Uncle Silas guide

Summary

Characters

• AustinAlso RuthynGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• DudleyAlso RuthynVillainFrom Chapter 1
• MaudAlso RuthynLeadFrom Chapter 1
• MillyAlso RuthynHelperFrom Chapter 1
• SilasAlso RuthynVillainFrom Chapter 1
• RuskHelperFrom Chapter 1
• BryerlyHelperFrom Chapter 1
• MaryAlso QuinceHelperFrom Chapter 2
• RougierreVillainFrom Chapter 4
• TomAlso WilliamsHelperFrom Chapter 7
• DickonAlso Hawkes, PegtopVillainFrom Chapter 8
• MegAlso Hawkes, Maggie, BeautyHelperFrom Chapter 8
• MonicaAlso KnollysHelperFrom Chapter 8
• OakleySuitorFrom Chapter 9
• GrimstonGatekeeperFrom Chapter 23
• IlburyLoveFrom Chapter 24
• CharkeOtherFrom Chapter 26
• LucyAlso L'Amour, Lucia de l'Amour, WyatOtherFrom Chapter 31
• CarysbrokeSuitorFrom Chapter 34
• Doctor JolksOtherFrom Chapter 44
• Mrs. D. RuthynOtherFrom Chapter 53

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• Austin pursues secluded country study after abandoning institutional and charitable governance.

  • Austin's death ends his pursuit of secluded study.

• After her mother's death, Maud remains in Austin's care and is the exception to his growing withdrawal and severity.

  • Austin protects Maud from Rougierre's requested punishment, but requires obedience and ends the interview without accepting Maud's attempted correction, leaving her feeling wronged.
  • Austin explicitly commits to arranging Maud's care without remarrying. His refusal relieves Maud, whose fear of a stepmother has been intensified by Rusk and Mary.
  • Maud's anger at being left with Rougierre gives way to gladness at finding Austin, protection through his agreement about walks, and delight at his unfamiliar tenderness and regret at leaving her.
  • Austin reveals unusual anxiety for Maud and believes her willingness to sacrifice gives him a better understanding of her character; she discovers the passion beneath his reserve.
  • Austin's death ends Maud's life in his personal care.

• Silas has suffered an unspecified disgrace that Austin feels bitterly; its nature remains undisclosed.

  • Maud hears hints of exceptional misfortune or vice, identifies Silas's portrait, and receives Austin's account of his talents, repentance and injuries suffered. The underlying disgrace remains unspecified, while Austin's injunction and the servants' refusal to discuss Silas obstruct further inquiry.
  • Monica identifies the disgrace as suspicion of murder and explains Austin's bitter response, but the circumstances and truth of the accusation remain undisclosed.
  • Maud learns that Silas's disgrace centres on suspicion that he murdered Charke, although his guilt or innocence remains unestablished.

• Maud resents Bryerly's dismissiveness and comes to suspect that he exercises dangerous mastery over Austin; his departure brings relief without establishing whether her suspicion is true.

  • Austin's proposed submission to Bryerly's permission gives a concrete instance of Bryerly's apparent influence. Monica's reaction frightens Maud about Austin's health, though Monica considers him healthy-looking and infers a religious explanation. Neither the extent nor the danger of Bryerly's influence is established.
  • Rusk's allegation and Austin's distress deepen Maud's hostility toward Bryerly. She doubts his denial of involvement in the journey and briefly fears for Austin's sanity, which Bryerly emphatically affirms; his dangerous influence remains unproved.
  • Recognizing Bryerly as the nocturnal visitor intensifies Maud's fear of him into an impression of sorcery, without establishing that he exercised dangerous mastery over Austin.

• The nature of Austin and Bryerly's private activity remains concealed after Maud interrupts them; Bryerly hides something, Maud is expelled, and the door is locked. Her interpretation of an incantation remains conjectural.

• Maud's relationship with Austin is constrained by household inhibition against addressing him and by her obligation to obey his commands and preserve his confidence.

  • Austin overhears Maud's inquiry about Silas and instructs her to stop thinking about him for the present. The servants subsequently cease discussing him, extending the restriction on Maud's access to family knowledge.
  • Awe prevents Maud from questioning Austin about the governess. He announces the appointment while her dread remains unexpressed to him.
  • Austin explicitly commands respect and obedience toward Rougierre; Maud's effort to contest the complaints ends in tears and dismissal from his study.
  • Maud tells Rougierre that she loves Austin but fears him and cannot express her affection, making the emotional constraint explicit.
  • Maud overcomes her inhibition sufficiently to explain her fear and the disputed outings, obtaining Austin's agreement to restrict walks to the grounds.
  • Maud privately confides her fear and eyewitness account to Austin. He acts to protect her while imposing another obligation of secrecy.
  • Maud accepts an undefined sacrifice at Austin's request and agrees to his restrictions on disclosure and discussion.

• Austin prepares Maud to identify his cabinet key and know where he keeps it, permitting her to disclose this information if Bryerly asks while Austin is absent; the larger purpose remains unstated.

  • Austin specifies that Maud must show Bryerly alone both the key and what it opens, and assures her that arrangements will let her locate the key during his absence. The larger purpose remains unstated.
  • Austin's charge concerning the old oak cabinet reinforces Maud's assigned responsibility without disclosing its larger purpose.
  • Austin verifies that Maud remembers the cabinet instructions concerning Bryerly, renewing the preparation without explaining its larger purpose.
  • The key is found where Austin specified. Maud understands her instructions as requiring its delivery to Bryerly and refuses to let anyone else open the cabinet.
  • Maud retrieves the cabinet key and hands it to Bryerly, completing the practical arrangement Austin prepared.

• Maud promises to keep the cabinet key information secret except from Bryerly under Austin's stated condition. Austin apparently withholds a fuller explanation.

  • Austin reinforces Bryerly's exclusive access to the cabinet information and reveals that provision has been made for locating the key, without explaining the arrangement fully.
  • Maud tells Monica about her promise and preserves Bryerly's exclusive access to the cabinet; its contents remain undisclosed.
  • Maud supplies the cabinet identification to Bryerly in the authorized circumstances, enabling discovery of Austin's will.

• Austin intends to arrange a finishing governess for Maud and send her to France and Italy next winter.

  • Austin confirms Rougierre's appointment, and she begins assessing and instructing Maud. The governess arrangement is implemented; the proposed travel remains unfulfilled.

• Austin withholds the identity of a friend whose arrival will require his immediate departure and the purpose of their journey. The anticipated visit and departure occur, giving Maud some understanding of his guarded explanation.

  • The anticipated journey causes Maud sadness, while its destination and purpose remain unknown.
  • A London letter brings Austin's expected departure closer. He admits fear of the visitor and regret at leaving Maud, while Bryerly denies being the companion or knowing of the journey. Its purpose and the visitor's identity remain concealed.
  • A London letter assures Austin that a change is imminent, and he again tells Maud to expect his temporary absence without explaining it.
  • The anticipated visitor and journey are revealed as death.

• Maud seeks to understand Silas's history and Austin's sadness about him; conflicting accounts and the household's subsequent silence intensify and frustrate her curiosity.

  • Maud secures Monica's account, identifies Silas's childhood portrait and learns about his gambling, marriage, estrangement, murder suspicion and Austin's interventions. Her inquiry progresses substantially without settling the underlying accusation.
  • Monica's account gives Maud an interpretation of Silas's history that inspires sympathy and an imagined role in his vindication, without establishing his innocence.
  • Fairfield's acquaintance with Silas supplies further testimony and gives Maud a conception of him as devout, afflicted and resigned, without establishing his innocence.
  • Silas's letters supply further evidence of his character, but Monica professes inability to understand him. Maud demands any frightening information and receives Monica's denial that she believes him guilty of murder.
  • Maud insists on learning the circumstances despite Monica's attempt to change the subject and hears substantial details of Silas's marriage, reputation and implication in Charke's death.
  • Maud learns further details of the death, gambling debts, public accusations and Silas's defence. The account increases her confidence in him without settling the disputed history.

• The dark visitor becomes Maud's guide to unfamiliar spiritual ideas, but his explanations of her mother's afterlife provoke fear and misunderstanding; Rusk's condemnation intensifies Maud's unease.

• Maud's grief and literal interpretation of the visitor's spiritual teaching make her fear that he will take her into the land of the dead. His clarification ends the immediate misunderstanding, but she continues to believe that a passage to the ghost world lies in the Knowl woods.

• Maud undertakes to learn about heaven and hell from a Swedenborgian book, but abandons the reading because it increases her nervousness about the future state.

• Rougierre becomes Maud's governess, establishing an instructional relationship marked by Maud's horror, foreboding and growing fear; Rusk also expresses dislike of Rougierre.

  • Supernatural dread increases Rougierre's influence over Maud even as Maud recognizes her dangerous temper, questions her sincerity and comes to interpret her treatment as deliberate torment.
  • Discovery of eavesdropping and mockery deepens Maud's distrust; Rougierre prolongs her fear at the vault and inflicts pain to compel disclosure. Release ends the immediate assault, without repairing the relationship.
  • Maud's fear of her governess intensifies into nightmares and hysteria, while the churchyard confrontation adds anger and active resistance.
  • Despite her fear of Rougierre, Maud feels reassured by her apparent recovery, calls on her for protection from Dudley, and promises to arrange a social introduction.
  • Maud discloses her fear of Rougierre and the experiences behind it to Monica, describing the governess as ghostly.
  • Monica's apparent abhorrence strengthens Maud's belief that Rougierre is dangerous. Accusations and patronizing remarks provoke anger, and Rougierre's offer of cooperation receives no assent.
  • Monica's warning intensifies Maud's lasting fear, and Rougierre's physical coercion and injurious push make the threatening instructional relationship overtly violent.
  • Maud's fear reaches extreme agitation, apparently alarming Rougierre into accepting another route. Rougierre recovers her cheerfulness, and Maud relinquishes her immediate suspicion of poisoned food, without resolving the wider distrust.
  • Estrangement and distrust develop into acute fear that Rougierre intends serious harm.
  • Austin ends Rougierre's employment and Maud's subjection to her supervision; her physical departure is not yet recorded.

• Rougierre promises thorough instruction, but her unclear explanations and temper when questioned lead Maud to suppress requests for clarification.

  • The instructional conflict expands into accusations to Austin and a request for punitive authority. Maud confronts Rougierre, who imposes Bible reading and memorization of a prayer for humility, deepening Maud's resentment.
  • Rougierre reduces her harassment over French and other accomplishments, easing the instructional pressure without resolving the conflict.

• The identity and cause of the nocturnal walker and moving library light remain unexplained; Maud's attribution of the light to the link-man is unconfirmed.

• Maud detects that Rougierre's affectionate displays coincide with Austin's ability to see them and suspects that her religious observances are performances; Rougierre's sincerity remains uncertain.

  • Maud witnesses covert eavesdropping and detects mockery concealed as coughing, adding direct evidence of dissimulation without settling the sincerity of Rougierre's religious observances.
  • Maud's suspicion of Rougierre's sincerity extends to her claimed illness. Rusk reports that she has eaten heartily, Maud concludes she is pretending or exaggerating, and Monica independently concludes that her apparent sleep is feigned. The actual extent of her illness remains uncertain.
  • Rougierre decides to present a relapse, while Maud has discovered that she can produce tears at will, strengthening the evidence of calculated emotional displays.
  • Rougierre resumes friendliness, which Maud interprets as a warning of treachery rather than renewed affection.

• Rougierre seeks Austin's authorization to punish Maud by repeatedly alleging disobedience and bad temper; Austin refuses that authorization.

  • Rougierre renews her effort to secure obedience by proposing an appeal to Austin over her authority and later intending to speak with him privately; no new authorization is established.

• Maud seeks to correct Austin's view of her conduct and challenge Rougierre's treatment, but cannot complete her protest to Austin and meets imposed devotional tasks after confronting Rougierre.

