The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Ch. 42 Summary

Summary

September finds Huntingdon still among his friends, perhaps until Christmas. Helen clings to the hope that little Arthur may grow firm in good sense before the next shooting season brings another bevy of companions, and she will not think of the old hall until that trial comes. The Hattersleys stay a fortnight at the Grove. In the Grassdale garden Hattersley asks if she wants news of her husband, then announces he has left him for bad manners and means, at last, to live as a Christian and a father should.

Helen will not let the resolution pass as talk. She tells him it is never too late if he has sense to desire change and strength to execute it. He mistakes Milicent's quiet submission for unshaken love; she argues that such meekness will either deepen affection or breed fear and aversion, and asks whether he wishes his daughter to despise him or his wife to shudder at his approach. When he blames the children's worry and Milicent's delicate health for her fading, Helen takes him to the library and puts two of Milicent's letters in his hands: one from a season of his wildest dissipation, full of anguish that still spares him and blames his friends; one from a lucid interval, full of trembling hope built on sand. He blushes, turns to the window, and may dash away a tear. He shakes Helen's hand and swears he will make amends.

She will not let him curse himself into virtue. Duty owed to his Maker cannot buy off the past; another must make amends for that. He finds Milicent in the garden, lifts her, and sketches the great things he means to do until she bursts into tears of thanks and is pushed towards Helen. Helen disclaims the credit: he was already predisposed, and Milicent never tried him. They leave for his father's house, then their own country home. Milicent's next letter is full of present bliss. No particular temptation has yet put his virtue to the test. Helen allows herself one bright spot amid Grassdale's misery, and rests her thoughts there while she waits.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Naming Effects Instead of Lecturing

Moral talk bounces off; consequence lands. Helen asks Hattersley what his daughter will think of him, not only what rules he broke.

When challenging harmful behaviour, describe who pays and how affection erodes, not only who is right.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Ralph Hattersley

Moral talk has bounced off him for years. Helen asks what his daughter will think of him, and the future face is the first argument that lands. He can bear being a brute among friends. He cannot quite bear being seen, later, by a child who will have learned his laugh as law.

Continue this thoughtMake a Man of Him Is the Weapon

Coming Up in Chapter 43

Huntingdon returns in October and at once announces a governess, though Helen is teaching Arthur herself. Miss Myers is already engaged, an estimable pious young person recommended by a dowager he has never met. Helen reads the laughing demon in his eye, thinks of her asylum, and stops objecting so as not to rouse suspicion.

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Chapter 42

The Art of Honest Confrontation

September 1st.—No Mr. Huntingdon yet. Perhaps he will stay among his friends till Christmas; and then, next spring, he will be off again. If he continue this plan, I shall be able to stay at Grassdale well enough—that is, I shall be able to stay, and that is enough; even an occasional bevy of friends at the shooting season may be borne, if Arthur get so firmly attached to me, so well established in good sense and principles before they come that I shall be able, by reason and affection, to keep him pure from their contaminations. Vain hope, I…

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