"I have to declare that you have bewitched me, in spite of sense, and experience, and difference of station and estate. You have looked, and spoken and moved, so shown me your faults and your virtues – beauties rather, they are hardly so stern as virtues – that I love you – love you with my life and strength." (Shirley, Chapter 36)
Art by F.H. Townsend for the 1897 ed. of Shirley
Welcome back, Janeites, to the sixth and final week of Shirley! As part of the Austen-Brontë summer blog series, I have embarked on a delightful reading journey of Charlotte Brontë's second novel. Today we come to the end by taking a look at Chapters 32-37. This part of the story is filled to the brim with Brontë's characteristic wit and writerly genius as new trials and challenges present themselves to the characters and loose ends are tied up. Shall we begin?
Summary, First Impressions, and the End at Last
We closed on rather a suspenseful note last week, with Robert Moore shot by a bloodthirsty vagabond and taken to Briarmains, the residence of the Yorke family. Why not bring Robert back to his home at Hollow's Cottage, you may ask? In such a perilous state, there was not a moment to lose in settling the wounded man at a dwelling so a doctor could be called. Mr. Yorke, characteristically serious and stoic, is moved by the severe injury of his young friend, which reflects in his willing behavior to put Robert up at his house. Mr. Moore's fragility has the same effect on the "saturnine" Mr. Yorke, although her emotion is outwardly expressed as severe protectiveness. Refusing to let even her own children enter the sickroom, she also turns Shirley Keeldar, Caroline Helstone, Mrs. Pryor away from the house. The other Moore siblings are allowed to visit and both Louis and Hortense make the trip, though not without some difficulty on Mrs. Yorke's part. A Dr. MackTurk is the surgeon summoned and although he wishes to appoint a nurse to aid Robert in his recovery Hortense and Mrs. Yorke will not hear of it. They instead insist on performing the duties of nurse themselves. Somehow there is an issue with the bandages, however, and Mr. Moore ends up losing a great deal of blood; Dr. MackTurk enlists the employ of a brusquely Amazonian nurse, Mrs. Zillah Horsefall. She banishes Mrs. Yorke and Hortense and becomes a sort of medical warden, to the chagrin of a weak and despairing Robert. Despite this, autumn in Yorkshire passes day by day, week by week, and the authoress deftly details the marked changes in gorgeous prose.
A calm day had settled into a crystalline evening. The world wore a North Pole coloring; all its lights and tints looked like the reflets of white, or violet, or pale green gems. The hills wore a lilac blue; the setting sun had purple in its red; the sky was ice, all silvered azure; when the stars rose, they were of white crystal, not gold; gray, or cerulean, or faint emerald hues... (Shirley, Chapter 32)
Then, straight from this bird's eye view of the landscape, we zoom in on a schoolboy walking home. It is Martin Yorke, a fifteen-year-old boy of peculiar temperament and solemn irony. He pauses in the wood to read a portion of a rather fantastical tale, but quickly puts aside his book as he hears someone approach and eventually sees a woman in silk and veil. It is Caroline Helstone, but instead of returning to her mind and reflections as in prior sections of the novel, the readers become privy to Martin's inner thoughts as the rector's niece passes him by. She then returns to inquire "are you one of Mr. Yorke's sons?" to which he replies in the affirmative. Martin is delighted to find that Caroline knows his name, but at her inquiry after Mr. Moore's health Martin states that the mill-owner will soon be dead. This distresses Caroline terribly, and she is still badly shaken when Martin reveals his answer was in jest. The boy tells Carolin of the situation with Mrs. Horsefall, the nurse, and they discuss Mr. Moore until they reach the Yorke family's gate. Caroline turns to leave but Martin insists on walking her back to the rectory, craving a little more adventure over the monotony of daily tea.
