What is Oliver's account with Brocton?
He publicly states the truth about Brocton's coercion of Margaret, strips the lord of social control over the story, and physically throws him into the kennel.
Did Oliver kill Jack?
No. Jack survives the blow and long illness, but Oliver does not learn this until he returns to the Hanyards.
Why does Margaret go to the Hanyards?
Oliver retreats because he assumes class difference requires him to give her up; Margaret refuses that decision and chooses him directly.
What becomes of the two couples?
Oliver and Margaret marry on New Year's Day, while Jack and Kate marry in the spring and later raise their family within the prosperous Hanyards circle.
Themes and What the Ending Means
Courage discovered: Oliver's education and decency become practical resources once action tests them.
Class and worth: The novel repeatedly opposes inherited rank to conduct, especially through Brocton and the self-described yeoman.
Home and adventure: The Hanyards is not what Oliver escapes forever but the place whose value he learns through leaving.
Political division: Jacobite and Hanoverian loyalties matter, yet friendship and obligation often cross the official line.
Storytelling and memory: Older Oliver reshapes fear, guilt, and coincidence into a comic-heroic account of how his family was formed.