The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Gilbert wishes he could tell his mother and sister they are wrong in their belief about the woman they know as Mrs. Graham, but the gossip would quickly circulate, and Huntingdon might find her. He continues to defend her, though everyone assumes it is out of infatuation and he is misled. Gilbert visits Lawrence to hear what news he can of Helen and grows fond of him, though Lawrence does not encourage Gilbert’s attachment to his sister. Gilbert does not want to make her unhappy, but he does not want Helen to forget him, either.

Gilbert hopes to help Lawrence by letting him know that Jane Wilson will make him an unsuitable wife. Not only does she hate Helen, but he also suspects that Jane and Eliza were responsible for the rumors about Helen. Gilbert informs Lawrence that while Jane might seem charming, elegant, and refined, she is in fact selfish, cold-hearted, ambitious, and shallow. If they married, he warns Lawrence, “[Y]our home would be rayless and comfortless; and it would break your heart at last to find yourself united to one so wholly incapable of sharing your tastes, feelings, and ideas” (422). Gilbert feels gratified when Lawrence ends his attentions to Jane Wilson, feeling he has spared his friend.

Eliza comes to call on Rose and tells Gilbert, with malicious pleasure, that Mrs. Graham has gone back to her husband. Gilbert rushes to Woodford, where Lawrence confirms that Helen has gone back to Grassdale. Huntingdon is ill, and Helen feels it her duty to nurse him, since Miss Myers left him some time before. Frederick shows Gilbert a letter Helen wrote, which Gilbert relates to Halford.

Helen explains that Huntingdon was injured in an accident, and since the servants have left, there is only a hired nurse to take care of him. Huntingdon accuses her over her sense of duty, telling her, “[Y]ou hope to gain a higher seat in heaven for yourself, and scoop a deeper pit in hell for me” (430). Helen makes Huntingdon sign a document that Arthur may stay under her care, and while she admits this sounds harsh, she insists, “[M]y son’s future welfare should not be sacrificed to any mistaken tenderness for this man’s feelings” (431).

Huntingdon is a quarrelsome patient and mocks Helen for still wanting to reform him. He feels no contrition or remorse for his behavior, but he cannot bear to think of dying. Helen admits she is in a quandary. She is trying to promote the recovery and reformation of her husband, but wonders what will happen if she succeeds.

Helen gives Gilbert permission to say what he wishes to clear her name in the neighborhood. She wishes him well but says he ought to not think of her. She is exhausted by nursing Huntingdon. She has forgiven her husband but does not imagine love can grow again between them. She tells Huntingdon, “If you wish me to feel kindly towards you, it is deeds not words that must purchase my affection and esteem” (439).

Helen visits Esther, who is discouraged by her mother’s continued hectoring to marry a suitor she dislikes. Helen counsels her to hold fast. Esther says she has threatened to run away and “disgrace the family by earning my own livelihood” (440) and that frightens her mother into letting up for a while.

Gilbert pauses to catch Halford up on the fate of his neighbors. After Richard Wilson graduated from Cambridge, he became curate for his father and married Mary Millward, surprising everyone. Richard in time becomes vicar of Lindenhope. Eliza marries a wealthy tradesman. Jane Wilson could not find a partner rich or elegant enough to suit her, and since she refuses to live with her brother Robert and his wife, who are mere farmers, she lives in a country town in “close-fisted, cold, uncomfortable gentility, doing no good to others and but little to herself […] a cold-hearted, supercilious, keenly, insidiously censorious old maid” (442).

Gilbert continues to visit Frederick Lawrence, who shares Helen’s letters. She says Huntingdon has begun to ail quickly. Only Hattersley has not forsaken him, and Helen reports that Millicent is happy and well. Gilbert feels guilty for wishing Huntingdon might be taken off to Heaven, while Huntingdon is in terror of dying and going to hell. He takes no solace in Christian doctrine and cannot repent, though Helen urges him to try.

A last letter, dated December 5, reports that Huntingdon is dead. Helen says she cannot bear to think of him in everlasting torment but rather believes that “through whatever purging fires the erring spirit may be doomed to pass” (452), God will receive him in the end.