He walked home with Caroline. On the way he promised to see Mr. Moore, in spite of the dragon who guarded his chamber, and appointed an hour bon the next day when Caroline was to come to Briarmains Wood and get tidings of him. (Shirley, Chapter 32)
The next morning, precocious and particular Martin Yorke puts his scheme into action. In order to stay home from school he feigns illness by "[taking] a severe pain about his heart" and "[finding] no appetite for breakfast", the latter of the two ploys being by no means a small task for a young man. In order to keep up his strength he raids the larder. Very soon after dinner, Mrs. Yorke retires to her chamber and in order to get Hortense out of the way Martin casually invents a situation involving the Moore's servant girl and her love life, which Hortense immediately excuses herself on account of inspecting. That only leaves the grim menace, Mrs. Horsefall, the most difficult of all. Martin manages to lure her downstairs to "take some refreshment" as the other members of the family are scarce and will leave her in peace. Once the nurse is settled in the back parlor Martin takes off toward the forest and when the church-bells chime 4:00, Caroline appears. Rather than bring the anxious young woman any new of her beloved, Martin states he will instead bring her to Moore himself. That he does, and warns that the only time they have is a quarter of an hour, during which time he would don the role of sentinel. Mr. Moore rises and briefly takes Caroline's hands in his. He wonders that she did not come to see him sooner, to which the lady professes she was forbidden. They converse on their mutual feelings of hopelessness before the meeting– Moore feels just as Caroline did during her earlier illness and can now understand her pain. Mr. Moore asks that Caroline take his hands, and I can just picture Charlotte Brontë smiling to herself as she scribbled this last, sentimental portion of the chapter. (Go ahead and get that translator ready to go!) However, I can also picture the edge of a smirk creeping up on the smile as Charlotte interjects the tender moment with an explanation of language choice.
She took those thin fingers... she bent her head et les effleura de ses lèvres. (I put that in French because the word effleurer is an exquisite word.) Moore was much moved. A large tear or two coursed down his hollow cheek. (Shirley, Chapter 33)
But the moment is cut short as Martin enters, claiming twenty minutes have passed rather than fifteen and warning that his mother, Mrs. Yorke, can be heard stirring below. Caroline is hurried from the room and all is as it was before. The next Sunday brings plenty of snow, so to stay safe in spite of the inclement weather, the Yorkes decide not to attend church. This is irksome to the willful Martin– whose point of view is still in employ– and he refuses to stay at home. Martin instead makes the trek to the church with the aim of seeing Caroline Helstone. He is at first distressed to not see her among the parishioners, but she enters later with the children in Sunday School. She does not notice Martin and still does not when the service ends and the congregation scatters. On his way home, however, Martin notices a young lady in a grey cloak carrying an umbrella. Caroline. She professes that "there is no such thing as getting a quiet word spoken in the church or churchyard", however Martin is still vexed. His thoughts, like many a young person's, jump rapidly from one to the next. The two of them argue and at Caroline's inquiry Martin reluctantly reports that, as she saw before, Mr. Moore is no better, no worse. He says he will not help her see Mr. Moore again and the two part.
But rather, Mr. Moore is better. He soon quits Briarmains and returns to Hollow Cottage, "sadder and wiser", not the"proud, angry, disappointed man" he was prior to his injury. He notices that his sister, Hortense, has thoroughly cleaned the house in his absence and Mr. Moore suggest she invite a friend over for tea. After going through a few names he lights upon the name of Caroline Helstone and an invitation is dispatched to the rectory at once. The Moore siblings and Caroline take tea, after which Hortense excuses herself to tidy and organize upstairs. Thus, Mr. Moore and Miss Helstone are left alone. They speak tenderly, amiably, and the intimacy between them seems to have been restored. They openly discuss Shirley and Robert's misguided attempt at pursuing her. He realizes he did not truly love her in his heart, and Caroline reveals that she knows with whom Shirley is in love. She makes Mr. Moore guess and at last, as Hortense is heard to be approaching, whispers the name in his ear. "Robert gave a start, a flash of the eye, a brief laugh." Caroline then prepares to leave, continuing a lightly teasing discourse with Mr. Moore in the hall. It brought a smile to my face as I read as it proved to me once again how well-suited the two are for each other.
