Victorians! discussion

Part V

Chapter 7

Dr. Wortle continues to pay his regular visits to Mrs. Peacocke. But now, he always took his wife with him. These continuous visits slowly soften Mrs. Wortle towards Mrs. Peacocke. After learning the true story from her own lips, Mrs. Wortle realizes that she has been a little too harsh in her judgment.

Meanwhile, Dr. Wortle’s school suffers heavily as more boys are being withdrawn from the establishment. Dr. Wortle is contemplating closing it down before it closes by itself. It looks like Mrs. Stantiloup has finally triumphed over the Doctor.

Chapter 8

Dr. Wortle receives a letter from Lord Bracy, father of the young Lord Carstairs. It looks that Lord Carstairs is determined to win Mary, despite her lack of encouragement. In the letter, Lord Bracy doesn’t object to the match on rank or money, but he is concerned about his youth and his education and what a long engagement might do to both youngsters. Lord Bracy leaves to the Doctor’s determination on how to act in the matter concerning his daughter, Mary. Dr. Wortle is quite pleased with the letter and feels that a long engagement may not be that harmful. He decides to communicate the facts to her daughter and consults Mrs. Wortle on the matter. The consultation amounting to nothing other than asserting the Doctor’s will on his wife, he speaks to Mary directly about the matter. And it seems, after all, Mary could love Carstairs and wait for him if all the necessary approval is given.

Chapter 9

Mr. Peacocke finally finds the evidence to prove the death of Ferdinand Lefroy. Robert Lefroy tries to trick him once again, but Mr. Peacocke effectively squashes Lefroy’s wicked plans once and for all.

Part VI

Chapter 1

Dr. Wortle finally answers the letter of Lord Bracy. Mary is not indifferent to Lord Carstairs, but she is anxious to have the approval of both parties before she could start truly thinking of young Carstairs as her fiancé. Mrs. Wortle although desires the match is uneasy about a long engagement. Although she has no cause to doubt Lord Carstairs's constancy, he being young, Mrs. Wortle cannot help but worry over the possible consequences in case the engagement is called off at a future date. Dr. Wortle, however, decides in favour of the engagement and answers the letter accordingly. It is interesting to note that it is the Doctor who makes the decision for Mary and in her favour.

Chapters 2 & 3

Lord Bracy’s reply to the Doctor’s letter is a brief “so let it be”, and with that, Mary finds herself engaged to Lord Carstairs. Trollope says that both Dr. Wortle and Mrs. Wortle are “set upon the Bracy coronet”. 😊
Meanwhile, Mr. Peacocke writes to his wife informing her of her impending return to England. There is so much to be done and Doctor gets busy with making arrangements for the Peacockes to be married in London. Mr. Puddicombe is to assist Dr. Wortle with the ceremony. Both Mary’s and Mr. Peacockes success put the Doctor in a delightful mood, yet he finds it difficult to pass the past injuries done to him. He writes a letter again and makes few copies to be sent to the Bishop and the parents who withdrew the boys from the school. When Mr. Puddicombe is told of the Doctor’s intention, he puts an immediate stop at sending them and advises the Doctor to let the things die down. Grudgingly, Dr. Wortle decides to act on Mr. Puddicombe’s wisdom.

Mr. and Mrs. Peacocke finally return to Bowick as true husband and wife and assumes their duties back at the school. The Bishop’s palace invites the Wortles for a dinner to make peace with the Doctor and to repair some of the injuries they caused. There he was well received and receive intimations that parents who’ve withdrawn their boys might now return them to the school once again. And this turns out to be true.

Meanwhile, Lord Carstairs makes his first appearance in Bowick after his engagement to Mary. Lord Carstairs states the purpose for his visit as to meet Mr. Peacocke, but his true intention cannot be hidden. Mary is delighted and now is quite sure she loves him. 😊 As was agreed, Mary visits Carstairs and is well received. At the request of Lord Carstairs, she visits again during Christmas when he is home for vacation and their engagement, now known to all, is official. Their story ends there, but we'll wish a happy union for them.

That brings us finally to the end of the novel. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this segment as well as the overall story.

And also a big thank you to all of you who joined with me in this read. I hope you all enjoyed this short novel.

This is a Trollope novel with a happy ending for almost all the main characters. I thought it was an enjoyable read with interesting characters and situations.

The Doctor’s resilience, together with the wisdom of Mr. Puddicombe allows him to ride out the storm and regain both the good name of the school and his reputation. His increasing willingness to take advice by the end of the book shows that even he can improve his character both for his own good and the good of others.

Mr. Peacocke’s adventures in the USA were exciting interludes that contrasted sharply with Bowick. There were some vicious exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic but they were of very different natures. Robert Lefroy kept up his villainy to the last. I was disappointed that he got his money, he truly deserved to be locked up with the rest of his criminal gang. I couldn’t agree with Mr. Peacocke that he was obliged not to turn him in because he was allowing a dangerous man his liberty to prey on more unsuspecting victims.

I enjoyed the discussion between the Doctor and his wife about long engagements when they were considering the match between Mary and Lord Carstairs. We are left to ponder whether or not the young Lord will remain faithful but Trollope hints that his impatience gets the better of him with Mary taking precedence over his degree. Once Mary was ‘allowed’ to love him, she did it with all her heart and I can see her having a great influence on him once they get to their country estate.

