New Year, New Fallen Woman: Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth Readalong

Chapter 28

In which Ruth tells Leonard of her disgrace, Bradshaw cuts a lifelong tie with the Bensons, Thurstan persuades Ruth her duty is in Eccleston with Leonard, and Faith soothes with violet-tea and soft loving tones.

Mrs Pearson, the gossiping dressmaker, has ensured that most of Eccleston knew Ruth's secret before it reached Bradshaw's ears. Ruth returns home, frightening Leonard with her woeful look of agony. She asks for one last kiss in the old way, then tells him that when she was young, she did wrong in a way he cannot understand. She warns that he will suffer through life when people throw his illegitimacy in his teeth then, with bitter shame, sees a strange look of repugnance on his face as he realises what she is saying. His eyes blaze with earnestness as he tells her there never was such a mother as she and he will knock down anyone who says otherwise. In the sweetest, saddest tone, she reminds him she said it herself because it was true, and they cling together, Leonard panting like some hunted creature.

She warns him there will be hard trials ahead, but that while her sin may make him an outcast in the world, only his own sin can ever make him an outcast from God. When he leaves the room to sob behind the sofa, Ruth collapses, thinking again that death is the only solution to her position, and might lead cruel hearts to relent and show pity on Leonard.

Benson has been summonsed by Bradshaw who demands to know if he was aware of the character of the woman living beneath his roof. Benson says Bradshaw cannot upbraid him any more than his own conscience has for the years of deceit, even though it was for a good end. Bradshaw responds with withering contempt to this suggestion, stamping his foot as he asks why Benson introduced his sinning protege into his household, exposing his innocent children to corruption.

Benson insists that he would have died rather than expose the girls to any danger. His household had watched Ruth anxiously for a year or more and, seeing no glimpse of boldness or want of conscientiousness, felt she deserved the gentle tender help that Jesus gave once to Mary Magdalen.

Bradshaw calls Benson "a man who has deluded himself into considering falsehood right". He no longer regards him as a fitting exponent of the will of God and will no longer attend his chapel. Benson bows and leaves in silence, with a huge sense of loss at the severance of the long and largely happy friendship with the Bradshaws.

He returns to the house to find Ruth in a trembling, feverish state, determined to leave so that Leonard will be spared her disgrace. She plans to seek work in her mother's home town of Helmsley, but sobs as she wonders if her mother knows where and what she is. Benson tells her it would be a sin to sever the tie with Leonard, who needs his mother's love. He urges her to be brave and faithful, and to answer to God, not to men's opinions and esteem.

He urges her to have courage to bear the trials God has sent her, and teach Leonard to do the same. He feels they have all been cowards in trying to find an easier way for Ruth. When Faith returns, they discuss this, but she still feels they did the right thing. The years of peace have helped Ruth grow stronger and wiser so she can bear her shame now in a way she never could have done at first. Ruth puts the exhausted Leonard to bed, then Faith leads Ruth to rest, bringing her a cup of soothing violet-tea - "not so soothing as tender actions and soft loving tones."

Yes, so glad we hung on in there though the overly pious midsection of the book!

Oh, this chapter is so very sad.

Ruth's distress is visceral and the moment when he refers to Leonard as her bastard is just agonising. Bradshaw's red-faced self righteousness, coming so soon after his hypocrisy in chapter 25, is both convincing and maddening, and the absolute shattering of everything Ruth has built is tragic.

Jemima is an absolute star, though. Her battle with her conscience has shown her to be a truly good person, and she is the only person in her family who has the courage to stand up to her father's tyranny. That she does this for a woman she has hated as a rival shows real strength of character. Ruth is going to need all the friends she can muster after this chapter.

Chapter 26

In which Richard tries to interfere, Jemima watches Ruth like a hawk, Bradshaw confronts Ruth with her past and Jemima is moved to defend her.

Jemima no longer avoids Ruth, but watches her every move with an icy chillness. When her brother Richard visits, he notices Farquhar's interest in Ruth and suggests that it is not too late for Jemima to make the best of her looks and win him back. Richard is struggling to manage his money, and it is in his financial interests for Farquhar and Jemima to marry, but he is also (fleetingly) concerned by his sister's low mood and wan face. Jemima is haunted by Farquhar's evident attachment to Ruth and it takes all her self honesty and conscience to resist the temptation to taunt Ruth with the past.

On a glorious August day, Ruth is reading with the girls when Bradshaw enters the room, purple with suppressed agitation, and orders the girls to leave. Jemima ignores the order as Ruth stands trembling, knowing what is to come.

