About this story
Rome, widowhood and a punishing codicil follow. Mary Garth refuses to burn one of Featherstone's two wills; Raffles, the banker's buried past, dies delirious at Stone Court; and a thunderstorm at Lowick brings Will Ladislaw home hatless. Eighty-six chapters carry the whole of Middlemarch from its jewel box to its unhistoric acts.
Who you’ll meet
Celia Brooke, your watchful sister, and Edward Casaubon, the scholar who comes with a marriage proposal.
How it opens
Celia BrookeAfternoon light has found every worn place in this old carpet.
Celia BrookeUncle has gone riding, so we may divide Mother's jewels at last.
She placed the small casket between you and turned its reluctant brass key.
Celia BrookeHere are pearls, amethysts, and Mother's green bracelet.
The colors looked almost indecent beside the plain gray of your usual dress.
Choose
You should take the jewels you will wear.
We can keep them together as Mother's.
Let us divide them without considering fashion.