A Pair of Blue Eyes · Chapter
XXVI explained
Stephen Smith returns to Endelstow and learns of Lady Luxellian's death.
What happens
Stephen Smith returns to Endelstow and learns of Lady Luxellian's death. He joins his father and other workmen in the Luxellian family vault, where they discuss the deceased, the family history, and the striking resemblance between the late Lady Elfride and the living Miss Elfride Swancourt.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Coincidence
The vault scene reveals the cyclical nature of life and death, and the uncanny resemblance between the late Lady Elfride and Miss Elfride Swancourt.
Social Class and Ambition
The workmen's discussions highlight the gulf between the aristocracy and common laborers, and the inherited traits and fortunes of the Luxellian line.
Innocence and Experience
Stephen's exposure to the realities of death and family history contrasts with his earlier romantic idealism.
Characters to notice
- Stephen Smith
Returns to Endelstow and visits the Luxellian vault, where he learns of Lady Luxellian's death and hears stories about the family.
- John Smith
Stephen's father, a master-mason overseeing the enlargement of the Luxellian vault.
- Martin Cannister
A workman present in the vault, commenting on the death and the family.
- William Worm
A labourer who recalls Miss Elfride playing with Lady Luxellian's children.
- Elfride Swancourt
Mentioned as having been fond of Lady Luxellian's children and noted for her resemblance to the late Lady Elfride.
- Lord Luxellian
Recently widowed; his wife Lady Luxellian has died.
Key passages
“She must know by this time whether she's to go up or down, poor woman.”
The old mason speculates that the deceased Lady Luxellian has already learned her eternal fate.
Reflects the workmen's casual yet profound view of death and the afterlife.
“That trick of running away seems to be handed down in families, like craziness or gout.”
The tendency to elope appears to be hereditary, passed down through generations like madness or illness.
Connects the past Lady Elfride's elopement with an actor to Miss Elfride's own romantic entanglements.
“Life's a strangle bubble, ye see.”
Life is a fragile and fleeting thing.
William Worm's philosophical reflection on mortality.