Summary

Later, by chance, Esther, Ada, and Mr. Jarndyce encounter Lady Dedlock in a gamekeeper’s lodge, where they have all sought shelter from a fierce thunderstorm. Hearing Lady Dedlock speak, Esther’s heart beats wildly, unexplainably: “. . . there arose before my mind innumerable pictures of myself.” Lady Dedlock offends her French maid, Mlle. Hortense, by seeming to prefer Rosa, and, when it stops raining, Hortense walks home barefoot through the wet grass.

Analysis

This chapter tends to confirm the reader’s surmise that strong connections exist, and will soon be revealed, between Esther, Lady Dedlock, and Miss Barbary. The portrayal of Hortense as a violently emotional person, offended by Lady Dedlock, prepares the reader for the revenge that the maid will take later in the novel.