45 pages • 1 hour read
A Lion to Guard Us
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Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Night People”
At first, the children run toward London Bridge, but there is a wreck there and it is unpassable. Jemmy wants to go to an inn, but Amanda explains they can’t because they don’t have any money. Instead, they walk along the riverbank, where they see unhoused people sitting around small fires.
They come to a wooden pier and decide to sit there. Jemmy asks if anyone will come after them, and Amanda says if Mistress Trippett dies, they might come to take her to jail. Jemmy asks what he and Meg would do then, and Amanda tells him they would have to go to a workhouse.
An old woman with a lantern approaches them and believes Meg is her little girl. She tries to take Meg, but Amanda pulls her away, and the children run again. They head back to Mistress Trippett’s house to hide in her garden behind the chicken coops until morning. As they approach the house, they see a man with a lantern and recognize him as Dr. Crider.
Chapter 8 Summary: “A Piece of Luck”
Dr. Crider tells the children that he was looking for them and takes them with him since they have nowhere else to go. Amanda asks if Mistress Trippett died, and the doctor tells her that she only had a fit of temper.
They follow Dr. Crider until they get to his wooden house in a row of houses. It is neither fancy nor poor, with small rooms and bare walls. He offers them supper, but since they have already eaten, they stay with him while he drinks a mug of milk and eats a cold meat pie. The doctor asks what happened and about their plans to join their father in the “New World.” Dr. Crider leads them to a bedroom, where the children have a whole bed to themselves.
Chapter 9 Summary: “A Great World”
When Amanda wakes, Dr. Crider is about to go out. He tells her she can make breakfast from whatever he has in the kitchen, and she makes tea and biscuits for her brother and sister. When Jemmy sits down, he takes out the door knocker, which he managed to grab before they left Mistress Trippett’s house. Amanda is surprised that he has it and she remembers that her father told her it was a lion to guard them.
During the day, the children clean the kitchen as a surprise for Dr. Crider. When he returns home, though, he seems distracted. He tells the children that they will all be departing for the “New World” the following month, and he will be going with them since they need doctors there.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
The Freebold children’s poverty is worsened when they become homeless; without any resources, they are vulnerable. Amanda is especially at risk because if Mistress Trippett dies, she could be arrested. Because Amanda is young and powerless, her word against Randolph Trippett’s wouldn’t have any weight. Dr. Crider’s later diagnosis of the problem as a temper tantrum highlights the absurdity of this class divide: Amanda’s only crime was enraging her employer. Still, these hurt feelings are enough to evict the children, emphasizing the unequal treatment of people living in poverty.
In their short time on the streets, the children understand the danger they are in but also display Resilience and Youth. Their vulnerability is demonstrated when an old woman mistakes Meg for her child and tries to pry her away. The children have no adult protector, and it becomes clear to Amanda that it is going to be a difficult task to keep them all together and safe. Still, they evade the old woman and think quickly, realizing that Mistress Trippett’s garden can be a safe space until morning.
In contrast to the story’s wealthy adults, Dr. Crider emerges as a hero, first as a truth-teller—he reveals Mistress Trippett’s real diagnosis rather than pretending her condition is worse than it is—and then by becoming the children’s caregiver and protector. He can overcome the challenges that Amanda cannot, providing food and shelter. His actions contrast with Mistress Trippett’s and Cook’s as well: though he is not nearly as wealthy, he provides the children a real bed to sleep in, lets them enter all his rooms, and offers whatever food he has for them to eat. With him as their protector, the children do chores out of gratitude rather than obligation or compulsion, as they did in Mistress Trippett’s home.
Dr. Crider views the “New World” as a place of adventure and opportunity, in stark contrast to the stifling structure of London society. Like the children, The Imagined and Real “New World” makes him hopeful. This idea is emphasized by the revelation that Jemmy saved the lion door knocker and will take it on the journey with them to America. While their mother’s money is gone, Mistress Trippett cannot steal this, their true treasure. This symbolizes the family’s enduring hope and foreshadows their future reunion in America.
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