Seduction

Chapter II
“When he [ Sir Felix Carbury ] talked of love, he not only thought that he was talking nonsense, but showed that he thought so” (22-23). #Dishonesty #Seduction

Chapter V
Lady Carbury accuses Hetta Carbury of spending the whole evening talking to Paul Montague. Hetta responds: “‘I could not tell him [Paul] not to speak to me.’. . . ‘If you did not want me to speak to Paul you should not have taken me there’” (44-45). #Proximity #Seduction

Chapter VI
“She [ Hetta Carbury ] had praised him [ Roger Carbury ] and praised the house so loudly to her mother, -- having in her innocence never dreamed of such a proposition as this, -- so that now she found it difficult to give an adequate reason for her refusal” (51). #Miscommunication #Seduction

Chapter XVII
“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 XVIII
“Miss Ruby Ruggles, the granddaughter of old Daniel Ruggles, of Sheep’s Acre, in the parish of Sheepstone, close to Bungay, received the following letter from the hands of the rural post letter-carrier on that Sunday morning; -- ‘A friend will be somewhere near Sheepstone Birches between four and five o’clock on Sunday afternoon.’ There was not another word in the letter, but Miss Ruby Ruggles knew well from whom it came” (149). #Letters #Seduction #Proximity

“Though the writer had not dared to sign his name she knew well that it came from Sir Felix Carbury, -- the most beautiful gentleman she had ever set her eyes upon. Poor Ruby Ruggles ! Living down at Sheep’s Acre, on the Waveney, she had heard both too much and too little of the great world beyond her ken” (149). #Letters #Seduction #WomenReading

“But the Ruggles woman, -- especially the Ruggles young woman, -- is better educated, has higher aspirations and a brighter imagination, and is infinitely more cunning than the man. If she be good-looking and relieved from the presure of want, her thought soar into a world which is as unknown to her as heaven is to us, and in regard to which her longings are apt to be infinitely stronger than are ours for heaven. Her education has been much better than that of the man. She can read, whereas he can only spell words from a book. She can write a letter after her fashion, whereas he can barely spell words out on a paper. Her tongue is more glib, and her intellect sharper. But her ignorance as to the reality of things is much more gross than his. By such contact as he has with men in markets, in the streets of the towns he frequents, and even in the fields, he learns something unconsciously of the relative condition of his country-men, -- and, as to that which he does not learn, his imagination is obtuse. But the woman builds castles in the air, and wonders, and longs. To the young farmer the squire’s daughter is a superior being very much out of his way. To the farmer’s daughter the young squire is an Apollo, whome to look at is a pleasure, -- by whom to be looked at is a delight. The danger for the most part is soon over. The girl marries after her kind, and then husband and children put the matter at rest for ever” (150-151). #Literacy #WomenReading #Seduction

“and when he [ Felix ] sneaked over to her [ Ruby Ruggles ] a second and a third time, she thought more of his listless praise than ever she had thought of John Crumb ’s honest promises” (152). #Facility with Language #Seduction

Ruby complains that Felix promised to visit her but he never came. “‘But I wrote to you Ruby.’ ‘What’s letters? And the postman to know all as in ‘em for anything anybody knows, and grandfather to be almost sure to see ‘em. I don’t call letters no good at all, and I bet you won’t write ‘em any more’” (152). #Letters #Seduction #Possibility of Exposure

Ruby and Felix lying in the copse half a mile from Sheep’s Acre Farm: “She had her London lover beside her; and though in every word he spoke there was a tone of contempt, still he talked of love, and made her promises, and told her that she was pretty. He probably did not enjoy it much; he cared very little about her, and carried on the liaison simply because it was the proper sort of thing for a young man to do” (153). #Seduction #Dishonesty “She [ Ruby ] felt that she could be content to sit there for ever and to listen to him. This was a realisation of those delights of life of which she had read in the thrice-thumbed old novels which she had gotten from the little circulating library in Bungay” (153). #Seduction #WomenReading

Felix promises to come back and see Ruby the next week: “As he made the promise he resolved that he would not keep it. He would write to her again, and bid her come to him in London, and would send her money for the journey” (153). #Letters #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 XXV
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

“‘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