Babel: Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

The next day becomes a series of mishaps. Robin, Victoire, Ramy, and Letty leave Hampstead early to get a train back to Oxford, but they miss the first train, and the second is full. They don’t end up arriving at Oxford until late at night. When they arrive, they have a chance run-in with a porter they know. Letty bursts into tears, and the porter looks at the others in confusion. Victoire tries to explain that Letty was very homesick during their trip, and she’s relieved to be returning to Oxford. When Robin gets to his room, he quickly falls asleep.

The next morning, the group convenes to try and devise a plan for what to do next. They want to contact the Hermes Society, but none of them have any way to do that. They decide they’ll continue to tell everyone that Professor Lovell is sick and that he’s quarantining in Hampstead. They hope that will at least buy them some time. Robin then goes to Lovell’s house in Oxford, where he sees Mrs. Piper. He tells her that Lovell is ill and is staying in Hampstead. At first, Mrs. Piper wants to go and see him to make sure he’s okay, but Robin dissuades her from going.

Robin then goes to Babel to look through Professor Lovell’s correspondences to see if there’s anything of note. He finds the same kind of warmongering and war plans that he found in Lovell’s papers in Hampstead. As Robin is leaving, he hears someone talking with Professor Playfair. He gradually puts the pieces together to determine that the person talking to Playfair is Mrs. Lovell, Professor Lovell’s wife. She has their two children with her and is complaining that Lovell has missed his recent payments to their estate. Robin then returns to the group and tells them about Mrs. Lovell. No one is sure how to solve that problem, and they’re afraid that more and more people will start to realize that Lovell is missing. Ramy then remembers that there’s a faculty party on Friday that they’ll have to attend to avoid attracting attention.

When Friday comes, Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty go to the party, where they struggle to act normally. Professor Playfair remarks that Robin looks tired and is sweating profusely. Robin tries to pass it off as a symptom of adjusting to the time changes. Playfair then asks Robin if he knows when Professor Lovell will be back from London. Robin explains that Lovell is sick and is quarantining in Hampstead. Playfair lowers his voice and says he knows Lovell isn’t in Hampstead. He says he’s written several letters there and hasn’t heard back. He then says that he’s with the Hermes Society and the Society would like to be updated on Lovell’s whereabouts. Robin isn’t sure whether to believe Professor Playfair or not.

On the one hand, Robin thinks, Professor Playfair could be lying to try and get information out of Robin. On the other hand, he could be telling the truth and could be the savior Robin and his cohort have been looking for. Robin decides to make up a story about a fake Hermes Society plot and see how Playfair reacts. Playfair responds as if he knows exactly what Robin is talking about, signaling to Robin that Playfair is lying. Playfair wants to keep talking, but to buy time, Robin says he’ll be meeting Griffin in the tunnels later that night and invites Playfair to join them. Playfair agrees. Robin then finds Ramy, Victoire, and Letty. He says that Playfair is onto them, and they need to leave immediately. After they leave the party, Anthony stops them in the street and tells them to come with him.