The scene then shifts to Fieldhead. While the argument (see last week's post for a refresher) between Shirley and her matchmaking uncle, Mr. Sympson, seemed irrevocable, they come to a reconciliation. Relations between the two of them are so repaired that Shirley even asks her family to postpone their departure, which they do. During the flash of Mr. Sympson's anger when he first thought his niece was to marry Robert, Louis Moore resigned his post as tutor. However, due to his care for his pupil, Mr. Sympson's restored temper, and of course, his unacknowledged love for Shirley, he decides to stay in his post as long as the Sympsons remain in Yorkshire. The Sympsons finally decide to depart in December in order to return home by Christmastide. During the final week of their stay with their niece, there were some occurrences which Louis Moore noted in a journal. The highlights of this chronicle include a lengthy and significant conversation with Miss Keeldar, filled to the brim with characteristic banter and a rather familiar-sounding proposal. (Readers, can you remember any other hero using the word "bewitched" in his proposal as well as mentioning differences in station?)
"I am not afraid of you, my leopardess: I dare live for and with you, from this hour till my death. Now, then, I have you: you are mine: I will never let you go. Wherever my home be, I have chosen my wife. If I stay in England, in England you will stay; if I cross the Atlantic, you will cross it also: are lives are riveted; our lots intertwined." (Shirley, Chapter 36)
To that, Shirley replies to her lover: "And are we equal then, sir? Are we equal at last?" Once engaged, Louis and Shirley behave as such and upon finding the two alone in the parlor and learning that his niece is to marry the penniless tutor, Mr. Sympson gets himself in a temper; the Sympsons leave Fieldhead once and for all. And that bring us right to the last chapter...
...I have only briefly to narrate the final fates of some of the personages whose acquaintance we have made in this narrative, and then you and I must shake hands, and for the present separate. (Shirley, Chapter 37)
And so begins "The Winding-up", the final chapter of the novel. Much in the same style of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë only dedicates a few pages to the deftly neat knotting of a few loose ends and the overall satiation of her reader. First come the curates who opened the novel– Malone is berated and cast out of the parish, Sweeting marries his love, Miss Dora Sykes, and Donne is slightly reformed, although still brash in his requests for donation. We are taken to the following summer, June of 1812, as Miss Shirley Keeldar and Mr. Louis Moore prepare for their wedding. Caroline was to be Shirley's bridesmaid, "but Fortune had destined her another part" as Mr. Moore visits her in the rectory garden one evening. He shares that "this day lays for my fortunes a broad, firm foundation on which, for the first time in my life, I can securely build", or in other word, that his business and monetary troubles are at an end. This enables him to seek a wife, and a beautiful, humble proposal takes place. Finally, Moore asks, "Is Caroline mine?" The answer is sweeter still: "Caroline is yours."
The weddings take place on the same day in August, the first of Shirley and Louis and the second of Caroline and Robert. Mr. Helstone officiates both ceremonies and Mr. Yorke gives away the first bride and Mr. Hall gives away the second. (The two youths, Martin Yorke and Henry Sympson are both of the wedding parties, the authoress is sure to note.)
In the end, Charlotte Brontë leaves us only with this:
The story is told. I think I now see the judicious reader putting on his spectacles to look for the moral. It would be an insult to his sagacity to offer directions. I only say, God speed him in the quest. (Shirley, Chapter 37)
With more than a touch of sadness I write that here we must inevitably conclude our reading journey of Charlotte Brontë's Shirley. In completing this literary quest I have discovered not only a previously unknown love for the eldest Brontë sister's writing but a new favorite book. I hope the same might be said for those of you who were along for the ride. Thank you very kindly for reading along with me. Before you go, dear readers, please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I would love to hear anything and everything!
Additionally, I will be joining the lovely Na'dayah Pugh and Sarah Hurley on the Jane Eyre vlog series next Monday, July 22nd, to discuss the adaptations and flourishing afterlife of Charlotte Brontë's most popular novel, as well as how Jane Eyre relates to Shirley. You can find it and all past vlog recordings on the Jane Austen Summer Program YouTube channel.
Did you find a moral?