  • Maud gains a protective confidante who hears her experiences and promises to speak to Austin, creating a route for intervention; the conversation with Austin has yet to occur.
  • Maud visits Austin to prevent suspected misrepresentations by Rougierre, but he sends her upstairs without allowing her intervention. Whether Rougierre has actually lied remains unestablished.
  • Maud openly refuses Rougierre's demands and declares that she will appeal to Austin about the mistreatment; no completed appeal or response from Austin is established.
  • Maud successfully reports her fear, the earlier encounter and today's dispute to Austin, securing a concrete restriction on Rougierre's control of their walks.
  • Maud successfully presents evidence of Rougierre's misconduct, and Austin responds by dismissing her.

• Rougierre repeatedly seeks brandy through Maud on the pretext of stomach pains; Rusk denies it and supplies remedies, earning Rougierre's enduring hatred.

  • Rougierre circumvents Rusk through Anne. Rusk intercepts the brandy and exposes the arrangement to Austin, but Rougierre supplies a medicinal explanation and doctor's note, obtains permission to recover the bottle and celebrates her victory.
  • Rougierre obtains Austin's medicinal gin by theft and conceals the loss with water; Rusk discovers this, extending their conflict over her access to alcohol.

• Rougierre recruits Anne Wixted's loyalty through gifts supplied by Maud and uses Anne to obtain brandy secretly.

• Maud resolves to minimize conversation with Rougierre after witnessing her treachery.

  • Maud renews her determination to minimize contact, but Rougierre follows her and Silas explicitly requires renewed French instruction and more time together.

• Rougierre seeks information about Austin's will, including its date and contents, using questions, physical coercion and renewed indirect inquiries; Maud's agreement to speak does not establish that she discloses anything.

  • Rougierre gains clandestine access to Austin's private papers, extending her information gathering. These events do not establish that she finds or reads his will.

• Rougierre's reason for pursuing information about Austin's will remains concealed and troubles Maud.

  • The systematic desk search deepens the mystery surrounding Rougierre's pursuit of Austin's private affairs without revealing her purpose.

• Rusk's discovery of Rougierre's theft and dilution of Austin's medicinal gin escalates household hostility; Anne Wixted faces a conditional threat of dismissal.

• The Knowl maids suspect Rougierre is cultivating Austin's favour to replace Rusk and dismiss them; her actual intentions remain unconfirmed.

• The pedlar apparently recognizes Rougierre and disconcerts her, suggesting an undisclosed connection. His evasiveness and Tom's report of a possible payment leave its nature and any connection between payment and silence unconfirmed.

  • Anne's insinuation supplies an alleged trading connection between Rougierre and the pedlar involving Maud's lace; it does not establish their earlier history or a payment for silence.

• Rusk and Catherine Jones seek to question the pedlar privately about Rougierre's past.

• Rougierre's watch checking and expectant glances suggest an undisclosed purpose for the outing; her apparent pleasure as the surroundings become isolated does not establish what she expects.

  • The concealed meeting reveals a purpose for the isolated outing: Rougierre arranges Dudley's inspection of Maud as a prospective wife while hiding their acquaintance.

• Rougierre frightens Maud with a mock death and an announced introduction to the dead, then attempts to bring her into the churchyard; Maud resists and insists on remaining by the brook.

  • The immediate churchyard confrontation ends: Maud feels reassured by Rougierre's apparent recovery and returns home with her.

• Rougierre and Dudley conceal their meeting and acquaintance from Maud while arranging his approach to her. Maud learns of the private conversation only later.

• Rougierre arranges for Dudley to inspect Maud as a prospective wife, describing her attractions and suggesting rival suitors. Despite his reluctance to marry soon, Dudley agrees to look and decide for himself.

• Dudley's intrusive approach frightens and offends Maud; she calls for Rougierre, and he leaves after mocking her call.

  • Maud reports the intrusive young man's frightening conversation to Austin. These events extend disclosure of the earlier encounter rather than establish another approach.
  • Maud recognizes her previous Church Scarsdale harasser among the men whose encounter escalates into physical restraint and silencing.
  • Maud recognizes her cousin Dudley as the intrusive man at Church Scarsdale and tells Silas about the encounter. Dudley's denial temporarily weakens her certainty, but seeing him again restores it; his attempted kiss renews her resistance to his advances.
  • Maud loses confidence in her identification of Dudley as the Church Scarsdale stranger; the identification is now uncertain.

• Rougierre seeks an introduction to Lady Knollys and secures Maud's promise to provide it, but illness prevents her pursuing the introduction that morning during the expected short visit.

  • Maud tells Monica Rougierre's name, bringing the governess to her attention; an introduction or meeting has not yet occurred.
  • Although Monica now offers the sought meeting, Rougierre refuses it on grounds of illness and apparently tries to secure her door. Monica nevertheless enters, producing a resisted bedside encounter rather than the introduction Rougierre previously sought.
  • Monica and Rougierre encounter one another and Monica recognizes her, superseding the need for Maud's promised introduction; Rougierre's desired favourable access is not established.

• Maud admires Oakley and enjoys his attention; he deliberately seeks to amuse and please her, while his impending departure disappoints her.

  • Oakley is frustrated by Maud's absence, while Maud resents his submission to Monica. Monica identifies his attentions as courtship and intervenes to separate them, complicating their attachment without proving his motives.
  • Maud attributes complimentary and amorous verses to Oakley, treats their connection as a secret romance and feels relief when his imagined military danger is disproved. His authorship remains her identification.
  • Monica's allegations turn Maud's admiration into wounded pride and contempt, although she later tries to return her thoughts to Oakley after disappointment over Carysbroke.
  • News that Oakley will arrive after her departure still provokes Maud's blush and embarrassment, but she has begun to idealize him less.
  • Oakley renews contact, and Maud recognizes his handwriting as that of the earlier verse messages. Suspecting clandestine correspondence, she becomes angry and refers his request to Silas, although surprise at meeting Oakley leads her to greet him affably. Oakley takes a sprig of her myrtle as an apparent token.

• Monica's company draws Austin out of his habitual gloom and inflexibility, surprising Maud and making her feel more at ease.

  • Austin and Monica quarrel, Monica leaves, and Austin appears sadder and more withdrawn, interrupting the ease her company had brought.
  • Austin declares that he forgives Monica, and she intends to pardon him for Maud's sake and renew her visits.

• Monica intends to rebuke Austin over Maud's clothing and ensure that he accompanies Maud to London regardless of Bryerly's permission.

• Austin proposes sending Maud to London with Rougierre and Mary to obtain clothes, accompanying them himself if Bryerly permits.

• Monica determines to assess Rougierre and pursues a visit despite her claimed illness, bringing remedies and attempting to inspect her ear. Rougierre resists access and inspection; Monica concludes that her apparent sleep is feigned.

  • Monica recognizes Rougierre, suspects drinking and deliberate avoidance, and investigates Maud's fear, treatment and sleeping arrangements. Her suspicions are not established as facts.

• Monica urges Austin to remarry and proposes Kitty Weadon, but Austin refuses and commits to providing for Maud's care without remarriage.

  • Monica renews her advice that Austin marry for household protection, but Austin declares that he will never marry. Monica promises not to renew the advice unless Maud first wishes it.

• Monica recognizes Rougierre from an earlier acquaintance under an unmarried name and recounts her past to Maud; the supplied events do not specify that history, and Monica's apparent adverse knowledge remains only partly disclosed.

  • Maud repeatedly seeks an explanation of Monica's hostility. Rougierre defers answering, and Monica evades particulars, acknowledges adverse impressions and expressly disclaims conclusive knowledge against Rougierre. She anticipates explaining when free to do so.
  • Maud learns that Rougierre is Mademoiselle Blassemare, but also learns the limited extent and uncertain basis of Monica's knowledge of her history.

• Monica commits to informing Austin about Rougierre, investigates Maud's circumstances, and settles on speaking to him in the morning.

  • Monica renews her intention to tell Austin about Rougierre. Her subsequent appeal concerning perceived danger meets refusal, but Austin invites further private discussion; neither its full subject nor its final outcome is established.
  • Monica's intervention has produced a quarrel rather than effective protection, and Austin refuses Maud a visit; Monica continues seeking Rougierre's removal.

• Maud comes to love and confide in Monica, whose protective concern and promise of confidential help establish intimacy between them.

  • Monica's protective intervention strains Maud's affection with resentment and fear, though Monica subsequently makes further marriage advice conditional on Maud's wishes.
  • Monica entrusts Maud with confidential warnings and promises continued help; Maud dreads losing her protective company and bears the resulting fear privately.
  • Maud's distress produces anger at Monica for leaving her exposed to Rougierre, and she reports receiving no recent letter from her; their protective intimacy is strained.
  • Despite disappointment at the omission of Oakley, Maud recognizes Monica's kindness and learns of her intention to visit and take her to London.
  • Monica's practical care and consolation deepen Maud's love and relieve her grief.
  • Monica sustains her protective companionship through Maud's grief and nighttime fear, accompanying her, sharing her room and securing the bedroom after Bryerly's appearance.
  • Maud includes Monica in the planned will reading, confides her fear about its provisions and appeals to her to remain.
  • Monica consoles Maud, whose discovery of Monica's tears deepens her love and brings comfort through their shared grief.
  • Maud accepts Monica's denial of having suspected Silas, but Monica's fierce prohibition against repeating the question frightens and hurts her. Monica then tries to comfort her and repair the hurt.
  • Monica responds to Maud's agitation with concern and promises continued help and visits if permitted; the promise comforts Maud.
  • Monica's increasing affection, intention to remain until Maud's departure and promised early visit sustain their protective intimacy.
  • Monica shares her private interview with Maud, receives Maud's disclosures about the visitor and Charke's room, and renews her protective advice.

• Monica arranges immediate precautions for Maud by instructing Mary to remain with her, attend her, retire early and bolt their bedroom door.

• Austin repeatedly finances Silas's gambling losses. Silas's marriage causes complete estrangement between the brothers, but the murder scandal brings reconciliation and Austin's determined defence of him.

  • Monica supplies further history of Austin repeatedly financing Silas's losses and then withdrawing support in disgust at his marriage, leaving Silas impoverished.
  • Austin circulates Silas's religious letters and offers to fund parliamentary rehabilitation, while Silas resists that proposal and permanently loses his former powerful influence over Austin.

• County gentlemen suspect Silas of murder and socially discredit him; Austin angrily contests their treatment of his brother. The account does not establish Silas's guilt or innocence.

  • Maud learns the murder accusation and its damaging consequences, alongside Monica's account of Silas's already impaired reputation and the circumstances of Charke's death. These reports do not establish guilt.
  • Published allegations intensify suspicion and expose further scandals. Silas answers with a pamphlet and accusations of political conspiracy, but becomes an enduring social outcast.

• Austin seeks wholesale prosecution of those impugning Silas, but his lawyers oppose the course.

• Silas attempts to vindicate himself through duels, but his opponents refuse to meet him.

• Austin seeks a county appointment to restore Silas's standing. The Minister fears public opposition, and Austin rejects the offered colonial appointment as banishment.

• Austin's efforts on Silas's behalf bring him into conflict with the government; he refuses a compensatory peerage and breaks with his political party.

• Austin reportedly vows to limit Silas's allowance to five hundred a year; implementation is not established.

• Maud imagines helping to vindicate Silas, whom she now regards with admiration and pity as a wronged man.

  • Maud's imagined contribution to Silas's vindication becomes an enthusiastic commitment to Austin's unspecified undertaking.
  • Maud initially suspects prejudice against Silas, but her former admiration gives way to fear and a wish to escape his guardianship; reassurance about discipline does not settle Monica's deeper concern.

• Monica commits to preventing Oakley from marrying Maud for her inheritance, warns Maud and Austin about his financial motives, and presses his departure for Snodhurst. Her account of his motives remains an allegation.

  • Learning of the verses, Monica renews her intervention through allegations of Oakley's gambling, debts and courtship of a wealthy woman; Maud responds with contempt for him. The allegations remain unverified.

