Marie Melmotte

Daughter of Melmotte

Chapter IV
Miss Melmotte “spoke English well, but as a foreigner” (32). #Facility with Language

Marie tells Sir Felix that if “a girl told me that she liked me better than any other girl, I should not know it, just because she said so.” Felix asks her if it would be different if a gentleman told her that, and she responds, “I shouldn’t believe him a bit, and I should not care to find out” (39). #Trust

Chapter XVII
“When alone, -- and she was much alone, -- she would build castles in the air, which were bright with art and love, rather than with gems and gold. The books she read, poor though they generally were, left something bright on her imagination. She fancied to herself brilliant conversations in which she bore a bright part, though in real life she had hitherto hardly talked to any one since she was a child” (145). #WomenReading

Marie, when Felix asks her if she is happy to see him in the country: “‘I don’t know,’ said Marie, who could not at once find that brilliancy of words with which her imagination supplied her readily enough in her solitude” (146). #Facility with Language

“She [ Marie Melmotte ] longed to be told by him that he loved her. He [ Sir Felix Carbury ] had no objection to tell her so, but, without thinking much about it, felt it to be a bore”. . . . “‘Do you really love me well enough,’ she whispered. ‘Of course I do. I’m bad at making pretty speeches, and all that, but you know I love you.’ ‘Do you?’ ‘By George, yes. I always liked you from the first moment I saw you. I did indeed.’ It was a poor declaration of love, but it sufficed” (146). #Facility with Language #Seduction #Dishonesty

Chapter XX
“She [ Marie Melmotte ] was now full of the idea so common to girls who are engaged, -- and as natural as it is common, -- that she might tell everything to her lover” (167). #Seduction

Chapter XXII
Marie wants Felix to communicate to her the result of asking Melmotte for permission for their engagement: “‘Shall I come up again?’ ‘No; but leave a note for me here under cover to Madame Didon .’. . . ‘Or send it by post, -- under cover to her. That will be better’” (190). #Letters #Possibility of Exposure

Chapter XXIV
Felix ’s note to Marie after he spoke with her father about their engagement:

“‘Dear M.,

‘Your father cup up very rough, -- about money. Perhaps you had better see him yourself; or would your mother?

‘Yours always, F.’” (197). #Letters

Chapter XV
“Marie was dissatisfied with her letter [from Felix ], -- not because it described her father as ‘cutting up rough.’ To her who had known her father all her life that was a matter of course. But there was no word of love in the note. An impassioned correspondence carried on through Didon would be delightful to her” (203). #Letters #Seduction

“She [ Marie ] could write to him [ Felix ] at his club, and having no such fear [ of exposure ], she could write warmly” (204). #Letters #Possibility of Exposure

“‘Dearest, Dearest Felix ,

‘I have just got your note; -- such a scrap! Of course papa would talk about money because he never thinks of anything else. I don’t know anything about money, and I don’t care in the least how much you have got. Papa has got plenty, and I think he would give us some if we were once married. I have told mamma, but mamma is always afraid of everything. Papa is very cross to her sometimes; -- more so than to me. I will try to tell him, though I can’t always get at him. I very often hardly see him all day long. But I don’t mean to be afraid of him, and will tell him that on my word and honour I will never marry any one except you. I don’t think he will beat me, but if he does, I’ll bear it, -- for your sake. He does beat mamma sometimes, I know.

 ‘You can write to me quite safely through Didon. I think if you would call some day and give her something, it would help, as she is very fond of money. Do write and tell me that you love me. I love you better than anything in the world, and I will never, -- never give you up. I suppose you can come and call, -- unless papa tells the man in the hall not to let you in. I’ll find that out from Didon, but I can’t do it before sending this letter. Papa dined out yesterday somewhere with that Lord Alfred, so I haven’t seen him since you were here. I never see him before he goes into the city in the morning. Now I am going downstairs to breakfast with mamma and that Miss Longestaffe. She is a stuck-up thing. Didn’t you think so at Caversham?

 ‘Good-bye. You are my own, own, own darling Felix.

 ‘An I am you own, own affectionate ladylove,

 ‘Marie .’” (205). #Letters #Seduction #Possibility of Exposure #Proximity