# XXI explained — The Story of Ivy

> Chapter companion for The Story of Ivy by Marie Belloc Lowndes.

## What happens

Ivy Lexton awakens from a nightmare of Roger Gretorex's execution, tormented by guilt and fear. She waits for news of his hanging, but instead learns of a reprieve due to new evidence. Fainting from terror rather than relief, she later receives a telegram from Miles Rushworth promising to return, which briefly reassures her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Self-Deception

Ivy deceives herself about her own guilt, weeping for herself rather than for Roger, and hoping he will die silent.

### Love and Obsession

Roger's obsessive love for Ivy is recalled; Ivy's own attachment is self-serving and intertwined with fear.

### Crime and Justice

The impending execution, the reprieve, and the possibility of new evidence highlight themes of guilt, punishment, and legal process.

## Character check-ins

### Ivy Lexton

Consumed by fear and self-pity as she awaits news of Roger Gretorex's execution; she faints upon learning of the reprieve.

### Roger Gretorex

Condemned to hang; appears in Ivy's nightmare, turning to look at her with mute reproach.

### Lady Flora

Hosts Ivy at her country cottage; offers sympathy and prays for the condemned man.

### Sir Joseph Molloy

Appears in Ivy's nightmare as the barrister who cross-examined her, adjuring Gretorex to tell the truth.

### Miles Rushworth

Sends a telegram from Paris saying he hopes to be with Ivy tomorrow evening.

## Key lines

> The tears began rolling down Ivy Lexton’s cheeks; yet it was not for Roger Gretorex, and his awful fate, that she was weeping. It was for pity of herself, for all she had gone through, and for what remained for her to go through, till she knew for certain that Roger Gretorex had died, as he had lived, silent.

Ivy cries not for Roger but for herself, dreading the suspense until she is sure he has died without revealing her guilt.

_Reveals Ivy's self-centeredness and fear of exposure._

> Ivy snatched up her periwinkle-blue satin dressing-gown and wrapped it about her. Then she thrust her little white feet into slippers that matched the dressing-gown, and ran downstairs, telling herself, not for the first time, how stupid it was to have the telephone in so public a place as the hall.

Ivy hurriedly dresses and goes to the telephone, annoyed that it is in a public spot.

_Shows Ivy's concern for appearances even in crisis._

> Lady Flora would not have believed an angel, had an angel come and told her, that her dear little friend Ivy Lexton had fainted, not from relief, but from sheer, agonising fear.

Lady Flora mistakenly thinks Ivy fainted from relief, but Ivy actually fainted from terror.

_Highlights the gap between Ivy's public image and her true emotions._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters/xxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_ivy_se/chapters