• Monica's intervention in Oakley's courtship provokes Maud's resentment of her control and of Oakley's submission; Maud resists Monica's warnings and questions.

• Oakley receives generous financial support from Monica and expects to benefit from her will, establishing a financial dependence alongside his submission to her direction.

  • Monica vows to end further payments after discovering Oakley's gambling and debts; actual cessation of support is not established.

• Rougierre discloses to Austin an unspecified matter she previously withheld; Maud overhears its existence but does not learn its content. Rougierre's subsequent elation leaves the outcome of the audience uncertain.

• Rougierre proposes friendship and cooperation with Maud, but obtains no agreement.

• Monica urges Austin to act against a danger she perceives; he dismisses her concern as prejudice. Their disagreement continues privately, with Austin seeking to change her view.

  • Their disagreement culminates in a quarrel and Monica's departure, while Austin refuses Maud permission to visit her. Monica explicitly distinguishes her suspicion from knowledge of a great crime.

• Monica instructs Maud to conceal her distrust and family business, watch Rougierre, protect her food, and keep the warnings from servants and Austin; the danger remains Monica's suspicion.

  • Maud suspects poison in the basket but abandons that suspicion after Rougierre eats its contents. She also tells Austin of her fear and the outings, partially departing from Monica's instruction to conceal her distrust.

• Monica seeks a short visit from Maud, but Austin refuses permission.

• Monica promises to help Maud and contrive Rougierre's removal.

  • The desired removal is secured through Austin's dismissal of Rougierre following Maud's disclosure, rather than through any demonstrated intervention by Monica.

• Rougierre repeatedly seeks another Church Scarsdale excursion, falsely represents Maud as eager to go, and tries to force her beyond the grounds. Maud refuses, suffers painful restraint and a dangerous push, and fears renewed violence as Rougierre returns to confront her.

  • Maud's refusal makes Rougierre abandon obtaining consent to Church Scarsdale and accept another walk. Austin then agrees to confine their walks to the grounds and promises to instruct Rougierre, blocking renewed excursions beyond them.
  • Austin apparently restricts walks beyond Knowl, maintaining an obstacle to the proposed excursion. The warren encounter leads Rusk to suspect that Church Scarsdale was intended as a similar trap, without proving that purpose.

• Rougierre's purpose in pressing the renewed Church Scarsdale outing remains concealed; Rusk detects her false account of Maud's wishes and suspects an ulterior purpose.

  • Rougierre abandons the proposed outing, while Maud's suspicion that the basket contains poison is subsequently withdrawn. The purpose behind Rougierre's pressure to visit Church Scarsdale remains undisclosed.
  • Rougierre's conduct during and after the attack strengthens Rusk's suspicion of an ulterior purpose behind the earlier excursion, but her involvement remains unconfirmed.

• Austin intends to leave Maud with an unnamed relation when he departs; Maud has not learned the relation's identity.

  • Austin wishes Monica could accompany Maud during his departure, but dies without these events establishing that he completed the intended arrangement with a relation.
  • Austin's death makes Maud's future care immediate. His note connects her promised family service with Silas, but these events do not establish the actual care arrangement.
  • The will identifies Silas as the relation entrusted with Maud and specifies her residence at Bartram-Haugh.

• Maud suspects an undisclosed connection between Bryerly and Austin's distress beyond their religion. Bryerly denies being the expected companion or knowing of the journey, but Maud suspects concealment; neither his involvement nor deception is established.

• Men at the warren obstruct, seize and silence Maud. Approaching gamekeepers secure her release, but the men seriously injure Bill and escape.

• The attackers' identities, purpose and possible connection with Rougierre remain uncertain. Rusk suspects her complicity; her encouragement to approach the carriage, attempt to deter Dykes and conflicting description deepen suspicion without establishing it.

  • Maud identifies Dudley with the Knowl warren encounter and supplies Silas with her full account. Dudley denies the identification, temporarily shaking her confidence before it revives. The failed poaching proceedings do not establish his involvement in the attack, its purpose or any connection with Rougierre.
  • Maud suspects that Tom Brice, a worker supplying Silas with game, was the Knowl postilion and questions him with promises of protection. His denials and departure leave identification and any connection to the outrage unestablished.
  • Maud initially identifies Sarah Matilda with the woman previously seen in the carriage at Knowl Warren, then doubts the resemblance; the possible connection remains unconfirmed.

• Austin seeks to intercept and identify Maud's attackers, but they escape by railway and conflicting descriptions leave their identification uncertain.

• Maud urgently wants Rougierre removed because she fears that the governess hates her and will cause her serious harm; she communicates this fear and desire to Mary.

  • Maud resolves to seek dismissal, communicates her fear and evidence to Austin, and obtains Rougierre's dismissal. Her departure has not yet been shown.

• Monica intends to visit Knowl when free and take Maud to London.

  • Austin's invitation to seek Monica's advice creates a further prospect of her visiting Knowl; taking Maud to London remains unconfirmed.

• Rougierre secretly searches Austin's locked desk and reads his private papers. Maud witnesses and reports the intrusion, but its purpose and the specific information Rougierre obtains remain undisclosed.

  • Rougierre claims she searched for Bryerly's letters to expose a threat to Maud's property, then denies Maud's accusation before Silas. Silas accepts Maud's account, but the intrusion's actual purpose and discoveries remain unverified.

• Maud seeks to report Rougierre's intrusion without being identified as the informant. Austin orders secrecy, including from Monica, although he tells Rougierre that her intrusion was witnessed.

• The maker of Rougierre's false desk key remains unidentified. Austin verifies that it works, but Rougierre withholds its origin.

• Austin confronts Rougierre over the desk intrusion and demands her false key under threat of searches and prosecution. She surrenders it; he dismisses her without a favourable reference and withdraws the conditional prosecution threat.

  • Rougierre actually leaves Knowl, completing the dismissal.

• Rougierre vows to monitor Maud and eventually retaliate for her conduct; her departure does not establish that she can carry out the threat.

  • Rougierre renews her intimidation through ominous claims about enemies' misfortunes and explicit threats to humble Maud. Silas's order gives her renewed access, but no responsibility for the alleged misfortunes is established.
  • Rougierre renews her hostility by calling Maud wicked and framing their encounter as mutual destruction. Maud fears imminent harm, though no physical attack is established.

• Rougierre's threats continue to frighten Maud after her departure, producing recurring imaginings and dreams despite Rusk's reassurance.

  • The apparent sight of Rougierre renews Maud's terror, leaving her gripping Milly and requiring care during the night. Jolks's diagnosis and dismissal of ghosts offer some comfort without establishing what she saw.

• Austin appears burdened by a new trouble and expresses unusual anxiety about Maud, but its cause remains unknown to her.

  • Maud detects concealed agitation and infers that Austin's impending departure involves something painful; the cause of his distress remains undisclosed.
  • Austin's fatal disease, Bryerly's detection of it, the warning of separation and the prepared farewells supply a concrete context for his anxiety. They do not establish every cause of his earlier distress.

• Austin seeks Monica's advice by letter, with a possible visit in view; Maud welcomes the prospect.

  • Monica announces her arrival within two or three days, and Austin hopes she can remain with Maud; his death prevents the anticipated consultation during that visit.
  • Monica arrives after Austin's death and reads his written direction concerning Maud and Silas. A living consultation with Austin is no longer possible.

• Austin pursues an unspecified plan involving himself and Maud to leave evidence vindicating Silas and the family name. Maud willingly commits to an undefined sacrifice, accepting even hypothetical risk; Austin reports that he had nearly abandoned the plan.

  • Maud's commitment persists despite recurring regret and fear. Austin dies before these events disclose the undertaking's terms or establish its execution.
  • Austin's note asks Monica to prevent fear of Silas from undermining Maud's passive family service. Maud reaffirms her promise after Austin's death, although she still does not know what it requires.
  • The will establishes Maud's placement under Silas and the inheritance consequence of her death before majority, giving concrete terms to Austin's previously undefined undertaking. Its intended vindicatory effect is not explicitly explained in these events.
  • Austin's letters explicitly connect Maud's placement with Silas and the inheritance condition to his vindication project; Maud renews her commitment to residence at Bartram-Haugh.

• Maud agrees to keep Austin's proposed change and family undertaking secret from Monica and not invite discussion of Silas.

  • Monica learns of Maud's commitment and her ignorance of its requirements. The undertaking's substance remains undisclosed.

• Austin offers to finance an unspecified action he advises Silas to take, but Silas does not act on the advice.

• Maud suspects that Austin prompted Fairfield's favourable account of Silas; Fairfield denies receiving instructions to raise any subject, leaving the suspected orchestration unestablished.

• Maud regrets committing to Austin's proposed ordeal and struggles with fear and self-doubt, intermittently reassured by her belief that he would not expose her to real peril.

  • Maud remains afraid but renews her commitment. She seeks explicit disclosure of danger and challenges Monica about suspected murder, receiving a denial of that belief.
  • Maud's apprehension gives way to relief and pleasure at the prospect of living with Silas and Milly, but Monica's unexpected anger frightens her again.
  • Fear of the ordeal becomes entangled with guilt over avoiding it. Maud resolves to submit, and the refusal of release removes her conscientious guilt without ending her foreboding.

• Maud must face Austin's death and overwhelming grief; Monica assumes the bereavement arrangements and comforts her through companionship and shared memories.

  • Monica consoles and accompanies Maud, who attempts to see Austin's body but loses her resolve. Her bereavement deepens into terror and despair, and Monica moves her bed into Maud's room.
  • The will overwhelms Maud with renewed grief, and the required departure adds anticipated loss of home; Monica supports her through the reading and leads her away.
  • Austin's funeral and the dismantling of his rooms renew Maud's anguish, while Monica's consolation and shared mourning help her reach comparative calm without ending her grief.
  • Leaving Knowl and passing her parents' mausoleum renew Maud's desolation and grief; unfamiliar scenery subsequently brings temporary relief.

• Maud and Monica seek Austin's will and a way to contact Bryerly while Maud reserves the cabinet for him. Their desk search finds neither his address nor a will; Monica directs Maud to summon Rector Clay if Bryerly does not arrive tomorrow.

  • Silas arranges representation at the anticipated will reading, and Bryerly arrives at Knowl, where the observers recognize him after his nocturnal visit to Austin's room. Neither discovery of the will nor direct contact with Bryerly is established.
  • Bryerly arrives, receives the reserved cabinet key and arranges an early will reading. Maud agrees to invite the named attendees and bring Monica; the reading has not yet occurred.
  • With Bryerly present, the cabinet is identified, the will and codicil are found, and the provisions are read.

• Silas sends a solicitor to represent him at Austin's will reading and assist Maud, requesting hospitality for his representative; he attributes the decision to religious advice.

  • Sleigh represents Silas at the reading, records the provisions and investigates further benefits for his client. His requests for an immediate copy and personal delivery of Austin's letter are refused.

• Monica suspects calculation and financial self-interest behind Silas's letter and communicates her distrust to Maud; his motives remain unestablished.

  • Monica tells Maud that Silas is in debt and confirms concern beyond neglect; his attempt to restrict their intercourse provokes her indignation without establishing his underlying motives.
  • Silas's refusal intensifies Monica's anger, and she explicitly declares her detestation of him; his stated reasons do not establish concealed financial motives.

• Austin's death unsettles Maud's confidence in his religion and provokes fear for his spiritual welfare, terror of death and apprehension of his apparition, disturbing her sleep.

  • Maud experiences terrifying images and a dream of Austin, interpreting them as supernatural guidance and a command; no actual apparition is established.

• Bryerly secretly enters Austin's locked mortuary room at night and locks it on leaving. Maud, Monica and Mary identify him, but his purpose and activity inside remain unknown.

  • Bryerly announces an intention to pray beside Austin, enquires about the coffin, and enters the room alone with its key and a candle. His visit fulfils a promise to Austin, but the events do not establish what he actually does inside.

• Bryerly undertakes to fulfil a solemn promise to Austin; Maud learns that the promise occasioned his visit, but its terms remain undisclosed.

