Book 6: Chapters 60, 61 and 62

We have reached the end of Book 6, which brought a lot of drama to the table! Will our friend Will ever be able to find some peace and overgrown his habit of lying on the rugs of other people’s houses?

As always, discussion prompts are in the comments. We will take a break next week to allow people to catch up and have a wrap-up discussion for Book 6. Only two books to go!

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CHAPTER 60

Good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable.

Justice Shallow

There is a public furniture sale in Middlemarch, and Mr Bulstrode asks Will to buy a painting for his wife there, since he is unable to attend himself due to health issues. 

Will claimed he would have left Middlemarch two months ago, but well, here he is, and is not happy about his current situation.

He manages to get the painting, but he also meets Mr. Raffles, who claims he knew Will's parents well and that the reason his mother, Sarah, ran away was because the family was conducting an illegal business.

CHAPTER 61                                                               

“Inconsistencies,” answered Imlac, “cannot both be right, but imputed to man they may both be true.”

Rasselas

Mrs Bulstrode informs her husband that Raffles was looking for him. Raffles is threatening Bulstrode to expose his past to the village: Bulstrode was an orphan, who became a Calvinist and a close friend of a wealthy member of his church, Mr Dunkirk. He started working for him, becoming a pawnbroker, even if he knew the business was not completely legit. When Mr Dunkirk died, Bulstrode married his widow, who wanted to find her daughter, Sarah, who had run away. She would have left all of her fortune to Sarah’s son, but never found them. Truth is, Bulstrode hired Raffles to find Sarah and did find her, but chose to keep this a secret from his wife.

He decides to reveal everything to Will, who refuses his money. After Will leaves, Bulstrode bursts into tears.

CHAPTER 62

He was a squyer of lowe degre,

That loved the king’s daughter of Hungrie.

Old Romance

Will writes a letter to Dorothea, asking to meet him. Mrs Cadwallader has told Dorothea that the young man spends a lot of time with Rosamond, which makes her upset.

They have a last goodbye where Will wants to let her know that he was never interested in her fortune, and of course they are unable to properly communicate with each other, so Dorothea wonders if Will’s feelings are directed towards Rosamond. After a while however, she realises he must have talked about his feelings for her. She is happy to know he reciprocates, and Will leaves Middlemarch two days later.

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