I have come to the conclusion of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and this is my summary of the chapter summaries for Book Two. Beware of spoilers!
To read part one, see Book One summary.
Thinking it easier to run from her troubles, Lily vacations in Europe with Bertha Dorset, who uses Lily to distract her husband, George, so that she, Bertha, may flirt with young, intriguing Ned Silverton.
To read part one, see Book One summary.
Thinking it easier to run from her troubles, Lily vacations in Europe with Bertha Dorset, who uses Lily to distract her husband, George, so that she, Bertha, may flirt with young, intriguing Ned Silverton.
Bertha is like a spoiled child who has to be the center of
attention, and when she sees that Lily is reaping attention from the royals she
accuses Lily of acting inappropriately with her husband; hence Bertha now has
reason to expel Lily from the group.
Then Aunt Julia dies.
Before her death, she heard about the rumored affair between Lily and
George and assumes it to be true. She
altered her will and left enough to Lily to cover her debt with Mr. Trenor. But she left everything to the Stepney’s,
including the house, leaving Lily no place to live.
Rosedale knows that Bertha is spreading lies about Lily, and
he reminds Lily that she has power over Bertha if she would expose Bertha’s
love letters to Lawrence; but Lily, using principle, will not hurt Bertha or
Lawrence. Besides, Lily believes that
Bertha will always have the upper hand because of her wealth; and wealth is
power.
Carry Fisher helps Lily find work, and Gerty Farish asks
Lawrence to help Lily. Lawrence visits
Lily, and is cold toward her, though he suggests she leave her employment
because her employer is involved with the group of high society that ostracized
Lily. Lily does leave, but not before
she is blamed for something that she had no part. Now her relationship with Lawrence is strained,
too.
Her friends find her new employment sewing hats, and Lily now
lives meagerly in a boarding house. She
is worn out, run down, and extremely lonely.
Eventually, she is let go from this job.
Lily has hit bottom.
She visits Lawrence to confess her folly. She is not herself, though she does something
noble with the love letters from Bertha; she destroys them.
Finally, Lily receives her inheritance and, even in her dire
situation, knows it is right to prepare a deposit and write out a check to
Trenor. She does and leaves it for the
night. She takes an extra dose of sleep
aid to relieve her sleeplessness and thinks about what she remembers she wanted
to tell Lawrence.
Meanwhile, Lawrence arrives the next morning to tell Lily
what he also realized he wanted to
tell her: that he loves her. But it is
too late: Lily will never wake again.
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