• Maud professes confidence in Bryerly, who identifies himself as her father's executor and her friend and arranges representation of her interests, although his uneasiness alarms her.

  • Bryerly helps locate the will and is confirmed as a trustee. His successful opposition to a proposed personal bequest supplies evidence of financial disinterestedness, although his manner continues to alarm Maud.
  • Maud hopes Bryerly can help deliver her from Silas, and Monica seeks his support after learning that his co-trustees will leave the work to him. His agreement to an interview does not establish agreement to intervene.
  • Bryerly offers practical help to change Maud's care, explains the inheritance danger, and receives her authorization to negotiate with Silas.
  • Bryerly visits Silas, records his bankers' identity, and reassures Maud through his presence at the interview. The purpose of his financial inquiry is not established.
  • Bryerly offers a private means of contact and conditional assistance, but his warnings and departure renew Maud's anxiety and sense of abandonment.
  • Maud increasingly admires Bryerly's resistance to Silas, and Bryerly renews his offer of help, although his departure removes her immediate access to him.

• Austin's unusual will contains undisclosed provisions concerning Maud and Silas. Bryerly opposed an unusual provision unsuccessfully and prevented another proposed provision; Maud fears that what remains will harm her.

  • The testamentary arrangements are disclosed, including Silas's guardianship, Maud's required residence and Silas's position as her heir-at-law. The proposed personal bequest Bryerly opposed is distinguished from the sum granted for his trustee duties.

• Silas corresponds with Henry Voerst and comes close to joining the Swedenborgians; Bryerly informs Maud of this religious connection.

  • Bryerly discovers unexpectedly extensive Swedenborgian reading and interest in Silas; formal membership is not established.

• Austin's will appoints Silas Maud's sole guardian until she is twenty-one and directs her to live at Bartram-Haugh; Silas is to receive an annual allowance for her maintenance.

  • Silas begins exercising the guardianship conferred by the will through instructions about Maud's residence and intended journey, making her feel her dependence on his authority.
  • Silas accepts his appointment and begins implementing Maud's transfer to his household.
  • Silas insists on exercising the guardianship and residence requirements, citing conscience and reputation, and intends to summon Maud shortly.
  • Maud enters Bartram-Haugh, occupies her assigned bedroom and is summoned to meet her guardian, putting the residence provision into effect.
  • Silas begins exercising his guardianship in person, granting Maud freedoms and promising books; Milly also predicts that Maud must join the household's compulsory religious observances.
  • Bryerly learns that Maud has no teachers, carriage in use or riding horses and reminds her of Silas's liberal allowance for her maintenance and education, raising a discrepancy without establishing misuse.

• Silas's guardianship places Maud in the care of the man who would inherit if she died before coming of age. Monica reacts with anger and alarm and establishes the inheritance consequence by questioning the will's readers; no harmful intention by Silas is established.

  • Monica actively seeks to prevent the placement and enlist Bryerly, while Maud grows frightened and wishes to escape it. Silas's debt is disclosed, but no harmful intention is established.
  • Bryerly explicitly explains Silas's control over Maud and financial interest in her death, recalls his objection to Austin, and proposes alternative care. Maud becomes alarmed without fully comprehending the implication; no harmful intention by Silas is established.
  • Silas refuses to relinquish guardianship and summons Maud, who leaves Knowl. Maud suspects Monica anticipates an unspecified danger; no harmful intention by Silas is established.

• Monica seeks to prevent Maud's placement with Silas, have Maud stay with her, and enlist Bryerly's support. Bryerly agrees to an interview, but no successful intervention is established.

  • Bryerly proposes obtaining Silas's consent to Monica's care, possibly leaving him the maintenance allowance. Maud authorizes the approach, and Monica sends Bryerly toward Bartram-Haugh with instructions to report promptly. Silas's agreement remains unestablished.
  • Bryerly undertakes the requested intervention, but Silas absolutely refuses alternative guardianship or residence. Monica relinquishes the immediate guardianship project.
  • Bryerly's attempt to secure Silas's resignation fails: Silas refuses to relinquish or reconsider the guardianship.
  • Monica urges Maud to take Bryerly's advice seriously and intend to remain at Elverston, renewing her effort to remove Maud from Silas's care, although no departure is secured.

• Maud seeks deliverance from Silas's guardianship through Monica and Bryerly. Monica relieves her imagined fear of cruel discipline, but confirms that she fears something beyond neglect.

  • Fear of Silas's commands and distress at leaving Knowl accompany Maud's hesitation over alternative care. She eventually authorizes intervention but remains confused and dissatisfied with her consent.
  • Maud first attempts to stop the intervention, then explicitly abandons seeking release and accepts the arrangement after Silas's refusal; deliverance is not achieved.

• Silas asserts immediate guardianship, instructs Maud to remain at Knowl pending further orders, and intends to arrange her reception and journey to his home.

  • Silas formally accepts the guardianship and directs Maud to prepare for Bartram-Haugh, promising the route and departure date in his next letter.
  • Silas announces that he will send for Maud in a few days.
  • Silas abandons his initial inclination to decline guardianship, summons Maud and brings about her departure toward Bartram-Haugh; her arrival remains pending.
  • Maud's journey and reception are accomplished: she arrives, her luggage is taken upstairs, she reaches her bedroom and Silas sends for her.

• Silas conditions Maud's continued intercourse with Monica on their not discussing him, threatening its termination. Monica resolves to discuss him freely and remain with Maud, and Maud resolves to reject the restriction.

  • After extracting confirmation that Monica has criticized him to both girls, Silas commits in writing to preventing her further access to Maud and Milly, intensifying Maud's isolation.

• According to Monica, Silas tried unsuccessfully to invalidate his marriage, which later deteriorated into ill-treatment, jealousy and brutal quarrelling; his wife subsequently died.

• Whether Charke's death was suicide or murder remains unresolved. He was discovered with his throat cut behind a door secured from inside; Monica presents the death as suicide while acknowledging accusations against Silas.

  • The inquest concludes suicide, and searches disclose no concealed access. Monica treats murder as physically impossible, but the missing betting book and published debt allegations sustain competing suspicions; neither her conclusion nor Silas's defence establishes the truth conclusively.
  • Maud identifies Charke's room and tells Milly about his death and the removal of the wainscoting to investigate a possible second entrance. Milly believes she sees a bloodstain, but neither that identification nor Maud's suicide account establishes how Charke died.
  • Bryerly discovers the concealed hinged window and establishes the means of entry in Charke's murder, resolving the locked-room obstacle to the murder explanation.

• Silas allegedly invited Charke to Bartram-Haugh to win his money. They undertook heavy gambling, with Charke expecting Austin to cover Silas's debts; the outcome of the wagers is not supplied.

  • Silas wins some money from Charke, but also incurs enormous gambling losses and gives him I.O.U.s. These disclosures supply outcomes of their gambling without establishing repayment or independently proving the alleged purpose of the invitation.

• Maud gains confidence in Silas after hearing Monica's account of the evidence and his defence.

  • Having heard the account of Silas's disgrace, Maud exults in an imagined public vindication of him as an innocent martyr.
  • Monica's declared detestation diminishes Maud's idealizing reverence for Silas.
  • Bryerly renews Maud's confidence and hope that life at Bartram-Haugh may be happy.
  • Silas's defence of Dickon disappoints Maud and overturns her expectation that his apparent gentleness entails abhorrence of brutality.

• Charke's agent seeks to extort money by publishing Charke's confidential letters alleging enormous gambling debts owed by Silas; publication occurs, but no payment is established.

• Silas promises to repay enormous gambling losses to Charke and supplies I.O.U.s; repayment remains unestablished.

• Austin seeks to rehabilitate Silas through entry into Parliament and offers financial support, but Silas objects on religious grounds.

• Austin's written appeal makes Maud regard the attempt to escape Silas's guardianship as a breach of faith. Taking a dream of Austin as a warning and command, she resolves to go to Bartram-Haugh; Silas's refusal subsequently relieves her conscientious guilt, though grief and foreboding remain.

  • Maud completes her intended journey to Bartram, but agitation and awe persist as the meeting with Silas approaches.

• Bryerly intends to visit Knowl to advise Maud and arrange servants, inventories and care of the estate.

  • Bryerly reaches Knowl and agrees estate and servant arrangements with Danvers, including retaining Rusk and sending Mary with Maud.

• Rougierre's reported offer of a pearl cross for sale raises the possibility that she stole Maud's missing cross. Servants allege other thefts, including an exchange of Maud's lace with the pedlar, but these allegations and the cross's identity remain unverified.

• Monica commits to asking Georgina to purchase the pearl cross and involving the police if it proves to be Maud's.

  • Monica obtains descriptions of the missing cross from Maud, Mary and Rusk. Maud suspects police involvement, but neither that involvement nor recovery and identification of the cross is confirmed.

• Maud seeks to avoid appearing in court over the suspected thefts and asks Monica to keep her out of proceedings.

• Monica urges Maud to retain Mary as her maid despite anticipated pressure to replace her; Mary accompanies Maud on the journey.

  • Mary arrives with Maud, is recognized as her maid and accompanies her to her bedroom, continuing in that role within the new household.
  • Bryerly reinforces Monica's advice to retain Mary and adds instructions for obtaining his help if anyone seeks her removal.

• Monica promises Maud an early visit after their separation.

  • Monica promises to ask Silas in person for permission to visit Maud, who anticipates her proximity with pleasure; no visit or permission is yet established.
  • Monica fulfils her promised visit after securing access through repeated letters to Silas.

• Rusk promises to care for Knowl and its animals until Maud returns, and hopes to visit Maud and Mary in Derbyshire if permitted.

• Maud seeks reassurance before entering Bartram, resolving to approach it with cheerful predictions and purchasing a pin represented as protective; her initial pleasure does not prevent renewed fear before meeting Silas.

  • Maud finds fascination and some enjoyment in her new surroundings, but the meeting leaves her haunted by fear and unresolved wonder.
  • Bryerly's interview briefly revives Maud's fears about Bartram-Haugh; these subsequently subside, and Monica's return brings intense joy.

• Milly welcomes Maud and guides her into the household; Maud finds her appearance and remarks astonishing and amusing.

  • Maud learns about Milly's fear, isolation and neglected education and assures her of affection. Their intimacy grows despite Maud's refusal to join criticism of Silas.
  • Their shared ramble develops companionship and Maud's appreciation of Milly's abilities, alongside friction over Maud's laughter and unwillingness to join the confrontation or climb the paling. They continue together, and Milly seeks further companionship while Maud draws.
  • Milly's return relieves Maud, and her delight and affection over the proposed lessons restore Maud's good spirits, strengthening their attachment.
  • Milly gains comfort from Maud's encouragement and becomes grateful to her, while Maud develops a sense of responsibility for Milly.
  • Their friendship survives a hostile quarrel and becomes stronger through Milly's appeal for forgiveness, Maud's acceptance of her ring and their reciprocated affection.
  • Their distress at separation and agreement to maintain close correspondence demonstrate the strength of Maud and Milly's attachment.

• Maud prepares her appearance before meeting Silas; the household subsequently announces that he is ready and directs Milly to conduct her to him.

  • Milly conducts Maud to Silas, and the first interview takes place.

• Silas receives Maud with polished conversation and grants her freedom to roam, fascinating her without dispelling the fear and painful wonder his appearance provokes.

  • Maud learns that Bartram-Haugh is persistently isolated and encounters a locked boundary controlled under Dickon's orders during her exercise of the freedom Silas granted. She and Milly ultimately pass around it; these events do not establish that Silas ordered the obstruction or intended to restrict Maud.
  • Silas's ordinary appearance and Bryerly's presence relieve Maud's immediate fear, and Silas proposes educational travel with her. His refusal to intervene for Meg subsequently damages her favourable impression.
  • Maud's awe of Silas helps inhibit her complaint, while she begins to recognize his exacting, selfish and impatient character.
  • Silas's sudden approach and removal of the Bible intensify Maud's distress; Lucy's return brings intense relief, and Maud later breaks into prolonged weeping.
  • Silas's interview deepens Maud's insecurity, while his apparent despair makes her feel responsible for his suffering, further complicating her fearful relationship with her guardian.
  • Silas's altered manner makes Maud suspect fear and repulsion toward her, but writing the requested account of his kindness restores her goodwill toward him.
  • Silas's apparent support for Maud's wishes brings some happiness, but his suggestion that Dudley might have taken her elsewhere alarms her. Vague suspicion persists, and Silas's face increasingly haunts her.

