Boney Summary

The year is 1803. Peter Wilson is a smuggler. He is watching his contraband being unloaded at Christchurch. Dr. Thaddeus Barnikel is a Salisbury physician who is waiting to see Canon Nicodemus Porteus. Porteus is marred to Frances Shockley. Frances' brother Ralph and his wife Agnes are staying with them while their house is being redecorated. The canon arrives and the two men go to talk in his study. At dinner, their discussion turns to politics. They try to keep Nicodemus and Ralph from clashing. They don't succeed and Nicodemus tells Ralph to leave and Ralph stays at the doctor's house.

Lord Forest is a governor of the school that Ralph teaches at. When Ralph refuses to lie about his views, he is relieved of his position. Ralph believes in equality for all men. Forest hires him as a tutor for his grandchildren.

William...