the families having assisted each other during the changing fortunes of the Civil War.

2: Bridgenorth accepts the Restoration in 1660, and, although his spirits have revived to a considerable extent, it is agreed that little Alice should continue to live at Martindale Castle, where she has endeared herself to young Julian Peveril.

While taking a shortcut through the Moultrassie Hall grounds Lady Peveril is surprised to encounter Bridgenorth, who had left Derbyshire shortly after rejecting her husband's challenge.

2 (14): After a pleasant conversation walking with Julian, Bridgenorth tells how, during his time in New England he had witnessed Richard Whalley inspiring villagers to repel an attack by Indians.

3 (15): Derby explains to Julian that the family have moved to Peel Castle from Rushin because of the new danger posed by Edward Christian and Bridgenorth consequent on the linking of the Countess with the Popish Plot.

6 (18): Fenella (who Julian fears may be attracted to him) conducts him to the Countess, who tells him that she is under suspicion of involvement in the Popish Plot and accepts his offer to go to London to communicate with her supporters there.

4 (27): In an inn Julian overhears an inebriated Will Smith, now revealed as Chiffinch, disclose to Lord Saville a plan to use Alice to supplant the Duchess of Portsmouth in the King's favour.

1 (36): Julian finds an anonymous note indicating that if he wears a white ribbon he will be rescued on his river journey to the Tower, but he refuses to avail himself of this and is conveyed to his intended destination.

2 (37): Buckingham tells his secretary Jerningham that he is now reconciled with the Duchess of Portsmouth and intends to give up Christian and the scheme for Alice's advancement, keeping her out of the King's sight.

During a pause at the Tower on a royal river outing, Buckingham insults an aged warder, leading to his death, and the Duke of Ormond pleads the Peverils' case with the King.

Several of the other characters provoked diametrically opposed assessments: thus Bridgenorth was either masterly or hopelessly inconsistent, the lovers were either unusually spirited or vapid, and Buckingham and Christian also divided opinion.