The Gryce Courtship at Bellomont — The House of Mirth

Lily wakes at Bellomont to a note from Mrs. Trenor asking her to help with tiresome household tasks by ten. The paid secretary is away, but Lily is expected to fill the gap without pay because she is a guest who cannot refuse. Luxury surrounds her, yet the work reminds her she is dependent, not equal.

Downstairs the house runs like a social factory. Lily writes letters, manages lists, and listens to Judy Trenor plot marriages and entertainments. Trenor treats Lily as staff when convenient and as bait when useful. Lily learns Judy invited her partly because Selden was expected and Gwen Van Osburgh needed competition. Even lunch becomes strategy as Lily smiles through gossip about who is rich, who is available, and who is dangerous. Her unpaid labor buys access to rich tables and marriage chances.

Lily keeps performing for Percy Gryce. She avoids smoking, plays the modest heiress, and lets him talk Americana while she calculates every gesture. Mrs. Trenor brags that Gryce has eight hundred thousand a year, which makes the courtship feel even more like a job interview. On a walk she adapts her pace to his shyness, drawing him out and making him feel admired. The performance is working. Gryce seems flattered, tractable, and close to proposal territory. For a moment financial rescue feels within reach.

Then Lawrence Selden arrives unexpectedly. His presence unsettles Lily because he sees through the game and stirs feelings that do not fit her plan. She has spent days becoming exactly what Gryce wants. Selden makes her want something else. A single glance from him can make her forget the cheque-book panic that started her morning. Even a short talk with him threatens the mask she wears for Gryce and for Judy Trenor. Lily laughs with Selden as if nothing is at risk, but she knows one visible slip could undo days of careful work.

The chapter ends with Lily caught between strategy and desire, still working for others while pretending to be a honored guest. She has moved Gryce closer to a proposal, but Selden has reminded her what she is giving up to survive.