The world, it seemed, was turning ugly and hateful, and there was no place for her trustfulness.

Middlemarch, Book VI - The Widow and the Wife by George Eliot (Marian Evans)

Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary

- Dorothea returns home to Lowick after Mr. C's death; decides not to devote her life to finishing his scholarly work. (Amen!)

- Dorothea and Will see each other; mixed messages abound (really tangled web. like, really really tangled). Only she knows of the codicil that says they can't marry. 

- Dorothea to Celia: "I will never marry again!" (harumph. Okay, Dorothea. we'll see.)

- Railroad construction begins - discontent arises and a scuffle ensues - Fred saves the day and protects 

Mr. Garth; Mr. Garth offers Fred the opportunity to work for him; Mrs. Garth and Fred's parents are all displeased.

- Mrs. Garth tells Fred that Mr. Farebrother also likes Mary (and, ahem, might be a better match for her); Mary reassures Fred she likes him best after Fred has a hissyfit.

- Rosamond's baby is born prematurely and dies; Rosamond and Lydgate realize they're living beyond their means; she asks her father for help (behind L's back) but Lydgate plans to take a household inventory and sell unnecessary items.

- Rosamond tells Will (FINALLY) about the codicil. Will talks to Dorothea, but (Again) mixed messages abound.

- Mr. Larcher has a large auction of personal items; John Raffles reappears and meets Will; insinuates he knows dirty secrets about Will's mother's past. (dun Dun DUN!)

- Bulstrode comes clean to Will and reveals he kept an inheritance from Will's mother and made them destitute. Offers Will money now; Will proudly refuses.

- Will goes to see Dorothea one last (seriously, folks, this is the Real last) time; More mixed messages abound; Dodo (the Dodo) finally realizes Will loves her, but he leaves unsure whether She loves Him! (le SIGH).

Spoiler Over: Continue Here

- Celia, in response to Dorothea saying she wants to leave and return to Lowick
"But you will never see baby washed! And that is quite the best part of the day." hehehehhe. baby washing Is fun, but seriously, Celia? Maybe you need a more active social life.

- Mrs. Cadwallader, to Dorothea, on how D will go insane if she returns to her home alone
"You will see visions. We have all got to exert ourselves a little to keep sane. Think what a bore you might become yourself to your fellow-creatures if you were always playing tragedy queen and taking things sublimely." haghahghag. I want to play tragedy queen and "take things sublimely", Miss Havisham style ;)

- Dorothea, to Will, on remembering him after he leaves
"No. I shall never forget you. I have never forgotten anyone whom I once knew. My life has never been crowded, and seems not likely to be so." so tender!

- Sage remark about young people
"If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind. Each crisis seems final, simply because it is new." This reminds me that I used to say working with middle school students is like working with children who are all starring in a play about themselves that starts fresh every day. ;)

- Mr. Garth's consternation at Fred's miserable handwriting
"As Mr. Garth looked on his visage showed a growing depression, but when Fred handed him the paper he gave something like a snarl and rapped the paper passionately with the back of his hand.  Bad work like this dispelled all Caleb's mildness.
  'The deuce!' he exclaimed snarlingly.  'To think that this is a country where a man's education may cost hundreds and hundreds, and it turns you out this!' Then in a more pathetic tone, pushing up his spectacles and looking at the unfortunate scribe, 'The Lord have mercy on us, Fred; I can't put up with this!'" hehehe. apparently handwriting was actually professionally important at this time because Mr. Garth wants Fred to keep the accounting books, but it still seemed like a funny response.

- Will and Dorothea's tender parting
"'I have never done you injustice. Please remember me,' said Dorothea, repressing a rising sob.
   'Why should you say that?' said Will with irritation.  'As if I were not in danger of forgetting everything else.'"

Splendiferous sentences:
- "Life would be no better than candlelight tinsel and daylight rubbish if our spirits were not touched by what has been, to issues of longing and constancy."

-"It had seemed to him as if they were like two creatures slowly turning to marble in each other's presence, while their hearts were conscious and their eyes were yearning."

-"It was one of those grey mornings after light rains which become delicious about twelve o'clock, when the clouds part a little and the scent of the earth is sweet along the lanes and by the hedgerows."

I'm off on this grey morning to do some more schoolwork and read some more of this lovely Endslog! But no more thesis-ing for me - that's past Meredith's problem!