# XII explained — Summer > Chapter companion for Summer by Edith Wharton. ## What happens Charity returns to North Dormer after Harney persuades her that flight would be tantamount to admitting guilt. She resumes her usual life, but her inner world is wholly consumed by her secret passion for Harney. During Old Home Week preparations at Miss Hatchard's, she works among the other girls, lost in memories of their clandestine meetings at the deserted house. She recalls the golden August weeks when Harney camped there and she bicycled to him each afternoon. The chapter ends with Charity trying on white satin shoes that she suspects belonged to Annabel Balch, and Harney signaling her as he passes by. ## Themes in this chapter ### Isolation and Escape Charity feels suspended in a void, living mechanically while her true life is hidden in secret meetings with Harney, escaping the constraints of North Dormer. ### Shame and Social Stigma Charity fears that flight would be interpreted as an admission of guilt; the Nettleton scandal threatens her reputation, and she must return to preserve appearances. ### Love and Marriage Charity's passionate love for Harney consumes her, contrasting with the conventional expectations of marriage and the wedding imagery evoked by the white dress and shoes. ## Character check-ins ### Charity Royall Returns to North Dormer after Harney's persuasion; lives in a trance of passion, working mechanically at Miss Hatchard's while reliving memories of her secret meetings with Harney. ### Lucius Harney Urges Charity to return to North Dormer; camps at the deserted house for two weeks, meeting Charity daily; signals her with his bicycle bell at the end of the chapter. ### Lawyer Royall Returns to North Dormer after the Nettleton incident; maintains a strained silence with Charity, though he talks loudly to Verena in her presence. ### Ally Hawes Participates in the Old Home Week sewing; produces the white satin shoes from her trunk, which Charity suspects came from Annabel Balch. ### Old Miss Hatchard Hosts the sewing afternoons for Old Home Week; drops allusions to her cousin Harney, which deeply affect Charity. ### Annabel Balch Mentioned indirectly; Charity suspects the white satin shoes Ally provided once belonged to Annabel Balch. ## Key lines > Since her return to the red house, on the evening of the day when Harney had overtaken her on her way to the Mountain, she had lived at North Dormer as if she were suspended in the void. After Harney caught up with her on her attempted escape to the Mountain, Charity came back to the red house and felt as though she were floating in emptiness. _Charity's emotional detachment after returning to North Dormer._ > All her tossing contradictory impulses were merged in a fatalistic acceptance of his will. All her conflicting feelings dissolved into a resigned surrender to whatever Harney wanted. _Charity's complete submission to Harney's desires._ > She had always thought of love as something confused and furtive, and he made it as bright and open as the summer air. She used to believe love was messy and secret, but Harney showed it to be clear and free like the summer breeze. _Harney transforms Charity's understanding of love._ > Charity took up the satin shoes and looked at them curiously. By day, no doubt, they would appear a little worn, but in the moonlight they seemed carved of ivory. Charity picked up the satin shoes and examined them; in daylight they might look used, but under the moon they looked like polished ivory. _Charity's moment of reflection while trying on the shoes._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/summer_se/chapters/xii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/summer_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/summer_se/chapters