Gilbert feels relieved that Helen has been delivered of her toils, but she never mentioned him in her letters, and he worries that her concern for her husband may have erased her feelings for him. Even if she does regain her health and cheerfulness, he thinks, her affections for him might feel like a dream. Gilbert is sure that Lawrence does not approve of his love for his sister. Gilbert might have been good enough for Mrs. Graham of Wildfell Hall, but there is a wide distinction in rank between her independent state and her status as Mrs. Huntingdon, the lady of Grassdale Manor.

Gilbert decides to wait the agreed-upon six months before he writes to Helen. Helen’s uncle dies, and Helen goes to Staningley to console her aunt. Lawrence tells Gilbert he is traveling with Helen and their aunt to F— to enjoy the sea air, and though he writes Gilbert, Lawrence does not mention Helen at all.

Gilbert says he will spare Halford from his “fluctuations of dull despondency and flickering hope” (459) and instead share news. Lady Lowborough eloped to the continent with a lover. Lowborough divorced her and remarried a lady close to his own age, “remarkable neither for beauty nor wealth, nor brilliant accomplishments” but rather full of “genuine good sense, unswerving integrity, active piety, warm-hearted benevolence, and a fund of cheerful spirits” (460). Hattersley leads a hearty, active life as a country gentleman, breeding horses and enjoying the society of his happy wife and their fine children.

Gilbert is walking home from the vicarage with Eliza after he called on Reverend Millward. The reverend thinks Helen did wrong to leave her husband, saying this was “a violation of her sacred duties as a wife” (462) and she ought to have appealed to the law for protection.

Eliza tells Gilbert that Mr. Lawrence’s sister is going to be married on Thursday. When Gilbert asks, she confirms the man’s name is Hargrave. Desperate to tell Helen how he feels and perhaps stop the marriage, Gilbert sets out at once for Grassdale. He is delayed by a snowfall and arrives outside the church while the wedding is underway. To his surprise, Frederick Lawrence emerges with Esther, his new bride. Frederick says he sent a letter, which Gilbert must have missed. Gilbert is astonished that his friend managed to hide his happiness in love.

Gilbert decides to approach Helen at last. Her husband has been dead a year, and he wants to know her heart. As he travels, he hears that Walter Hargrave married a spinster who has already learned he is not the delightful gentleman she thought him before their marriage. Gilbert’s heart sinks when he beholds Grassdale, a “stately mansion in the midst of its expansive grounds” (472). He imagines how beautiful it must be in the summer, with the sweeping grounds, encircling woods, and still water. He learns Helen is still at Staningley so presses on, staying overnight in an inn.

On a clear, frosty morning Gilbert comes upon Staningley and is utterly demoralized to learn that, not only is the estate even finer than Grassdale, but her uncle left it to Helen. The coach lets Gilbert down before the gates, but he stands in a daze thinking all his hopes are at an end. Now that Helen is reinstated to her proper sphere, she may have forgotten him, and even if she does feel some lingering affection, perhaps he should not disturb her peace. The world would never approve of her choosing him, with such a difference in their wealth and station. He feels he must banish all thoughts of her like “a wild, mad dream” (476).

While Gilbert stands at the gates, a carriage goes past, and Arthur calls out. Though he does not see her face, Helen puts her hand out the window, and Gilbert squeezes it briefly.

At the house, Gilbert admits he came to see Helen and explains why he did not write, but he feels it would be wrong now to speak of his regard, as her circumstances are so changed. Helen reaches through a window and picks a Christmas rose in bloom, observing that it has withstood more than a summer flower would and is as beautiful. She says the flower is an emblem of her heart, but when Gilbert hesitates, she throws it out the window. Gilbert retrieves the flower and confesses he is afraid she would repent of marrying beneath her. Helen scolds him for pride, declaring that “the greatest worldly distinctions and discrepancies of rank, birth, and fortune are as dust in the balance compared with the unity of accordant thoughts and feelings, and truly loving, sympathizing hearts and souls” (487). Gilbert embraces her and agrees to Helen’s request that he take a year to court her, so her aunt may get to know him.

Gilbert tells Halford he will bring his narrative to a close. He gained Aunt Maxwell’s approval to marry Helen and agreed to live at Staningley. He left the family farm to Fergus, who married a vicar’s daughter. Arthur is now a fine young man who “has realized his mother’s brightest expectations” (487). He and Helen have lived happily, with children of their own, and they look forward to Halford and Rose visiting soon. He signs the letter and dates it from Staningley on June 10, 1847.