Bradshaw chokes on his indignation, saying that the one sin he utterly loathes, more than all others, is wantonness. Ruth moans that "I was so young" and Jemima tries to defend her from Bradshaw's fury. He tells her that Ruth must be a warning to her, but she takes Ruth's hand and defies her father. She tells him she has watched Ruth for a whole year since she learned of her past but has not seen one flickering shadow of untruth in word or action.

Bradshaw dismisses Jemima and rages that he was duped into accepting Ruth's bastard. The look on Ruth's face as he uses this word to describe Leonard is described as "the terror on a poor dumb animal's countenance...I pray I may never see it again..." She stands like a wild creature at bay, appealing to God to let the shame fall on her but to keep the innocent Leonard safe.

Jemima stands dumb and pitying as Bradshaw marches Ruth from the house. His parting words, between gritted teeth, are to tell her "If ever you, or your bastard, darken this door again, I will have you both turned out by the Police!"

Chapter 25

In which Leonard recovers, Farquhar's feelings for Ruth become obvious to all, and Jemima is startled out of her misery by the revelation of Ruth's previous identity.

Bradshaw is relieved to have won the election but uneasy about the bribery which played such a key part in it. Jemima and Farquhar are still misunderstanding each other with all their power. He wearies of her petulance and thinks longingly of Ruth's calm, serene soul and body fashioned of angelic grace.

Sally is certain that a dream of green rushes heralds the death of a child but Miss Benson stops her from recounting this to Ruth, who already feels that Leonard's death would be a fit punishment for the state of indifference to all things - earthy and divine - which she has fallen since meeting Donne.

Ruth nurses Leonard with possessive jealousy until Benson persuades her to rest. She dreams of a lonely shore where she struggles to save Leonard from an unseen pursuer. She manages to throw Leonard back to shore but wakes before she sees if he is saved or, like her, is swept into a mysterious something too dreadful to be borne.

Leonard recovers but his illness has aged him from lovely child to handsome boy. Many people have been touched by his illness and it takes time for Ruth to realise that Farquhar has a more personal interest in her. Jemima also realises and her former affection for Ruth turns to dislike, while her mood becomes one of sullen indifference.

When Jemima is persuaded to buy a new bonnet, the dressmaker comments that Mrs Denbigh's beauty reminds her of a young woman she knew in Fordham. Knowing that Ruth has lived there, Jemima listens with mounting agitation as she tries to reconcile the bold, artful, vicious seducer the dressmaker describes with the sweet, gentle, girlish widow she knows. Going over every morsel of evidence, there is no doubt of the identity and Jemima returns home in turmoil.

She realises that this news gives her huge power over Ruth, especially in relation to Farquhar. However, she is honest enough to acknowledge that Ruth's conduct in Eccleston has always been beyond reproach, and she seems to have worked her way through repentance to purity. Jemima almost feels pity for Ruth and decides to take no action, though duty calls her to watch Ruth closely for the sake of the younger Bradshaw girls.

Sorry, 25 should be here today but we've been in the mountains with no internet. Will get it out ASAP, it's a crucial chapter!

I looked up the name change and apparently it explains towards the end of the book that he changed his name for an inheritance. Obviously it's crucial to the plot as otherwise she would have had warning that he was coming to visit, but I think Gaskell could have explained it earlier as it just hangs as an unsolved question through most of the book.

These all sound great. I've been inspired to download the samples on Kindle to get a sense of how hard they might be to read.

The introduction to the Nancy Mitford translation of The Princess de Cleves is interesting - she wrote it to show the English what French society is like because that's exactly what it is like to this day" (1949). Her translation was praised for its wit, charm and lightness of touch, which sounds promising.

But the others sound great too, and I found the Penguin War and Peace and Madame Bovary were both very readable, so maybe Penguin is a reliable way to go?

I loved this chapter too. It seemed like a very long summary and I wondered if my brain is still a bit befuddled, but I didn't want to leave anything out.

"Some thoughts impelled her...she...was carried far out on the level sands - but not far enough for her intent"

Is this another suicide attempt? It's not quite explicit but I was pretty sure it was implied. How very desperate she must feel to consider leaving Leonard behind.

I understand why some of us were hoping for a repentant Donne and a happy ending but it never occurred to me as he is just despicable! I was proud of her that she did not take the easy option and marry him for Leonard's sake.He is so entitled and certain of himself, he can only assume Ruth has the same self centred life view as him - so he cannot understand why she is not playing games, reproaching him and manipulating him into marriage.

I also love that we can see how deeply torn she is. She loved this man and is still physically drawn to him. She finds it hard to pull away from his grasp and is overwhelmed by the sense of loss when she thinks she will never see him again. It has taken every inch of her resolve and moral character to resist the easy option of marrying him. But I think her self-preservation has kicked in too, because marriage to a superficial, amoral man, who holds the purse strings and really only wants her for her beaty and perhaps her unavailability, would surely be unbearable?