The Last Post · Chapter
I explained
Sylvia Tietjens, from her vantage point at the Fittleworths', reflects on her failed attempts to gather damaging details about Valentine Wannop's household and her estranged husband Christopher's life with his brother Mark and Valentine.
What happens
Sylvia Tietjens, from her vantage point at the Fittleworths', reflects on her failed attempts to gather damaging details about Valentine Wannop's household and her estranged husband Christopher's life with his brother Mark and Valentine. She recalls manipulating Lady Macmaster and others to spy on the household, while contemplating her own social position and the possibility of marrying General Campion. Her bitterness and curiosity about Christopher's new life drive her schemes.
Themes in this chapter
Marriage and Morality
Sylvia's reflections on her failed marriage, her schemes to torment her husband's new partner, and her consideration of a marriage of convenience with General Campion.
Class and Social Change
The tension between old aristocratic norms and the new domestic arrangements of Christopher and Valentine; Sylvia's reliance on social gossip and her precarious position in high society.
Memory and the Past
Sylvia's bitter recollection of her past dominance over Christopher and her inability to influence him now, as well as her nostalgia for her former social power.
Characters to notice
- Sylvia Tietjens
Observes the Fittleworths' garden and reflects on her schemes to gather information about Christopher and Valentine's household, her manipulation of Lady Macmaster, and her social calculations.
- Christopher Tietjens
Discussed as the subject of Sylvia's gossip and schemes; described as living a tranquil life with his brother and Valentine, and as holding a financial charge over Macmaster's estate.
- Valentine Wannop
Portrayed through Sylvia's inquiries as a good housekeeper, a reader of classics, and a sharp bargainer at sales; the target of Sylvia's torment.
- Mark Tietjens
Mentioned as being in poor health, requiring daily medical visits, and living in the household with Christopher and Valentine.
- Marie Léonie
Described as a strict housekeeper who does not allow Mrs. Cramp into the main dwelling.
- Lady Macmaster
Visited Sylvia to discuss her late husband's debt to Christopher; proposed selling love letters to raise funds, a scheme Sylvia encouraged to annoy Valentine.
Key passages
“that smoking hams in great chimneys was a time-honoured custom, the assertion that Christopher was the sort of person who dried hams in his drawing-room would bring up images of your finding yourself in a sort of place where hams reclined on the sofa-cushions.”
Claiming that Christopher dried hams in his drawing-room would make people imagine a bizarre scene with hams on the furniture.
Illustrates how Sylvia spreads absurd rumors to paint Christopher as eccentric.
“She really herself had expected something more exciting! Really. It did not seem possible that Christopher should settle down into tranquil devotion to brother and mistress after the years of emotion she had given him.”
Sylvia found it hard to believe that Christopher could be content with a quiet domestic life after the intense relationship they had shared.
Reveals Sylvia's disbelief and jealousy at Christopher's new peaceful life.
“But he might not. He was a gentleman and gentlemen do not actually cut women with whom they have slept. But he might.”
She thought Christopher might not snub her because gentlemen avoid publicly ignoring former lovers, but she was uncertain.
Shows Sylvia's fear of being rejected by Christopher if she approached him.
“And the thought that Christopher was doing for that girl what, she was convinced, he never would have done for herself had added a new impulse to Sylvia's bitterness.”
The realization that Christopher provided for Valentine in ways he never did for Sylvia intensified her resentment.
Highlights Sylvia's jealousy over Christopher's care for Valentine.
