Mr. Adolph Verloc Timeline and Summary
MoreMr. Adolph Verloc Timeline and Summary
- Mr. Verloc leaves his shop, and the narrator outlines his home situation, describing his shop, his attached home, and his wife, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law.
- Mr. Verloc walks to an embassy, and after a brief meeting with one of his superiors, he meets Mr. Vladimir, who treats him terribly and tells him he won't be able to keep doing his job the way he's used to doing it. Vladimir tells him to ensure that a bomb attack is carried out on the Greenwich Observatory.
- Verloc is clearly rattled by Vladimir's ultimatum. He knows that he can't continue to live the life he's used to without the money he gets from spying, and he is not a man who likes to be pulled out of his laziness. That's why he never went in for traditional work in the first place.
- He travels to mainland Europe for ten days, but doesn't feel any better when he comes back. He's probably been there trying to recruit someone to plant the bomb for him. One day after his return, his wife Winnie tells him to take his brother-in-law Stevie on a walk with him. Winnie tells Verloc that Stevie will do anything for him, and this causes Verloc to take a diabolical interest in the boy.
- Verloc takes Stevie out to the country, saying to Winnie that it will help calm the boy's nerves. In reality, though, Verloc does this because he plans on using Stevie to commit the bombing of the Greenwich Observatory.
- On the day of the bombing, Verloc travels out to the country to pick up Stevie, and the two of them ride the train to Greenwich Park, where Verloc hands Stevie the bomb he needs to plant in the observatory. On his way there, though, Stevie trips and blows himself up. Verloc snags a train out of there and spends the afternoon drowning his sorrows in a cheese shop, wondering how he'll ever break the news to Winnie.
- When Verloc finally goes home, he's very agitated and nervous. This gets even worse when the Assistant Commissioner of Police shows up, and Verloc is stunned that the police have found him so quickly. Verloc goes for a walk with the A.C. to discuss his options, and on this walk he decides that he's going to confess to what he did in court and take down the embassy goons with him. He's so indignant at being hung out to dry that he's willing to go to jail for the sake of ruining Mr. Vladimir.
- Verloc returns to the shop to find Chief Inspector Heat waiting for him. The two of them go to discuss what happened in the house, leaving Winnie in the shop. At this point, Verloc doesn't know that Winnie has heard the truth about Stevie's death.
- After Heat is gone, Verloc finds out from Winnie that she knows the truth. He curses his luck, but is also happy that he wasn't the one who had to tell her about Stevie. He spends a long time trying to make Winnie get over her grief, and when she refuses to answer, he gets frustrated and tries to blame Stevie's death on her.
- He starts feeling very tired, so he lies down on his couch. Then Winnie stabs him through the chest and kills him. Exit Mr. Verloc.