The Beetle approaches Atherton in his laboratory and tries to mesmerise him like Holt, but Atherton is able to resist. In his anger, Atherton plans to spend the next day working on his chemical warfare inventions in his laboratory.

Consumed by self-pity and anger, Atherton leaves the ball.Īfter meeting Holt, Atherton visits Lessingham, who insists that he and Lindon are not engaged before sending him away. Lindon asks Atherton to intercede with her father on Lessingham's behalf, knowing that her father considers Atherton like a son. She tells him that she is already engaged to Lessingham but that the engagement has been kept secret because her father is Lessingham's political opponent. On the night of Holt's robbery, Atherton proposes to Lindon at a ball.

The narrative perspective switches to Sydney Atherton, who turns out to be Paul Lessingham's romantic rival for the affection of Marjorie Lindon. The Beetle plans to use her to harm Lessingham. Holt delivers the letters to the Beetle, who realizes that they are love letters from a certain Marjorie Lindon. When Holt answers truthfully, Atherton is pleased and lets him go. On the street, he is approached by another man, Sydney Atherton, who asks him if he committed a crime against Lessingham. Holt shouts 'the Beetle' twice, in a voice that is not his own, causing Lessingham to shiver in a corner. Holt succeeds because the Beetle can control him, but Lessingham captures Holt before he can leave with the letters. When Holt encounters Lessingham, he is to say 'the Beetle,' which would hinder him. The Beetle plans to send Holt to the home of Paul Lessingham, a member of the House of Commons, to steal the letters from the drawer in his desk. After that, the Beetle forces a kiss on Holt, which weakens him. Then the Beetle forces Holt to take off his clothes and put on new ones in exchange for food and shelter. The Beetle takes control of Holt's mind through mesmerism, allowing him to take human form, and then accuses Holt of being a thief and promises to treat him like one. There he finds shelter and meets a monstrous figure, the mysterious Beetle.

Denied food and water at a workhouse, he continues to walk in the dark through the rain until he comes upon an abandoned, dilapidated house with an open window. The novel begins by retelling an account of Robert Holt, a clerk who has been searching for a job all day. The Beetle is told from the point of view of four narrators: Robert Holt, Sydney Atherton, Marjorie Lindon, and Augustus Champnell.

The beetle marsh