Can You Forgive Her? · Chapter
XXVIII: Alice Leaves the Priory explained
Alice returns from a moonlit walk with Lady Glencora to find Plantagenet Palliser angry at them for staying out too long in the cold.
What happens
Alice returns from a moonlit walk with Lady Glencora to find Plantagenet Palliser angry at them for staying out too long in the cold. He snubs Alice, making her feel the weight of his displeasure. Later, Alice reflects on Lady Glencora's confession of a desire to leave her husband for Burgo Fitzgerald, and struggles with whether to betray her friend's secret. Iphigenia Palliser visits Alice's room to discuss Lady Glencora's dangerous attachment to Burgo Fitzgerald, but Alice is guarded and reluctant to engage.
Themes in this chapter
Betrayal and Forgiveness
Alice feels caught between betraying Lady Glencora's secret and her duty to warn Plantagenet Palliser, highlighting the tension between loyalty and moral responsibility.
Duty vs. Desire
Lady Glencora's desire to leave her husband for Burgo Fitzgerald conflicts with her duty as a wife, and Alice struggles with her own duty to her friend versus her duty to the truth.
Characters to notice
- Alice Vavasor
Alice is the focal point of the chapter, grappling with Plantagenet Palliser's anger and the burden of Lady Glencora's secret about Burgo Fitzgerald.
- Lady Glencora Palliser
Lady Glencora is absent from the scene but her earlier confession to Alice about wanting to leave her husband for Burgo Fitzgerald dominates Alice's thoughts.
- Plantagenet Palliser
Plantagenet Palliser is angry with Alice for allowing his wife to stay out in the cold, and he snubs her, showing his displeasure and loss of trust.
- Jeffrey Palliser
Jeffrey Palliser speaks with Alice after the walk, expressing sympathy for her treatment by Plantagenet and attempting to use her first name, which she rebuffs.
- Iphy Palliser
Iphigenia Palliser visits Alice's room to discuss Lady Glencora's dangerous attachment to Burgo Fitzgerald, but finds Alice guarded and uncooperative.
Key passages
“He had told her plainly enough, though not in words, that he had trusted his wife with her, and that she had betrayed the trust.”
Plantagenet Palliser silently accused Alice of betraying his trust by allowing his wife to stay out in the cold.
Alice perceives Plantagenet's silent accusation, feeling the weight of his displeasure without a word being spoken.
“Alice, who was perfectly clearsighted as regarded her cousin, however much impaired her vision might have been with reference to herself, saw nothing but absolute ruin, ruin of the worst and most intolerable description, in the plan which Lady Glencora seemed to have formed.”
Alice clearly sees the disastrous consequences of Lady Glencora's plan to leave her husband, even though she is often blind to her own problems.
The narrator contrasts Alice's clarity about others' troubles with her blindness to her own, emphasizing her moral insight in this situation.
“When one woman tells the story of her love to another woman, the confidant always feels that she will be a traitor if she reveals the secret.”
Alice feels that betraying Lady Glencora's confidence would be a form of treachery, even if revealing the secret might prevent a greater wrong.
Alice's internal conflict highlights the Victorian code of female friendship and the dilemma of loyalty versus moral duty.