• Silas intimidates Milly through mockery and habitual painful blows when she naps; she fears him intensely and reports breakfast teasing that sometimes makes her cry.

  • Silas's reprimand again frightens Milly, who leaves him alone with Dudley.

• Silas professes hope of arranging French convent schooling for Milly, whose education has been neglected.

  • The proposed French schooling becomes a concrete journey via London, and Milly departs with Mrs. Jolks; arrival at the school is not established.

• Silas's prescribed diet conflicts with his preferred food; he conditionally proposes abandoning the regimen.

• Silas promises Maud access to his books, but the promised access proves disappointing.

  • Maud obtains a book from Silas's library, borrowing Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell.

• Maud declares that she will not criticize Silas behind his back, setting a boundary on Milly's complaints about him.

• Maud intends, if Milly consents, to teach her and improve her speech and manners, having discovered abilities that her neglected education has left undeveloped.

  • Maud explicitly resolves to teach Milly everything she knows, and Milly eagerly accepts. Maud also intervenes to forestall an uncertain contribution from Milly during their conversation with Carysbroke; lessons have not yet begun.
  • Maud renews her undertaking to educate Milly and improve her clothes; Milly enthusiastically consents and accepts Maud's educational authority.
  • Maud's instruction produces quieter speech and laughter, while Milly acquires clothing suited to the visit.
  • Maud renews her undertaking to improve Milly's speech.

• Milly's attempt to pass the locked boundary brings her into conflict with Meg, who holds the key and reports Dickon's prohibition on opening the gate. Their confrontation escalates into reciprocal threats of violence; departure ends the immediate encounter without settling the dispute.

  • The access dispute extends to Dickon himself, who defends his enforcement and intends to complain to Silas. Maud learns that Meg is his daughter; no permission to pass or settlement is established.
  • Milly proposes forcing passage past Meg, but the girls get around the paling by the river and Maud restrains Milly from renewing the confrontation; the underlying dispute remains unsettled.
  • Removal of the stile and Meg's stationing at the paling strengthen the restriction preventing the girls from passing.

• Milly intends to report Meg's defiance to Silas.

• Maud plans to return tomorrow to sketch the ruined bridge; Milly urges her to draw it immediately and proposes fetching her materials and sitting beside her.

  • Milly returns after undertaking to fetch the drawing materials, Maud agrees to draw with Milly beside her, and Carysbroke subsequently inspects the unfinished bridge sketch, establishing that the proposed immediate drawing takes place.

• Dickon's enforcement of access rules brings him into conflict with Maud and Milly. He intends to complain to Silas, and Maud declares that she will complain about his treatment of her; his departure leaves their competing claims unsettled.

  • The girls bypass the locked boundary and encounter Dickon. Their intervention for Meg escalates into his threat to beat Milly. Maud reports both the assault and his intimidating conduct to Silas, who promises to address his conduct toward her.
  • Maud reports Dickon's and Meg's abuse and their claimed exclusion orders to Bryerly; no intervention or settlement follows.
  • Dickon's charcoal work is linked to Silas, access remains obstructed, and the reported misconduct in Windmill Wood shocks and continues to distress Maud.

• Dickon reportedly beats his daughter Meg.

  • Maud witnesses Dickon wound Meg with a stick and intervenes against another assault. Silas receives her report but declines to intervene in Dickon's treatment of his daughter.
  • Meg reports another blow from her father's stick. His threat to leave if her illness continues, alongside Jolks's assessment of neglect, further exposes her precarious care.
  • Meg reports fear of punishment from Dickon for friendly contact and of being made to solicit money; no new beating is established.
  • Dickon strikes Meg with his cudgel, breaking her arm, and locks her in the cottage; she escapes.

• Carysbroke promises to send or bring Silas an expected book immediately upon its arrival.

• Maud is pleased and flattered by Carysbroke's conversation and shared interest in drawing. She infers that he has a serious personal interest in her and seeks her good opinion, but his intentions remain unconfirmed.

  • Renewed contact and dinner companionship sustain the acquaintance, but Maud accepts that Carysbroke is Lady Mary's intended husband and suffers romantic disappointment, overturning her earlier inference of his interest in her.
  • Maud learns that the man she knew as Carysbroke is Lord Ilbury, becomes more intimate with his company and seeks further information about him. His romantic intentions remain unconfirmed.

• Milly mistakes Carysbroke's loan of his sketchbook for a gift and takes offence when corrected, refusing to inspect it or return it herself; Maud returns it for her.

• Milly feels slighted by Carysbroke's preference for Maud and distressed by her social disadvantage; Maud's encouragement brings some comfort.

• Milly enthusiastically commits to education and improving her manners, and Maud judges her resolve sustained and genuine.

  • Milly's improved dress and appearance provide evidence of progress toward becoming more socially presentable, though educational progress is not specified.
  • Milly shows improvements despite nervousness and explicitly resolves to learn the guests' manners through observation.

• Maud proposes returning in daylight to inspect the supposed bloodstain in Charke's room, but Lucy expels both girls, locks the room and retains its key.

  • Maud renews her exploration partly in hopes of finding Charke's room, but discovers Rougierre instead; no inspection of the supposed bloodstain is established.

• Maud learns that Silas suffers recurrent prolonged dazed states and becomes alarmed; the cause remains unexplained, as does his summoning Dickon only to dismiss him after staring at him.

  • Maud witnesses the severity of Silas's recurrent incapacity and seeks an explanation. Mary suspects excessive laudanum use, but this remains unverified; Lucy's subsequent report indicates partial improvement without explaining the episodes.
  • Silas suffers a life-threatening episode involving mental disorder and inability to awaken. A doctor attends and bleeds him, but the cause remains unexplained.
  • Jolks attributes this coma to an opium overdose and supplies instructions for recurrence. This gives a medical explanation for the present crisis without establishing the cause of every earlier dazed state.
  • Another severe nocturnal fit leaves Silas exhausted and initially unavailable to Maud; its cause remains unexplained.

• Monica invites Maud to Elverston for Christmas and promises to include Milly; Maud welcomes the prospect, but permission and the visit remain unsettled.

  • Monica proposes taking both girls immediately. Milly requests a delay over her clothes, and Silas professes willingness to permit a visit very soon without granting immediate departure. Monica leaves still determined to secure it.
  • Monica renews the request for Maud and Milly to visit Elverston. Despite their fear of refusal, Silas grants permission, delighting both; the visit itself has not yet occurred.
  • Maud and Milly arrive at Elverston, fulfilling the proposed visit despite Monica's expectation that an evasion might prevent it.

• Milly's attempt to impose a nickname on Maud provokes resistance, insults and a threat of violence. Milly seeks forgiveness through apology and gifts; Maud accepts her ring, and their open reconciliation settles the quarrel.

• Silas summons Maud but can speak only briefly and postpones their conversation until tomorrow or the following day; its subject remains unstated.

  • The postponed interview takes place. Maud meets Silas with Bryerly present and remains to discuss Dickon's conduct; no further postponement is recorded.

• Alarmed by Silas's incapacitation, Maud seeks medical help and a complete explanation of his seizures. Mary's suspicion of excessive laudanum use supplies a possible cause, but no medical explanation is established.

  • Bryerly assesses Silas's prolonged insensibility as associated with excessive opium use, strengthening Mary's earlier suspicion without supplying a verified medical explanation.
  • Reports of Silas's critical illness renew Maud's alarm and prompt her to hasten to the house. Medical attendance is established, but the relayed prognosis supplies only cautious hope, not an explanation of his condition.
  • Maud receives medical help, Jolks's explanation of the present coma and practical instructions; he subsequently pronounces Silas out of danger, though very weak.

• A tall cloaked visitor arrives at Bartram-Haugh late at night, but the visitor's identity and purpose remain unknown. Maud assumes a physician has come for Silas; Milly instead suspects Cormoran, without confirmation.

  • Lucy denies any arrival, while Silas threatens Milly into silence. Maud maintains that the sighting was real and rejects her brief conjecture that the visitor was Bryerly. The visitor's identity and purpose remain unknown.
  • An unexplained nocturnal chaise suggests a departure, which Maud and Milly conjecture was the earlier visitor's; neither the passenger's identity nor the connection is confirmed.
  • Maud tells Monica about the concealed nocturnal arrival and Mary's sighting of the chaise. Monica responds with gloomy conjecture, but the visitor's identity and purpose remain unknown.

• Lucy's impertinent language leads Maud to resolve to complain to Silas if it recurs.

• Silas threatens Milly with schooling in France if she speaks further about the nocturnal visitor or chaise. Fear prevents her from explaining Cormoran to Maud.

• Silas proposes travelling on the Continent with Maud for her education, conditional on his health.

• Silas promises to address Dickon's conduct toward Maud after learning that it frightens her and spoils the girls' walks.

• Maud discovers Bryerly still in the sitting-room after being told that he has departed; the reason for the contradictory information remains unexplained.

• Bryerly urges Maud to seek release from Silas's guardianship and leave Bartram-Haugh; she expresses satisfaction with her situation and makes no commitment to leave.

  • Monica reinforces Bryerly's advice to leave and urges Maud to envisage remaining at Elverston. Maud's doubts return, but she makes no established commitment to escape the guardianship.

• Maud conceals Bryerly's address inside her wardrobe and burns his notebook leaf as instructed; keeping the contact secret causes guilt and fear of discovery.

• Bryerly instructs Maud to report any attempt to remove Mary and promises to come if alerted.

• Bryerly instructs Maud to burn Monica's letters and keep his advice secret; compliance with the instruction about the letters is not established.

• Maud, Milly and Mary agree to conceal Mary's observation of the nocturnal chaise, including from Wyat.

  • Maud discloses Mary's observation of the chaise to Monica, extending knowledge beyond the original confidantes; disclosure to Wyat or the household is not established.

• Monica and Silas restore friendly relations through correspondence, enabling her visit after repeated written efforts.

  • The visit exposes continuing resentment and suspected provocation beneath the correspondence's friendliness. Both publicly formalize a truce, with Monica requiring an end to taunts.
  • The restored intercourse breaks down when Silas learns of Monica's criticisms and announces her exclusion.

• Monica receives Milly with a cordial familial welcome when Maud introduces them.

  • Monica deliberately seeks Milly's friendship and repeatedly commits to including her in the Elverston visit.
  • Monica praises Milly, introduces her socially and undertakes to help secure her a good marriage; Milly takes shy pleasure in her approval.

• Silas reproaches Monica for his family's social exclusion and raises her title to Elverston; she rejects any challenge and suspects deliberate provocation. Their declared truce remains conditional on his ending the taunts.

• The grounds for Monica's and Bryerly's warnings remain withheld from Maud; Monica urges her to take Bryerly's advice seriously, but Maud obtains no explicit explanation and again experiences undefined doubts.

• Monica wishes to inspect the room where Charke was found dead after learning that Maud has seen it.

• Maud confides her presumed romance with Oakley and his attributed verses to Milly. Their belief that he faces an imminent bloody campaign is corrected by news that his regiment will remain in England for two years.

  • Milly tells Monica that Oakley authored the verses, while Maud acknowledges receiving two compositions but disclaims knowledge of their author. The presumed romance is no longer confined to Maud and Milly.

• Silas encourages Dudley to kiss Maud, but she recoils and prevents the unwanted kiss. Milly's account reinforces Maud's unfavourable impression of Dudley, and Maud welcomes the expectation that his stay will be short.