There is, however, one sad irony, that despite the tremendous efforts of all her supporters, the real victim, Mrs. Peacocke, still feels ashamed and is less happy than the rest. It was Mr. Peacocke’s decision to refuse to part with her, but it seems to have left her with a burden she can’t shake off. If there had been a way that the Peacocke’s could have lived apart after the discovery that Ferdinand was still alive, it should have been taken and seen as a temporary arrangement. That Mrs. Peacocke still doesn’t feel that she can hold her head high at ease with the rest of society is a tragedy.

I very much enjoyed this novel, and once again am pleasantly surprised by the subtlety and nuance that Trollope brings to so many of his characters, and in particular in this case to Dr Wortle. This novel is not ostensibly about Dr Wortle, nor does the plot particularly revolve around him, yet he is the character who is seen to change and adapt the most (in my opinion). HIs first response to his friend's predicament and his own public mocking was anger and a determination to take action against all those who had slighted him or tried to change his plans for his school and his employee. After consultation with his wife and with his friend Dr Puddicombe and some self-examination he changes his mind-not something I had expected from this very strong-willed man who is used to getting his own way.

Trev, I wonder if over the next months or years the Peacockes, and in particular Mrs Peacocke, will be welcomed into the homes of their friends-in particular the Wortles and perhaps the home of his friend Lord Carstairs-and will no longer feel any need to decline all these invitations. I would certainly assume the Wortles would make a point of inviting them to small dinner parties or gatherings as a way to declare that they are now no longer beyond the pale.

Happy to hear that you both enjoy this novel, Trev and Frances.

Regarding Mrs. Peacocke, things will alter for her now. Already Mr. Peacocke has accepted the invitation from Lord Carstairs to visit Carstairs. That is an indication that now the Peacockes will move in society. I agree with Frances that the Wortles will help them with small dinners at their place. Dr. Wortle is eager to show the world that he was in the right all along to stand by Mr. Peacocke. And now that everything is settled, he will certainly take the initiative to launch them into society.

I liked the way Trollope neatly tied everything up, and appreciated the contrast between the challenges Peacocke faced in the States and the ones he encountered in the respectable English town. On the whole, I think he did well to get Lefroy off his back.

I agree that Mrs Peacocke’s place in Bowick will become more assured now, and it was very amusing how Lady Anne changed her tune and insisted it was everyone else’s fault that she’d withdrawn her child from the school!

I really enjoyed this book, and thanks to everyone for their enjoyable and thoughtful comments and of course Piyangie for keeping the discussions going so well.

I really enjoyed this book, thanks to you all!
My heart missed a beat when Lefroy came out with the cousin named Ferdinand, I thought that Mr. Peacocke had to begin his search all over again! All is ending well, also Mary's and Lord Carstairs' story. I find that Mr. Puddicombe is a rather important character, even we do not see much of him, because without his advice the doctor could have behaved differently and perhaps worse.

Thank you, Pamela. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the book.

And you too, Daniela. Like you, I was momentarily shocked by Lefroy's revelation that the dead man was only a cousin by the same name. I'm so pleased that Mr. Peacocke was wise enough to see him through.

Sorry I got late joining in on this one. Like you Piyangie and Daniella, I was shocked at the seeming twist. But with Robert's endless lies and inclination to make trouble, it was unexpected that he'd try it again.

I enjoyed the book as a whole and thought that even though we had one central thread and much of the novel focused on Dr Wortle, it still worked well.

Mr Puddicombe's offer at the end to preside over the wedding jointly with Dr Wortle was quite a pleasant surprise as I hadn't expected him to make such an offer.

No worries, Lady C. Mr. Puddicombe's offer came as a surprise for me too. It really placed him on a higher ground. I think in all characters, he had the most stable temperament.

Regarding Lady Anne's change, as Pamela mentioned in her comment, I can only say that Victorian morals seem to change like the wind.

That is true of every age I think. With Lady Anne though i think it was more a question of falling under others' influence than one of morals per se. She wasn't strong enough to stand up to others even had she wished not to withdraw her boys.

Re Trollope's opinion of the united states, I felt one could compare it with Dickens' views for instance in Martin Chuzzlewit.

Oh, and before I forget once again, thanks for the discussion Piyangie, I enjoyed this one.

Lady Clementina wrote: "That is true of every age I think. With Lady Anne though i think it was more a question of falling under others' influence than one of morals per se. She wasn't strong enough to stand up to others ..."

I didn't mean, Lady Anne per se. I meant the society in general. The very people who speak ill of you, when cicumstance change for the better, are the ones who act as they've done nothing wrong. Lady Momson for example, says that she never approved the Momson boy from being taken away from school when she was certainly one of the advocates for removing the boy. Now when the Peacocke matter is settled, they are eager to fall again on the good book of the Doctor.

Happy to hear you've enjoyed the discussion, Lady C. It was my pleasure.

This was one of my favorites of Trollope and so thank you all so much for the great comments and a great big thank you to you Piyangie for putting in the time and work!

Yes, that I agree on. But I think the fickleness is not necessarily limited to the times, rather something that we see even today. People change their tune to suit themselves at the drop of a hat.

I agree, Lady C., fortunately only some people do it.

Lady Clementina wrote: "Yes, that I agree on. But I think the fickleness is not necessarily limited to the times, rather something that we see even today. People change their tune to suit themselves at the drop of a hat."

Tell me about it, Lady C. Times change but people not so much it looks.

Chad wrote: "This was one of my favorites of Trollope and so thank you all so much for the great comments and a great big thank you to you Piyangie for putting in the time and work!"

Thanks, Chad. It was my pleasure. I'm happy to hear that this is one of your favourite Trollope. Glad that you enjoyed the discussion.