The House of Mirth

Lily awakens from pleasant dreams and finds two notes waiting for her. Lily welcomes Judy’s communication, since she worries that her activities with Gus anger her friend. As she is coming to the city for a short visit, Judy invites Lily to dinner. Lily thinks that Judy probably wants to hear if Mrs. Bry’s party surpassed those of other society competitors. Since Lily already has a dinner engagement, she telegrams Judy that she will meet her at 10 o’clock that evening.

The other message is from Selden who is away in Albany on an important case. He asks Lily what time he can visit her the next day. Although Lily enjoyed the dreamlike interlude of the previous evening, she is annoyed that Selden does not accept the impossibility of marrying her. Lily relishes the emotional effect she has on Selden but feels it would be kinder to not see him. Lily cannot maintain her resolve to refuse him, so she agrees to meet tomorrow afternoon, telling herself she can easily put him off the next day.

At the dinner hosted by Carry Fisher, Lily enjoys the plantation music and reluctantly departs the gathering to keep her engagement with Judy. When Lily arrives at the Trenors’ New York City residence, she is surprised that Gus greets her. He tells Lily that his wife’s sudden headache prevents her from meeting with anyone. He offers Lily a drink and a cigarette in the den, asking her to sit and converse with him. Lily wants to leave immediately, uncomfortable about being alone with the excitable Gus while his wife is out of reach upstairs.

Gus threateningly places himself between Lily and the door. He reveals that Judy is not in town. Gus received a phone call from his wife about her change of plans, but he did not fulfill Judy’s request to send a message to Lily. Gus crudely demands that Lily pay him back, but not in money: “there’s such a thing as fair play—and interest on one’s money—and hang me if I’ve had as much as a look from you—” (154). Gus refers to Lily’s reputation for visiting men’s houses and Lily realizes with horror that Rosedale gossiped about her presence at the Benedick. Lily is dizzy from Gus’s brutal treatment as “over and over her the sea of humiliation broke—wave crashing on wave so close that the moral shame was one with the physical dread” (154). Despite her shock, Lily knows that she must exit the situation in a way that does not result in scandal. She takes emotional control and convinces Gus to summon a hansom for her. On Fifth Avenue, she notices a man in the darkness across the street who quickly vanishes. Lily recalls reading the ancient Greek tragedy, Eumenides, as she feels like Orestes fleeing the torment of the Furies. Lily cannot pour out her anguish to her aunt, so she decides to ring the bell at her friend Gerty’s apartment.

Gerty reflects on her cousin Selden’s increasing kindness to her. Selden was never very attentive to her comments until they shared their appreciation of Lily at the Brys’ entertainment. When Selden sends Gerty a telegram inviting her to dine with him that evening, Gerty hopes that Selden has developed romantic feelings for her. Gerty attributes Lily’s recent philanthropy to a sharpening of moral vision. In truth, Lily’s curiosity led her to visit Gerty’s charity, and she assisted one or two of the most appealing cases mostly out of her desire to please.

Selden is in love with Lily, despite his intention “to keep free from permanent ties, not from any poverty of feeling, but because, in a different way, he was, as much as Lily, the victim of his environment” (160). Selden’s upbringing by fastidious, artistic parents who disdained money, leaves him unable to appreciate a “nice girl” whose practicality omits charm. Selden seeks Gerty’s companionship because her admiration of Lily confirms Selden’s changed understanding of Lily as someone nobler than “the vulgar estimate of her” (162). When Selden receives Lily’s note to him, with a seal proclaiming “Beyond!,” he vows he will take her beyond the ugliness of this world.

In his jubilation about Lily, Selden compliments Gerty at dinner, before plying her with questions about his beloved. Gerty claims that Lily’s discontent with her life proves that she possesses a loftier character. Gerty interprets the incident with Percy as an example of Lily’s rejection of an opportunistic rich marriage. Selden dismisses his earlier cynical assessment of Lily and believes it was he who wavered when Lily was available. When Selden asks Gerty to help Lily by continuing to believe the best of her, Gerty realizes that she is not the object of her cousin’s affection.

Unable to wait until the next day to see Lily, Selden stops by Carry Fisher’s gathering and learns that Lily already left. The guests disapprovingly gossip about Lily. One guest volunteers that Lily gave the Trenors’ address to her cab driver. Another guest states that Judy is not at home this evening. Selden tries not to be influenced by insinuations, wanting to rescue Lily. Ned Van Alstyne accompanies Selden on a walk, halting near the Trenors’ residence as he discusses architecture. The Trenors’ door suddenly opens, and the two men see Gus and Lily silhouetted against the hall light as she exits the residence. Assuming the worst, Van Alstyne asks Selden to say nothing about this sight.

Gerty finds herself hating her friend, Lily, feeling as if she has lost her chance at happiness with Selden because of her. Gerty is shocked when Lily rings her doorbell, desperate to avoid being alone that night. Lily cries that Selden warned her long ago that she would grow to hate herself for wanting money. Gerty comforts the distressed Lily by assuring her that Selden would pity her and help her if she told him everything.

When Lily returns to her aunt’s residence after an uncomfortable sleep in Gerty’s small apartment, she finds Mrs. Peniston in an agitated state, taking digitalis for her heart, distressed about Lily’s absence the night before. For the first time, Lily acknowledges to herself that she owes $9,000 to Gus and “the flimsy pretext on which it had been given and received shrivelled up in the blaze of her shame” (178). Lily knows that she must repay the entire amount to regain her self-respect and avoid disgrace. In the afternoon, Lily reluctantly tells her aunt that she owes money and needs her help. Lily’s aunt criticizes her extravagance but agrees to settle her dressmaker’s bill. However, when Lily reveals that she owes much more in gambling debts, her outraged aunt refuses to assist.

Lily feels that Selden’s love is her only hope for restoring her shattered life, but she dreads disillusioning Selden by confiding in him. Selden does not arrive at the appointed time. When the doorbell rings an hour later, Lily assumes that she had not written the time legibly. Rosedale’s unexpected arrival irritates Lily; she still expects Selden to appear. Emboldened by Lily’s display at the Brys’ party, Rosedale decides that Lily will be the perfect wife for his ascent in society. He tells Lily that he knows she loves luxury and has had financial worries. He will spend millions for her. Lily is indignant about his allusion to her private affairs, but she does not want to risk offending him because he knows too much about her. Lily charmingly tells Rosedale that she needs time to think about his kind proposal.

The next day, Lily writes a note to Selden, alarmed that she has not heard from him. Before she sends it, she reads in the evening newspaper that Selden is among the passengers that sailed that afternoon for the West Indies. Lily finally comprehends that Selden will never visit her, “that he had gone away because he was afraid that he might come” (188). Lily gazes at herself in the mirror, noticing aging lines on her face. She starts to write a note telling Rosedale to come, but she is unable to finish it. Suddenly the doorbell rings and a telegram arrives from Bertha Dorset inviting Lily to join her on a cruise in the Mediterranean, sailing tomorrow.