In the after­math of Arthur’s suc­cess­ful lec­ture at the Soci­ety of Bib­li­cal Archae­ol­o­gy, his life tran­si­tions into a whirl­wind of social engage­ments, includ­ing invi­ta­tions to edu­ca­tion­al soci­eties and gen­tle­men’s clubs. Encoun­ter­ing refined gen­tle­men adorned in silk cra­vats and indul­gent meals, includ­ing tur­tle soup, Arthur feels both awe and social pres­sure. He rel­ish­es in the lux­u­ri­ous envi­ron­ments filled with gild­ed mir­rors and cham­pagne flutes, yet beneath this facade, he grap­ples with an over­pow­er­ing pre­oc­cu­pa­tion with the miss­ing Flood Tablet from Nin­eveh.

Dur­ing a din­ner at The Boltons, Arthur meets Mabel, a charm­ing young woman from a respectable fam­i­ly. Their encoun­ters seem coin­ci­den­tal, but Arthur sens­es a col­lec­tive effort of his peers to draw them clos­er. Mabel, while not par­tic­u­lar­ly well-read, express­es gen­uine inter­est in Arthur’s work, and her sim­plic­i­ty and warm demeanor con­trast sharply with his shy­ness. As Arthur nav­i­gates mid­dle-class soci­etal expec­ta­tions sur­round­ing love and mar­riage, he becomes acute­ly aware of their ide­al­iza­tion of domes­tic life, which stark­ly con­trasts with his pri­or­i­ties regard­ing the Mesopotami­an tablets.

Amidst this soci­etal back­drop, Arthur receives an unex­pect­ed oppor­tu­ni­ty from the Dai­ly Tele­graph to spear­head an archae­o­log­i­cal exca­va­tion. With excite­ment brew­ing, he pre­pares for a jour­ney to the land of Gil­gamesh, but finan­cial lim­i­ta­tions weigh on him. Nev­er­the­less, he feels empow­ered and opti­mistic, espe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing Mabel’s father’s sup­port, who urges Arthur to pro­pose to Mabel before depart­ing, empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of com­pan­ion­ship dur­ing his trav­els.

As Arthur packs for his adven­ture, he feels a sense of urgency to vis­it his moth­er, who has been in a sana­to­ri­um. Upon arriv­ing at the Mid­dle­sex Coun­ty Lunatic Asy­lum, he learns about her suf­fer­ing from “rest­less melan­choly.” The grim real­i­ty of her con­di­tion becomes painful­ly clear as he wit­ness­es her trans­for­ma­tion into a shad­ow of her for­mer self, strug­gling for recog­ni­tion and con­nec­tion. Real­i­ty dawns as Arthur recounts sto­ries to her, try­ing to revive the warmth of their bond amidst her detach­ment. He yearns to make her proud and promis­es to fight for a bet­ter future for both of them, hold­ing on to the hope that his endeav­ors in Nin­eveh will lead to her recov­ery and a brighter life filled with com­fort and love.

As Arthur’s jour­ney draws near, he car­ries a guardian spir­it carved for his moth­er, a tan­gi­ble reminder of his affec­tion and com­mit­ment to return for her—as he embarks on his path toward Nin­eveh .