Middlemarch

Lydgate Announces Dorothea’s Visit to Rosamond

Lydgate ushers Dorothea into the drawing room and then goes upstairs to inform Rosamond that Mrs. Casaubon has come again. He speaks gently, expecting Rosamond will welcome the visit as a beneficial follow-up to yesterday’s interview. Rosamond, though startled and flushed, does not refuse; she rises and lets Lydgate place a light shawl over her shoulders before descending to meet her visitor.

Dorothea Receives Lydgate’s Grateful Letter

Before leaving Dorothea in the drawing room, Lydgate hands her a letter he wrote the previous evening, explaining that written gratitude feels more adequate than speech when one owes thanks for something beyond ordinary kindness. Dorothea’s face brightens, and she asks whether he has consented to her taking the place she proposed; he confirms that the check is going to Bulstrode that day.

Rosamond Anxiously Awaits the Meeting

Lydgate goes upstairs to find Rosamond sitting languidly, listlessly dragging through some small occupation. He has already told her about Dorothea’s letter and the check, and mentioned that Ladislaw sat with him the previous night looking battered and depressed, but Rosamond has made no reply. Now, fearing to disturb her quietude with questions, he gently announces that Mrs. Casaubon has returned to see her, and Rosamond silently complies with his request to go down to the drawing room, inwardly wary and cold.

Strained Reunion Between Dorothea and Rosamond

Rosamond descends wrapped in her soft shawl, preparing herself to meet whatever Mrs. Casaubon might say with polite impassibility, assuming Dorothea has come from a position of triumph and animosity. But Dorothea, feeling the need for freedom, takes off her gloves and comes forward with a sad, sweet openness, taking Rosamond’s hand with gentle motherliness. The two women sit close together without preamble, and Dorothea begins to speak simply about the injustice shown toward Lydgate, her tone carrying a generous, soothing warmth that begins to dismantle Rosamond’s defensive dread.

Dorothea Defends Lydgate’s Innocence

Dorothea explains that Lydgate told her the full history of the Raffles affair because she boldly asked, and she conveys his account of his ignorance of Raffles’s background, his genuine concern for his patient, and his belief that no wrongdoing occurred. She reveals that she has shared this account with Farebrother, Brooke, and Sir James Chettam, all of whom believe in Lydgate’s high character. She also tells Rosamond that Lydgate blames himself for not being more open with his wife and that he refused to keep the Hospital position to avoid causing her further pain, since their marriage must affect every choice he makes.

Rosamond Breaks Down in Hysterical Tears

Dorothea’s emotion, stirred by speaking from her own painful experience of marriage, intensifies until her voice becomes like a low cry from the darkness, and she lays her hand again on Rosamond’s. Rosamond, pierced by an overmastering pang as though an internal wound had been probed, bursts into hysterical crying as she had the day before. Dorothea, fearing that her own sorrow for Will Ladislaw will overtake her, struggles to maintain composure, while the two women cling to each other as though shipwrecked together, pride broken down between them.

Rosamond Confesses Ladislaw Rejected Her

As they sit recovering, Rosamond, urged by a mysterious need to free herself from a sense of blood guilt, whispers urgently that when Dorothea came in the previous day, things were not as Dorothea supposed. She reveals that Ladislaw had come to tell her he loved another woman, so that she would understand he could never love her, and that he now hates her because Dorothea’s misunderstanding of the situation will make her think ill of him.

Rosamond Reveals Ladislaw’s Loyalty to Dorothea

Rosamond continues her confession, declaring that Ladislaw has never loved her, has always thought slightly of her, and told her the day before that no other woman existed for him besides Dorothea. She takes the blame entirely upon herself, explaining that Ladislaw could not speak to Dorothea because of her, and feared Dorothea could never again think well of him. Now that she has unburdened herself, Rosamond says, Ladislaw can no longer reproach her, and the two women sit looking at each other in the wake of this painful disclosure.