Middlemarch Ch. 69: When Conscience Costs

George Eliot

When Conscience Costs Everything

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Summary

At the Bank Caleb Garth asks to speak with Bulstrode and, after slow preamble, says he has come from Stone Court where Raffles lies very ill and needs a doctor. He admits he carried Raffles in his gig when he found him walking beyond the toll-house, and urges the banker to send help at once without waiting for propriety.

Bulstrode sends for Lydgate and rides to Stone Court hoping Raffles spoke only to Garth. When Caleb says he must put all Bulstrode's business into other hands because he believes Raffles's story, he refuses to repeat it, pities without judging, and leaves the past buried as far as his will goes.

Bulstrode, praying hypothetically for Raffles's death, watches the sick man babble about robbery and hunters while Lydgate treats delirium tremens. The gentlest voice has delivered the hardest line: Caleb will not profit from a man whose past he now believes, even without spreading the tale.

Lydgate rides home to find an execution in his house and Rosamond pale on the bed. He begs forgiveness; she plans to return to her parents while he says there is no hurry, and their tenderness keeps breaking into bitter irony as two households crack at once: Stone Court's fever and the Vincys' seized furniture.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Leaving Work Without Spreading Dirt

You can refuse dirty money and still refuse to become the town crier. Caleb Garth resigns from Bulstrode after Raffles's story, will not repeat it, and carries the sick man to Stone Court while Lydgate faces an execution at home.

When principle makes you quit, pair the exit with a clear rule about what you will and will not say.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Caleb Garth

He brings the sick man in from the road, asks that a doctor be sent, and then will not stay for the fee or repeat the tale. Conscience, for him, is a resignation rather than a speech. He pities a life that cannot be lived clear, and he still walks off the work. He will not profit by what he overheard.

Continue this thoughtMoney as a Second Conscience

Coming Up in Chapter 70

Bulstrode will sit up at Stone Court through a night of opium and brandy while Lydgate's thousand-pound relief still lies ahead, and the town will soon connect the doctor's debts to the dying man After Lydgate leaves Stone Court, Bulstrode searches Raffles's pockets and takes comfort from bills showing he has kept away from Middlemarch since Christmas. He sits up with the patient, refuses.

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Chapter 69

When Conscience Costs Everything

CHAPTER LXIX. “If thou hast heard a word, let it die with thee.” —Ecclesiasticus. Mr. Bulstrode was still seated in his manager’s room at the Bank, about three o’clock of the same day on which he had received Lydgate there, when the clerk entered to say that his horse was waiting, and also that Mr. Garth was outside and begged to speak with him. “By all means,” said Bulstrode; and Caleb entered. “Pray sit down, Mr. Garth,” continued the banker, in his suavest tone. “I am glad that you arrived just in time to find me here. I know you…

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When Conscience Costs Everything

Summary

Why This Matters