The Small House at Allington · Chapter
XLVIII: Nemesis explained
Crosbie has settled into married life with Lady Alexandrina, finding it dull and cold.
What happens
Crosbie has settled into married life with Lady Alexandrina, finding it dull and cold. He goes to his office daily, returns home at six, and spends his evenings in a routine devoid of warmth or love. He is dragged to a Sunday dinner at the Gazebees', where Mortimer Gazebee informs him of financial troubles in the De Courcy family and Crosbie's own debts. Crosbie reflects that Lily Dale would have made the house bright, while Lady Alexandrina confesses to her sister that she has made a mistake.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Crosbie and Lady Alexandrina's marriage is devoid of love, warmth, and companionship, highlighting the emptiness of a match based on social ambition.
Betrayal and Trust
Crosbie's betrayal of Lily Dale haunts him, and his trust in the De Courcy connection proves financially and socially burdensome.
Social Class and Status
Crosbie's loss of status after his marriage and thrashing is evident; his association with the Gazebees (a lower branch of the De Courcys) underscores his fall.
Characters to notice
- Adolphus Crosbie
Settled into a dull married life, reflecting on his mistake and the coldness of his home.
- Lady Alexandrina De Courcy
Finds her new life dull and querulous, confesses to Amelia that she has made a mistake.
- Amelia Roper
Visits Lady Alexandrina, discusses the dullness of married life and the possibility of a baby.
- Mortimer Gazebee
Hosts the Crosbies for Sunday dinner, informs Crosbie of De Courcy family troubles and Crosbie's debts.
- Lilian Dale
Mentioned in Crosbie's thoughts as the woman who would have made his home bright.
Key passages
“Crosbie had now settled down to the calm realities of married life, and was beginning to think that the odium was dying away which for a week or two had attached itself to him, partly on account of his usage of Miss Dale, but more strongly in consequence of the thrashing which he had received from John Eames.”
Crosbie was adjusting to the quiet routine of marriage and felt that public disapproval over his treatment of Lily Dale and his beating by John Eames was fading.
Shows Crosbie's attempt to move past social disgrace.
“He told himself frequently that either with one or with the other life would have been the same; that he had made himself for a while unfit for domestic life, and that he must cure himself of that unfitness. But though he declared this to himself in one set of half-spoken thoughts, he would also declare to himself in another set, that Lily would have made the whole house bright with her brightness; that had he brought her home to his hearth, there would have been a sun shining on him every morning and every evening.”
Crosbie tried to convince himself that any wife would have led to the same dull life, but he also knew that Lily would have brought warmth and happiness to his home.
Highlights Crosbie's regret and self-deception about his choice.
“Lady Alexandrina, though she was not of an energetic temperament, could not but confess to herself that she had made a mistake.”
Lady Alexandrina admitted to herself that marrying Crosbie had been a mistake.
Shows her disillusionment with the marriage.