  • Dudley's increasing familiarity intensifies Maud's disgust. He mistakes her embarrassed blush for encouragement and attempts another unwanted kiss. She resists and threatens to summon servants. She later abandons a complaint to Silas, believing Dudley will hesitate to repeat his conduct; Dudley withdraws resentfully, bringing her relief.
  • Dudley's mocking behaviour and local reappearance renew Maud's foreboding and undermine her hope that his presence would be brief.
  • Dudley restrains Maud and attempts another unwanted embrace and kiss. She escapes, later insists he leave her alone, and feels relief when he finally departs.
  • Witnessing Dudley's brutality further diminishes Maud's respect and increases her fear of him; he subsequently leaves Bartram-Haugh.
  • Dudley's persistent familiarity and attempted embrace provoke explicit dislike, furious rejection and Maud's departure to complain to Silas.

• Silas has received a promise of a militia commission for Dudley; the appointment is not established.

• Silas repeatedly supplies Dudley with money, while Milly's account introduces Maud to Dudley's temper, his relations with his father and his irregular visits.

  • Milly identifies money as the subject of Dudley's business with Silas. Dudley describes his financial dependence and claims money is due from Austin's executors; neither payment nor the claim's validity is established.
  • Dudley's inheritance introduces a new financial dispute: Silas claims reimbursement for debts allegedly settled on his behalf.
  • Dudley's quarrel with Silas and unsuccessful pursuit of money expose further strain in their financial relationship; Dudley proposes selling his father's valuables during a fit.
  • Father and son threaten violence before Silas restrains himself and orders Dudley away. Dudley subsequently claims disinheritance, but its legal implementation is not established.

• Silas instructs Dudley to attend more to Maud and Milly; Dudley's encounters with Maud subsequently become more frequent.

• Dudley announces an intended present, implicitly for Maud, conditional on receiving money.

• Monica vows to make no further payments for Oakley after learning of his gambling and heavy debts.

• Monica undertakes to try to secure a good marriage for Milly.

  • Monica provides repeated opportunities for Milly and Sprigge Biddlepen to become acquainted; mutual admiration and his gift develop the connection, without establishing a courtship or marriage agreement.

• Silas demands £1,600 from Dudley's legacy as reimbursement for debts he allegedly paid; payment of the claim is not established.

• Monica seeks Milly's discretion about her criticism of Silas; Milly's agreement is not established.

• Creditors press financial claims against Silas, who obtains proceeds from selling Bartram's oak bark and timber.

  • Further exploitation of estate resources is reported: timber has been felled, charcoal burned, and timber and oak bark sold for Silas's use. No settlement of creditors' claims is established.
  • Silas states that avoiding financial ruin requires at least twenty thousand pounds and predicts imminent legal execution against the household; Maud urges him to prevent it.

• Bryerly seeks to stop the destruction of Bartram's trees and communicates his concerns to Danvers.

  • The anticipated timber discussion is deferred in intention because Silas is weak. Ilbury proposes asking Bryerly for postponement, while explaining that the trustees remain bound by the will.
  • Bryerly obtains an interview after an initial refusal and directly challenges the timber waste. The dispute reaches legal consultation and a proposed inspection, but Silas asserts his rights and bans future visits; no halt to the destruction is established.
  • Further ancient oaks have been felled despite Bryerly's effort to stop the estate's destruction.

• Dudley assures Maud that her carriage and horses will arrive in a few weeks; their arrival remains unestablished.

• Maud struggles to conceal her romantic disappointment over Carysbroke and tries to redirect her thoughts to Oakley.

  • The supposed engagement is exposed as a mistake: Ilbury and Lady Mary are siblings. Maud returns to happiness, while her idealization of Oakley has diminished.

• Maud and Lady Mary Carysbroke establish a friendship that Maud promises to continue by correspondence.

  • Lady Mary extends hospitality and book sharing to Maud, and Maud receives a chest of books.

• Monica seeks to extend the girls' Elverston visit by a fortnight; Silas permits only one additional week and requires their return, undertaking to send horses.

• Maud wants to learn more about Lord Ilbury, but conceals her consultation of the Peerage when she fears discovery and abandons further attempts through that source.

• Ilbury accepts a trusteeship and forms a favourable impression of Silas after visiting him; Maud learns of both through Monica.

• Following his brother's death, Ilbury seeks change of scene and solitude at The Grange; his stay at Elverston improves his spirits, though he tentatively proposes returning to seclusion.

• Milly grows reverent toward Sprigge Biddlepen as her religious instructor, while he grows admiring of her and gives her an inscribed religious book that she prizes.

  • Milly and Biddlepen marry.

• Maud suspects that Silas deliberately attempted suicide by taking opium; Jolks's diagnosis establishes an overdose, but its intentionality remains unconfirmed.

• Maud and Milly undertake to watch Silas and respond to recurrent coma according to Jolks's instructions. Lucy replaces Milly, and Maud ends her watch after concluding that the immediate danger has passed.

  • After another reported fit, Maud and Milly resume watching Silas under the doctor's instructions. Milly falls asleep, and Maud's terror ends her participation and prompts a vow against future nighttime entry.

• Maud discovers papers concealed inside Silas's Bible, including scraps signed by Dudley. Silas takes the Bible from her; the papers' purpose and significance remain unexplained.

• Maud commits to financing a nurse and comforts for the seriously ill and neglected Meg, and Jolks undertakes to arrange them. Maud and Milly visit repeatedly, and Meg begins recovering, though delivery of the promised provisions is not explicitly established.

  • Meg recovers enough to move about and feed poultry, and the cousins see her improved condition. Delivery of the promised nurse and comforts remains unestablished.

• Maud's care for Meg develops into mutual tenderness: Meg reveals gratitude, remorse for rejecting her kindness and intense devotion, moving Maud to tears.

  • Meg explains that fear of Dickon constrains her outward friendliness and asks Maud not to interpret it as rejection.
  • Meg acts protectively toward Maud by conveying an urgent warning despite her father's surveillance.
  • Apparent avoidance briefly undermines Maud's confidence in Meg's attachment, but Meg secretly calls her over and gives her crucial information about Dudley.
  • Meg supplies bread, warns Maud of danger and explicitly pledges protection, rescue and willingness to die for her.
  • Meg persists in seeking help for Maud despite injury and confinement; Maud later funds Meg and Tom's intended emigration.

• Milly initially shares concern for Meg and visits her, but interprets Meg's behaviour as ingratitude and refuses further visits to her bedroom.

• Ilbury intends to ask Bryerly to postpone unpleasant business with Silas because of his weakened health; Maud assents, but the request and postponement are not established.

• Ilbury seeks a visit to the Grange from Maud and Milly with Monica, conveying Lady Mary's invitation and offer to share books; no visit is established.

  • Lady Mary invites the girls and Ilbury supports the request, but Silas explicitly refuses permission.

• Dudley seeks money from Silas while his trust funds remain withheld pending legal advice about a possible settlement; his financial access remains unsettled.

  • Dudley reports that a solicitors' notice alleging assignment of his legacy to Silas prevented Bryerly from paying it, but that Archer and Sleigh paid him. This establishes reported access to funds without settling the assignment dispute.

• Dudley intends to sell Silas's books and jewels during his next fit; no sale is established.

• Meg fears that Dickon would punish friendly contact with Maud and Milly and force her to solicit money from them; she asks Maud to disregard her apparent unfriendliness.

  • Meg reports that Dickon is watching, and his nearby presence constrains her warning to Maud and prevents explanatory conversation.
  • Meg again fears violent punishment if discovered speaking to Maud, prompting a lookout and a promise of secrecy.

• Dudley seeks private access to Maud by sending Milly away, a purpose he conditionally concedes, and declares his determination to win Maud's affection despite her rejection.

  • Dudley explicitly proposes marriage and promises provision and kindness, but Maud rejects him, declares her dislike and leaves; his anger does not establish that he abandons his pursuit.
  • Dudley seeks reconciliation through apology, but Maud unalterably refuses his suit. His departure removes his immediate access to her, and she feels immense relief; its permanence is only her belief.
  • Dudley's acknowledged existing marriage exposes his pursuit of Maud as knowingly wrongful and brings Maud intense relief.

• Oakley requests permission to visit Maud and a written reply. Maud refers the request to Silas, who replies and prohibits Oakley from entering the grounds; Oakley nevertheless appears there.

  • Maud remains apprehensive that she will be questioned about her meeting with Oakley after his prohibited appearance.

• Dudley attempts to expel Oakley under Silas's prohibition and threatens violence. Oakley strikes at him with a switch, and Dudley repeatedly knocks him down. Oakley demands a gentleman's encounter before retreating; no acceptance or settlement is established.

  • Oakley's severe beating is confirmed and Dudley leaves for Wolverhampton, but no settlement of their quarrel or response to Oakley's challenge is established.
  • Dudley offers jealousy concerning Maud as the motive for his recent violence; this is his account and does not settle his conflict with Oakley.

• Maud seeks Dickon's mediation and Milly attempts to stop Dudley, but neither intervention stops the fighting. Horrified, Maud withdraws.

• Bryerly challenges Silas's exploitation of the estate timber as unlawful waste; the case is referred for legal opinion, while Silas commits to defending his claimed rights.

  • The contested timber exploitation continues, and Maud witnesses and mourns its effects; no legal settlement is established.

• Silas proposes that Bryerly and the steward inspect and record the timber waste; completion of the inspection is not established.

• Silas forbids Bryerly future visits and prevents Maud from accompanying him for a private conversation, restricting her access to a trusted source of help. Silas claims to have received unfavourable reports of Bryerly, whose substance and truth remain unestablished.

  • Maud feels dejected at losing Bryerly's active support.
  • Tom reports Silas's control and reading of outgoing post, and Silas's possession of Maud's private appeal demonstrates a further obstruction to her access to outside help.

• Maud writes an appeal asking Monica to reconcile with Silas and relieve her isolation; no reconciliation is established.

• Maud seeks protection from Dudley's unwanted familiarity and attempted embrace, reporting his proposal to Silas as an insult. Silas's scrutiny frightens her, and she doubts whether her reaction would appear excessive; no protective response is established.

  • Silas responds to Maud's complaint by urging acceptance of Dudley and pressing her for an answer. His intervention deepens her fear and insecurity rather than establishing protection.
  • Maud explicitly asks Silas to stop pressing Dudley's suit, but receives only a promise of respite and time to think, leaving her rejection unsecured.
  • Dudley's departure brings Maud intense relief, the disclosure settles the unwanted courtship, and she abandons her intended appeal to Monica. Silas also professes to acknowledge his error in permitting it.

• Silas presses Maud to marry Dudley, first requesting a fortnight's silence and reconsideration, then demanding an immediate answer to prevent Dudley's departure. Maud refuses unalterably, and Dudley leaves.

  • Silas renews the marriage suit despite his professed resolution to abandon it, invokes family ruin and his possible death, and treats Maud's repeated refusal as a reason to allow further consideration rather than a settled answer.
  • Dudley's confirmed existing marriage defeats the proposed marriage to Maud. Maud concludes that Silas was ignorant of it; Silas orders the couple away and despairs that his last hope has vanished.
  • Dudley leaves, Silas disavows his earlier permission, and Maud regards the unwanted courtship as settled.
  • The retrospective account establishes that Silas intended to secure Maud's property through marriage to Dudley, coercively if necessary, and turned to murder when that opportunity failed.

• Maud's refusal of Dudley brings guilt over Silas's apparent distress and subsequent illness, while Wyat's hostility makes her feel blamed for the family's troubles.

  • Silas's appeal intensifies Maud's distress and fear that her refusal may lead him to kill himself; repeated reports that he remains alive bring temporary relief.
  • Maud now recognizes Dudley's proposal as wrongful, but Silas's despair and apparent illness draw her into offering him assistance.

• While watching Silas, Maud becomes certain that she sees Rougierre's face at the door, but the figure disappears. Whether Rougierre is present, and why, remain unestablished; Jolks subsequently diagnoses hysteria.

