# XIX: Coming In explained — The Wyvern Mystery

> Chapter companion for The Wyvern Mystery by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

## What happens

Charles returns late to Carwell Grange, prompting a tender but strained conversation with Alice. She pleads for him to share his anxieties, but he evades full disclosure. As days pass in monotonous solitude, Charles grows increasingly careworn and gloomy, while Alice conceals her own fears and tries to lift his spirits. She then reveals she is pregnant, bringing a brief revival of affection and a new focus on hopeful preparations.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

The chapter explores the tender yet strained dynamics of Charles and Alice's marriage, highlighting love, dependency, and the burden of unshared anxieties.

### Secrecy and Deception

Charles conceals his financial troubles and true feelings from Alice, while she hides her own fears, creating a pattern of secrecy that undermines their intimacy.

### Isolation and Entrapment

The Grange's monastic solitude and Charles's reluctance to be seen in public trap both characters in a monotonous, anxiety-ridden existence.

## Character check-ins

### Charles Fairfield

Returns late to the Grange, evades sharing his financial worries with Alice, and grows increasingly melancholy and withdrawn as he broods over his troubles.

### Alice Maybell

Waits anxiously for Charles, tries to coax him into confiding in her, and later reveals her pregnancy, hoping it will bring them closer.

### Harry Fairfield

Mentioned as having walked with Charles earlier that evening; his visits to the Grange are short and seem to leave Charles more troubled.

### Mildred Tarnley

Referenced by Alice as someone from whom she hopes to learn household management.

## Key lines

> Oh! Charlie, it is very late

Alice gently reproaches Charles for returning home very late.

_Opens the chapter with Alice's anxious waiting and her need for reassurance._

> I’ll learn everything old Mildred can teach me, ever so much, and you’ll see what a manager I will be.

Alice promises to become a thrifty household manager by learning from Mildred Tarnley.

_Shows Alice's determination to be useful despite their poverty._

> You are the only creature I have on earth, that I’m quite sure of—the only creature.

Charles tells Alice she is the only person he can truly trust.

_Highlights Charles's emotional dependence on Alice even as he withholds his troubles._

> I only meant that if anything were really—any great anxiety—upon your mind, you would not be afraid to tell me.

Alice pleads with Charles to share his serious worries with her.

_Illustrates Alice's desire for openness and her fear of being excluded from his burdens._

> It was in the midst of these secret misgivings that a new care and hope visited her—a trembling, delightful hope, that hovers between life and death

Alice discovers she is pregnant, bringing both fear and joy.

_Marks a turning point in the chapter, introducing a new emotional dimension._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wyvern_mystery_se/chapters/xix-coming-in
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wyvern_mystery_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_wyvern_mystery_se/chapters