The Lady of the Barge · Chapter
Three at Table explained
A sailor recounts a strange experience from his youth when, lost in a foggy marsh, he seeks shelter at a remote house.
What happens
A sailor recounts a strange experience from his youth when, lost in a foggy marsh, he seeks shelter at a remote house. The elderly host and his wife reluctantly take him in, and he is invited to dine in the dark with the host and his disfigured son. The son, injured in a house fire, prefers darkness to hide his appearance. The narrator's initial fear gives way to sympathy and understanding.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Community
The remote house in the marshes and the family's reclusive life contrast with the narrator's unexpected arrival and the forced communal dinner.
The Past and Its Ghosts
The son's disfigurement from a past fire haunts the family, leading to their strange customs and the dark dinner.
Deception and Betrayal
The initial deception of dining in the dark and the narrator's unease about being trapped reflect themes of hidden truths and mistrust.
Characters to notice
- Captain Rogers
The narrator, a sailor who shares his eerie experience of dining in the dark with a disfigured man.
- Old Miller
The elderly host who reluctantly takes in the lost narrator and arranges the dark dinner to accommodate his son.
- Mrs. Riddel
The old woman who answers the door and assists in the household, initially reluctant to let the stranger in.
- Herbert White
The disfigured son who dines in the dark to hide his appearance, injured in a house fire.
Key passages
“I wouldn’t advise you to believe all those. You see when a sailor gets ashore he’s expected to have something to tell, and his friends would be rather disappointed if he had not.”
Don't trust every sailor's tale; they often exaggerate to entertain their friends.
A skeptical remark about the reliability of sailors' stories, setting the stage for the narrator's own tale.
“There’s a something there, sir, what ’tis I dunno, but the little ’un belonging to a gamekeeper as used to live in these parts see it, and it was never much good afterward.”
There's a mysterious creature or ghost near that house that once traumatized a gamekeeper's child.
Local superstition warns the narrator away from the house, heightening the eerie atmosphere.
“My son was injured some years ago in a burning house. Since then we have lived a very retired life.”
My son was hurt in a fire years ago, and we've kept to ourselves ever since.
The old man explains the family's reclusive lifestyle and the reason for dining in darkness.