  • Maud's health improves and Jolks undermines her confidence in the apparition's reality. She resolves to avoid the subject, but Rougierre's presence remains unestablished.
  • Maud directly discovers Rougierre at Bartram-Haugh. Rougierre's claimed week-long concealed residence supports the possibility of the earlier sighting without independently establishing that encounter or her underlying purpose.

• After the terrifying vigil, Maud vows never to enter Silas's bedroom again after dark.

• Jolks prescribes changes to Maud's diet and hours and promises that following his directions will prevent further ghost sightings; her compliance and the outcome remain unestablished.

  • Maud's health and nerves recover following Jolks's intervention, although compliance with his specific prescriptions and prevention of further sightings are not established.
  • Maud experiences another apparent supernatural perception, hearing a frightening warning that Mary denies speaking. She attributes it to imagination; compliance with Jolks's regimen remains unestablished.

• Silas promises to reunite Maud and Milly within three months, either at Bartram-Haugh or at Milly's French school; fulfilment remains unestablished.

  • Silas now directs Maud to join Milly in France under arrangements he claims to have made, but the reunion has not occurred.
  • Milly longs to see Maud, and Silas now claims that he intends to reunite with both girls at Milly's concealed location. Maud expects reunion, but its fulfilment and timing remain unestablished.
  • Silas orders Maud to join Milly in France, and Maud leaves Bartram expecting reunion; arrival and reunion remain unestablished.

• Silas instructs Maud to communicate only the substance of the arrangements to Monica, withholding a copy of his letter.

• Maud and Milly agree to correspond closely during their separation.

  • Maud receives an affectionate letter from Milly and gives Silas her sealed reply for forwarding. Delivery of the reply is not established.

• Meg urgently warns Maud never to be alone with Dudley. Dickon's surveillance prevents Maud from obtaining an explanation, leaving the warning's grounds undisclosed and Maud persistently anxious.

• Sarah Matilda seeks access to Dudley as her lawful husband, but he refuses to accompany her and forcibly sends her away.

• Dudley's existing marriage to Sarah Matilda Mangles is revealed by a newspaper announcement and confirmed by Dudley. Maud recognizes that he sought to marry her while already married and concludes that Silas did not know.

• Dudley treats Sarah Matilda violently, blames her for their alleged loss of inheritance, and refuses to leave with her before forcibly dispatching her in a carriage.

• The exposure of Dudley's marriage provokes a confrontation with Silas, including threatened violence on both sides. Silas restrains himself, orders the couple to leave that evening, and Dudley subsequently alleges that they have been disinherited.

  • Dudley leaves Bartram-Haugh and stops at Feltram, requesting a final interview; Silas declares that contact will then cease.

• Maud offers to help Silas after he declares his last hope lost. He begins considering her assistance and promises to summon her for a discussion that evening; the proposed assistance remains unspecified.

  • Maud renews her offer and commits to supplying twenty thousand pounds. Silas first defers acceptance and later refuses outright, disappointing her; no financial transfer is established.

• Silas and the Feltram attorney attempt unsuccessfully to devise a binding arrangement securing Maud's promised financial assistance.

• Silas directs Maud to join Milly temporarily in France, claiming that arrangements have been made; her departure is not established.

  • Silas's explanation reinforces the proposed reunion with Milly, and Maud accepts ignorance of her address and anticipates joining her. Maud has not departed.
  • The proposed French journey acquires a claimed travelling companion and an alleged departure estimate of two or three weeks; Maud expects to travel with Rougierre, but departure remains unestablished.
  • Monica's letter acknowledges the proposed French journey and considers inviting Maud to Elverston instead; no changed arrangement or departure is established.
  • Rougierre raises possible imminent departure for France and reports that Silas requires Maud to be ready, but the instructions and departure remain unspecified and unconfirmed.
  • The proposed journey becomes an immediate departure by carriage toward the station, with London and Dover named as the route to France and Rougierre controlling arrangements and payments. Arrival in France remains unestablished.
  • Maud has left Bartram and reached London with Rougierre. They obey Silas's further instruction and depart by train toward Dover; arrival in France or reunion with Milly is not established.
  • The apparent journey to join Milly in France instead returns Maud to Bartram-Haugh, where Rougierre continues the false account of onward travel.
  • The promised French journey is exposed as cover for Silas's murder scheme; Monica had been induced to believe Maud had left for France and would remain silent.

• Silas professes an intention to reconcile with Monica and eventually transfer Maud's care to her; neither step is established.

  • Silas reiterates his professed intention to reconcile with Monica through Maud's letter and arrange a visit and hoped-for permanent residence, conditional on invitation and Maud's consent. Maud anticipates living with Monica, but neither reconciliation nor transfer occurs.
  • Monica confirms receiving Silas's conciliatory letter proposing her eventual care of Maud and inviting an early overnight visit. She welcomes both prospects, but neither the visit nor the transfer occurs.
  • Silas receives Monica and discusses another visit, establishing renewed personal contact. His lies prevent her from seeing Maud, and no transfer of Maud's care occurs.
  • Rougierre claims that Silas will never consent to Maud's transfer to Monica and will instead bring her back to Bartram. This undermines the promised transfer, although Rougierre's account is unverified.
  • Maud reaches Monica through escape rather than Silas's promised transfer, and Silas dies.

• Dudley requests a farewell interview with Silas, who declares that he will terminate their contact after any final interview.

  • Silas reports having said farewell to Dudley, who has left Bartram, and declares his intention to bar him permanently. The farewell is completed; future enforcement of exclusion is not established.

• Dudley and his wife reportedly intend to emigrate together; their departure is not established.

  • Dudley specifies a voyage to Australia with his wife. A newspaper passenger report subsequently names them aboard the Seamew departing for Melbourne; their departure is reported rather than directly witnessed.
  • Reports of the Seamew initially reassure Maud that Dudley is far away, but Meg confirms that he remained locally and was concealed in the mill. His supposed departure is disproved; his wife's whereabouts remain unspecified.

• Maud agrees to conceal Silas's permission for Dudley's courtship after Silas claims to recognize his error.

• Silas requires Maud to write Monica an account conveying his statements and kindness for his inspection; Maud completes the letter and he approves its contents.

  • Silas approves and takes Maud's completed letter, which subsequently reaches Monica.

• Dudley seeks Maud's written promise of twenty thousand pounds in exchange for taking her from Bartram to Monica or another destination she chooses. Maud definitively refuses, ending the proposal.

• Dudley roughly restrains Maud by the wrist during his proposal. She refuses his terms, regains her freedom and reports the interview to Silas, fearing that Dudley will misrepresent it first.

• Silas withholds Milly's address, claiming that he intends to hide there and reunite with both girls. Maud acquiesces and entrusts her reply to him; his explanation remains unverified.

  • Concealment of the French address becomes an explicit requirement governing Maud's future correspondence, and Silas sends Monica his own explanation for the secrecy.

• Rougierre has been concealed at Bartram-Haugh, reportedly for about a week and under orders to avoid being seen. Maud discovers her accidentally and suspects a covert strategy; who ordered the concealment and its purpose remain unestablished.

• Rougierre claims that Silas requested a travelling governess and that the superioress commissioned her to accompany Maud to France. Maud provisionally accepts the account and anticipates compulsory travel with her; the commission remains unverified.

  • Rougierre leaves for Todcaster intending to purchase supplies for the expected journey, advancing preparations without verifying her claimed commission.
  • Silas explicitly appoints Rougierre to accompany and direct Maud's journey, and they leave together. Rougierre's claimed commission from the superioress remains unverified.
  • Rougierre acts as Maud's travelling companion through London and onto the departing train. Her claimed commission from the superioress remains unverified.
  • Rougierre conducts Maud's journey but conceals their return to Bartram-Haugh behind false hotel explanations, undermining her professed role as escort to France.

• Maud seeks Silas's protection from Rougierre by reporting the library intrusion. Silas accepts Maud's account despite Rougierre's denial but dismisses her objection and orders renewed instruction and increased contact, leaving Maud stunned and angry.

  • Rougierre resumes her governess role. Maud initially refuses a walk and resolves to remain in her room, but gradually resumes conversation; her relief at Rougierre's absence shows that her distress persists.
  • Rougierre escalates her control to confinement, deceptive explanations and physical restraint, preventing Maud from reaching Monica.

• Rougierre cultivates agreeable relations through stories and helpfulness, improving Mary's opinion and drawing Maud back into conversation despite her initial refusal to accompany her.

  • Maud accepts Rougierre's company at tea to preserve friendly relations. Rougierre offers assistance with transport, while her claim of longstanding friendship with Silas increases Maud's fear.
  • Maud exposes Rougierre's deception, and Mary demands that she release Maud. Maud's later loss of resentment is attributed to exhaustion rather than renewed trust.
  • Maud's tentative comfort and brief trust in Rougierre as a rescuer give way to open antagonism and fear of physical harm.

• Dudley's supposed voyage conceals his continued local presence. Maud suspects him in the windmill, where Dickon locks the concealed person in the loft; Meg confirms Dudley's identity and that he went no farther than Todcaster before returning to Feltram. The purpose of his concealment and the extent of others' involvement remain unknown.

  • Reports place Dudley in secret meetings with Dickon and Silas and describe his reluctance over an unnamed task. Silas subsequently presents the Seamew's reported position while Maud feigns belief that Dudley is aboard, deepening the concealment without establishing its purpose.
  • Mary recognizes Dudley inside Bartram with Dickon and Rougierre despite his supposed voyage, and he attempts to prevent recognition. Maud receives her report; the purpose of his concealed presence remains unknown.
  • Silas reportedly tells Lucy and Rougierre that Dudley has gone away; this does not independently establish his departure or resolve the purpose of his earlier concealment.
  • The retrospective disclosures connect Dudley's concealed presence and entry into Maud's room with the scheme against her.

• Crowle prevents Maud and Mary from leaving the estate, retaining the main gate key and claiming that Silas requires permission for anyone to leave.

  • Meg tells Maud that locked gates and bloodhounds prevent escape. Silas's control over permission then defeats her proposed Feltram excursion.

• Maud promises to keep Meg's disclosure secret and stations Mary as lookout so that they can speak without discovery.

  • Mary promises to conceal Maud's suspicions about Dudley and the meeting with Meg. At the next rendezvous, Maud stations her as lookout with an agreed warning call.
  • Meg directs a concealed return and remains hidden herself. Maud returns with Mary and infers that Rougierre has not searched her room; discovery of Meg's disclosures is not established.
  • Suspecting that Rougierre is probing her dealings with Meg, Maud resolves to guard her answers and withhold information.

• Meg reports secret meetings linking Dudley, Dickon and Silas, and relays Brice's account of Dudley's reluctance to undertake an unnamed task and Dickon's pressure. Meg suspects a plot against Maud, but its purpose remains unestablished.

  • Mary's discovery supplies further evidence of covert association involving Dudley and Dickon, now with Rougierre and unexplained window work. Maud fears Rougierre could admit a threatening companion, but no specific plot is established.
  • Meg has pieced together overheard conversations between Dickon and Dudley and now warns Maud of possible murder, danger through food or drink, and a predicted overnight attack. These remain warnings rather than independently established details of the plot.
  • The suspected conspiracy becomes a witnessed lethal attack: Dudley kills the sleeper in Maud's bedroom, Silas enters and directs concealment, and Hawkes approaches through the skylight. Dudley's account establishes Silas's prior encouragement of the attack, although the supplied events do not explicitly identify the intended victim.
  • The feared plot is established as Silas's plan to murder Maud for her property; the account also establishes Dudley's entry and Dickon's knowledge of Rougierre's burial.

• Maud resolves to escape Bartram-Haugh and reach Monica's protection.

