Tom Jones Book 10, Chapter 9

The Escape of Sophia

• And now, we jump back to the night of Sophia's escape from her horrible father.
• At midnight, Sophia sneaks out of the house and goes to meet Mrs. Honour.
• A post-boy accompanies the two women; his job will be to look after their horses.
• But before they get too far on the London Road, Sophia stops the post-boy to ask him to take them to Bristol instead.
• The post-boy mentions the trouble he had with "the gentleman from Squire Allworthy's" (10.9.12) on the road to Bristol.
• Sophia realizes that this post-boy must be the same guy who guided Tom south.
• Sophia bribes the post-boy to bring her to where he left Tom.
• Mrs. Honour shouts at Sophia that her original plan was to go to London.
• Has she given this trip any thought at all?! It's indecent to follow a man around like this!
• Sophia has had a rough couple of days, but Mrs. Honour's advice seems to calm her down.
• She realizes that her plan of following Tom may not have been totally wise.
• They head back north to Gloucester, in the direction of London.
• She stops at the Bell and then rides on to Upton.
• And that's where, of course, she almost runs into Tom.
• Meanwhile, her father has traced her path starting with information from the post-boy and going from there.
• That's how he almost catches Sophia at Upton.