Laura...the first person I thought of when I heard the gunshot was Hortense. Remember the French woman who spent time practicing at Mr. George's shooting range? I'm not sure if something bad has happened - yet - but yes, there are omens that something is coming soon. The action is "ratchetting up" several notches, isn't it, Jude? Do you find yourself getting into the plot to the extent that you forget to notice the quality of the writing? Can you imagine writing one of these Installments of three or four chapters each month? (With 10 children underfoot!) While it's true that Dickens is a master at constructing plots, there is so much more going on - the descriptions, the references - Biblical, Shakespearean and of course the history, the social issues, the politics!
PatH, thank you for addressing the question of the elections. I tried to do some research - came out more confused than when I went in. I'll share something from an article that I read - by Karl Marx, no less... It was more complicated than first meets the eye...but what was very clear, the election results did not please Sir Leicester who had spent much money bribing voters. This was not uncommon at the time, but Sir Leicester had spent a lot of money and was not successful getting the other seats. If I'm understanding all this correctly, he was a Tory. "Tories were the guardians of the traditions of Old England. They were suspected of admiring in the British Constitution the eighth wonder of the world; to be laudatores temporis acti,[2] enthusiasts for the throne, the High Church, the privileges and liberties of the British subject."
"They strive to retain forcibly institutions and a political power which are condemned from the very moment at which the rural population found itself outnumbered three times by the population of the towns. And such an attempt must necessarily end with their destruction; it must accelerate and make more acute the social development of England."
The "other side - (the Whigs?) stands in opposition - want reform...social, economic and the court system.
See how the plot is coming together? The question in my mind - how deeply involved is Sir Leicester - other than the obvious? What is his interest in the Jarndyce case - if any? He's against reform - is he content with the slow-moving justice system?