  • Maud seeks direct removal to Elverston, but obtains no established escort agreement, and Silas discovers her covert appeal before any escape occurs.
  • Maud recognizes Monica and tries to summon rescue, but Rougierre restrains her until the carriage has gone. Maud then ceases resisting.
  • Maud leaves Bartram and experiences profound relief, but travels under Rougierre's control toward the professed French destination rather than reaching Monica's protection. She begins questioning her earlier suspicions.
  • The possibility of reaching Monica through Rougierre prompts Maud to seek explicit terms of escape. When the exchange becomes threatening, she declares her determination to prevent Rougierre from destroying her; no escape is secured.
  • Maud is returned to Bartram-Haugh and deprived of free exit from her bedroom, obstructing her escape to Monica.
  • Physical barriers obstruct escape, Meg warns against attempting it, and Rougierre rejects Maud's appeal to be taken away. Meg's promised rescue offers hope without securing deliverance.
  • An unlocked door allows Maud to reach Silas's apartment, where she mistakenly expects Monica. Silas orders her returned and guarded against another escape, and her door is locked again.
  • Maud resolves to defend her life, exploits the conspirators' distraction, evades Hawkes and reaches the outside. Brice's seizure prevents an established escape to Monica's protection.
  • Tom takes Maud out of Bartram-Haugh to Monica at Elverston; her later account confirms enduring liberty and safety.

• Meg undertakes to enlist Brice to carry Maud's appeal to Monica, arranging a conditional rendezvous with Maud and Mary. Maud prepares the letter and reaches the meeting place, where Meg is waiting; transfer and delivery remain unestablished.

  • Meg brings Maud to Tom, who accepts the letter and payment but qualifies his undertaking by personal safety. Silas subsequently possesses the open letter, establishing interception rather than delivery to Monica; Tom's responsibility for the interception is not established.

• Maud plans to use a shopping excursion with Rougierre to escape through Feltram to Monica and refuse to return. Rougierre agrees to accompany her, but Silas prevents Maud's departure and sends Rougierre shopping alone.

• Tom seeks secrecy about his involvement in carrying Maud's appeal, fearing exposure because Silas reportedly controls and reads outgoing post. Silas subsequently discovers the paid delivery attempt; how he obtains the letter remains unknown.

  • Tom explains that Dickon discovered Maud's letter in his pocket, supplying the previously missing account of its interception.

• Maud asks Tom to return her letter and take her directly to Elverston. He limits his undertaking to whatever he considers safely possible with the letter; no agreement to escort her is established.

• Rougierre promises to approach Silas to obtain carriage and horses for Maud; fulfilment remains unestablished.

• Silas composes a letter to Ilbury claiming Maud approves of her treatment and obtains her outward endorsement of his account of her happiness and his kindness.

• Silas confronts Maud with her intercepted appeal and knowledge that she paid his servant to carry it. His denunciation precipitates her loss of consciousness and subsequent distressed recovery.

• Silas and Rougierre prevent Monica from seeing Maud: Silas falsely describes Maud as away driving, while Rougierre locks Maud and Mary in the bedroom and physically prevents Maud from signalling the departing carriage.

  • Maud reaches Monica despite the earlier obstruction; Monica's mistaken belief in the French departure explains her expectation of Maud's silence.

• Monica proposes returning on Tuesday afternoon; Silas makes an early visit conditional on his attorney's advice about legal danger.

• Silas reportedly tells Rougierre that a blow has descended and Maud must be ready, without explaining what she must prepare for. Rougierre's account of litigation ruin and possible imminent departure for France remains uncertain.

  • The anticipated departure becomes immediate. Silas attributes its acceleration to threatened execution against the house, but that financial explanation remains his claim.

• Rougierre promises to question Silas further and return within half an hour, but Maud's anxious wait ends with an uncertain report that Rougierre has gone to bed.

  • Mary conveys Maud's request, and Rougierre renews her promise to obtain news. After learning what Mary discovered, Maud abandons her wish for Rougierre to return that night; Rougierre appears the next morning with another promise to consult Silas.

• Mary discovers Rougierre, Dickon and Dudley together beside Rougierre's displaced window frame, with Dudley carrying tools. Their purpose remains unexplained; Dudley attempts to avoid recognition, while Mary conceals her recognition and reports the encounter to Maud.

  • Dudley enters through the barred window assembly and kills Rougierre, giving the earlier covert work at the window an apparent connection to the attack. Rougierre's knowledge of its intended purpose remains unestablished.
  • The account of Dudley's entry and Bryerly's discovery of the concealed hinged window explain the means of covert access associated with the displaced frame.

• Silas separates Mary's travel from Maud's, promising that Mary will follow; Rougierre specifies two or three days. Maud and Mary part in grief, and Mary's subsequent departure remains unestablished.

  • Rougierre claims Mary has followed them to France. Mary's actual whereabouts and departure remain unverified, while Maud has discovered that she herself is at Bartram-Haugh.

• Silas requires Maud to write to Monica under his supervision and subsequently conceal their French address. He controls the completed letter and supplies Monica with his own explanation for withholding the address.

• The hotel hostess's longstanding acquaintance with Rougierre and apparent experience escorting young women to Continental establishments suggest an undisclosed understanding about Maud. Maud retrospectively suspects that Rougierre represented her as a prospective nun, but this remains unconfirmed.

• Rougierre raises taking Maud to Monica in exchange for a reward, briefly gaining Maud's trust as a possible rescuer. Maud seeks an explicit admission that this means escape from an untrustworthy guardian, but their exchange turns hostile without an agreement.

  • Maud renews her appeal to Rougierre as a possible rescuer, but Rougierre expressly refuses protection; no rescue agreement results.

• Silas's emphatically underlined instruction to travel to Dover, together with his claim that beds are prepared, makes Maud suspect a prearranged scheme. Rougierre denies knowing why Dover is underlined, leaving its significance unexplained.

  • The concealed return establishes deception in the supposed Dover journey and strengthens Maud's suspicion of a scheme directed by Silas. The purpose of the scheme and the significance of his underlining remain unexplained.

• Rougierre confines Maud in a locked bedroom at Bartram-Haugh while sustaining the pretence that they are staying near Dover before sailing. Maud discovers the deceptive return and feels herself in danger.

  • Maud discovers barred, screwed-down windows with apparently fresh alterations. Repeated locking and a locked cross-door establish additional physical barriers to leaving.
  • The explanation about bailiffs does not establish the reason for Maud's changed room. Silas explicitly directs Rougierre to prevent another escape, and renewed locking enforces her confinement.
  • Maud hides during the attack and escapes the locked bedroom and house, but Tom Brice seizes her immediately outside, leaving her freedom insecure.
  • Maud escapes Bartram-Haugh and reaches lasting safety.

• Maud's protective pin disappears overnight after Rougierre learns its significance. Maud suspects Rougierre took it to spite her, but neither its whereabouts nor responsibility for its disappearance is established.

• Maud resolves to maintain outwardly fair relations with Rougierre and recovers enough self-command to do so.

  • Maud initially resolves to master her terror, but Meg's warning brings emotional collapse and desperate pleading. Rougierre's declared hostility frustrates the attempt to sustain fair outward relations.
  • Despair, desperate appeal and renewed terror continue to obstruct Maud's intended outward composure; her eventual resigned calm does not establish successful management of Rougierre.

• The purpose and authorship of Maud's deceptive return to Bartram-Haugh remain concealed. Maud suspects Silas directed it and resolves to discover its purpose, but his involvement is not established.

  • The altered windows suggest preparation, and Meg's warning supplies a possible murderous purpose for Maud's confinement. Maud briefly considers a protective explanation; authorship and the full scheme remain unestablished.
  • Silas's apparent alarm and explicit confinement order establish his active involvement in controlling Maud. The retrospective disclosure establishes that Rougierre misunderstands the plot and is distrusted by the conspirators, without specifying the full scheme.
  • Silas's involvement in arranging the attack and managing its aftermath is disclosed, strongly connecting Maud's concealed confinement with lethal danger. The precise authorship and mechanics of the deceptive journey remain unestablished.
  • The retrospective account establishes Silas's intention to murder Maud for her property, explaining the concealed purpose of her return.

• Rougierre promises to explain Maud's circumstances shortly, but no explanation is established.

  • Rougierre supplies an explanation involving bailiffs, but its adequacy remains uncertain; Maud later learns that Rougierre herself held a false understanding of the plot.

• Meg undertakes to reach Monica at Elverston after dark and bring rescuers for Maud, warning her against attempting escape and predicting an attack at two or three in the morning. Neither her departure nor the arrival of help is established.

  • Meg's intention to reach Elverston in time is reiterated, while Maud waits in agonised suspense. Neither successful contact nor arriving rescuers is established.
  • Dickon's assault and confinement obstruct Meg's rescue effort; she escapes, seeks help, and ultimately reaches Elverston with Maud and Tom. Her promised return with rescuers is not established.

• Maud seeks immediate rescue from Rougierre, begging to be taken away and promising lifelong obedience; Rougierre rejects the appeal and professes indifference to her suffering.

  • Maud extends her desperate appeal to Silas, offering everything for rescue, but he questions her sanity and orders her returned to confinement.

• Rougierre intends to confront Silas and compel full disclosure, threatening retaliation if he withholds it.

• Maud conditionally pledges to surrender everything and pray for Silas if he saves her.

• Silas induces Maud to doubt her sanity; recognizing his travel preparations, she suspects that he intends to remove her to a madhouse.

  • Silas's actual objective is revealed as obtaining Maud's property through marriage and then murder, rather than the madhouse removal she feared.

• Rougierre whispers unspecified information to a fellow railway passenger, who subsequently moves to another carriage; the content and purpose remain undisclosed.

• The claret offered to Maud may contain a drug: Rougierre drinks it after Maud cannot swallow it and subsequently falls asleep. Its contents and intended effect remain unconfirmed.

• Maud hears repeated clinking and sees a shadowy stooping figure, interpreting these as someone digging her grave; two subsequent taps lead her to anticipate an entrance, but the activity and identities remain unestablished.

  • Maud identifies Dudley entering from above, detects a watcher outside the door, and later recognizes Hawkes descending through the skylight. The earlier clinking and supposed grave-digging are not explicitly explained.

• Dudley accuses Silas of deceiving him about the victim's suffering and threatens to kill him. Silas uses their irreversible guilt and its consequences to overcome Dudley's refusal of further cooperation.

  • Silas's death ends the confrontation and his control over Dudley; Dudley disappears.

• Silas directs Dudley to help Hawkes remove Rougierre's body and plans to redirect and remove the luggage. Dudley resumes cooperation after initially refusing, and drags Rougierre's box toward the window; removal of the body is not established.

  • Rougierre's secret burial is established and her body recovered, confirming disposal of the body, though the individual roles in its removal remain unspecified.

• Tom Brice seizes Maud as she emerges from the house, interrupting her flight; she recognizes him as someone who previously betrayed her.

  • Tom's seizure proves an intervention to protect Maud: he promises help and drives her to Elverston.

• Tom earns Maud's gratitude and trust by protecting her and carrying her to safety.

• Maud commits to giving Biddlepen the next presentation to Dawling.

• Meg and Tom marry.

• Meg and Tom wish to emigrate, and Maud supplies capital; their departure is not established.

• Bryerly agrees to manage Maud's Derbyshire estates.

• Monica takes Maud to the Continent for recovery.

• Dudley disappears; an uncertain report places him in Australia under the name Colbroke, where Tom's identification meets a threat of violence.

• Dickon is imprisoned and convicted for an earlier Lancashire crime, then reveals Rougierre's concealed burial, enabling recovery of her body.

• After losing earlier children, Maud has a surviving son with whom she shares her present life.

• Maud marries Ilbury and becomes Lady Ilbury.

Places

Knowl, England, France, London, Low Countries, Church Scarsdale, Trillsworth, Derbyshire, Snodhurst, Dilsford, Lugton Station, Shropshire, Feltram, York, Grindleston bridge, Drackleton, Wail Forest, Paris, Elverston, Bartram Chase, Wigan, The Continent, Windmill Wood, India, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Australia, Lancashire, Cloperton, Wolverhampton, Tolkingden, Leamington, Dover, Warwick, Knowl Warren, Leatherwig Church, Wiggan, Todcaster, Derby