The Woodlanders

Unfortunately, things do not get much better for Giles. Despite the good quality of the food and drink offered, Grace is splashed by one of Creedle’s desserts as he serves it. They are then forced to play cards with old sets, as the new ones are monopolized by two boisterous local guests playing their own game. Grace does not dance to the band that Giles has booked from Great Hintock either, because she has forgotten the traditional Hintock dances. Finally, as the Melburys are walking home, they hear the two other guests singing a crude song about a maid. This leads Mr. Melbury to decry “the sort of society we’ve been asked to meet” (66) and declare that “for Grace—Giles should have known better” (66). As Giles and Mr. Creedle clean up afterwards, the former exclaims that “’tis all over” (67) between him and Grace.

The morning after the party, Mr. Melbury is still tormented by the sense that Giles is not socially good enough for Grace. He also worries that, in time, as he tells his wife, “Grace will gradually sink down to our level again” (68). In other words, she will become acclimatized to a rustic “uncultivated” style of life and accept Giles. This concern is exacerbated when, in the following fortnight, Mrs. Charmond fails to call on Grace again as she had promised. Mr. Melbury attributes this fact to Mrs. Charmond hearing about Grace’s attendance at Giles’s party. Giles also buys a new horse, which impresses Grace, giving him renewed hope of winning her affections.

Out on a walk, Mr. Melbury and Grace encounter a gentleman on a foxhunt who Melbury believes has disrespected Grace by saying she should have shouted to alert the hunt of the fox she saw. Mr. Melbury imagines that she was only treated that way because she was with him. This leads him to the realization that a woman’s perceived status is dependent on the man she is with and cements his conviction that, for that reason, Grace should not marry Giles. In the evening, Mr. Melbury shows Grace his title deeds and bonds, indicating what she will own with a prospective husband. This is to inculcate in her a desire for a higher social standing. Their servant, Grammer Oliver, then announces that Mrs. Charmond is going to the continent without Grace. Mr. Melbury uses this opportunity to make Grace promise not to see Giles again without his permission.

Giles hears news that Marty’s father, John South, is severely ill. This is of grave significance because his own house, and his ownership of several other properties in the village, depend upon South’s life. When he dies, according to the “lifehold” contract signed by an ancestor, all these properties will fall into the hands of Mrs. Charmond. As such, Giles visits Mr. South’s home. He is sick because of a nervous delusion that a tree outside his house will fall on, and kill, him. Giles decides to prune the tree to see if this action will help. While he is doing this, Grace walks by South’s house and at first ignores Giles when he calls to her. She then stops and explains that, due to her father’s words, any chance of an engagement between them is over. The next day, Giles is involved in an altercation with Mrs. Charmond when his cart blocks her carriage while taking timber to a nearby town.

Giles finds an important clause when examining the life-lease contracts amongst his papers the next day. The clause states that the contracts can be extended to include the length of his own life, provided a nominal sum is paid. Giles resolves to do this but first returns to Mr. South’s house to see if his plan of pruning back the tree has improved Mr. South’s state. He discovers from Marty that it has made it even worse. Dr. Fitzpiers then arrives and advises they chop down the tree altogether, which they do. However, on seeing the tree gone the next morning, Mr. South “seemed paralysed by amazement” (87) and dies that evening.

As a last resort, Giles sends a letter to Mrs. Charmond, appealing to her sense of “moral right” (88) and compassion, to be allowed to keep his house. She responds 12 days later with a negative answer. On hearing about this, Marty writes on Giles’s wall that, having “lost his dwelling place,” he will “lose his Grace” (91). Grace sees this writing the next day. Believing that Giles can see her do it, and inspired by new feeling for him, she changes “lose” to “keep.” However, Giles does not see this. Further, over breakfast, when Grace announces that she would like to continue the engagement with Giles, her father shows her a letter written by Giles the previous day renouncing all claim to Grace. Coupled with her belief that Giles has chosen not to act on her writing “keep” on his wall, this ends her resurgent interest in Giles.

Dr. Fitzpiers is travelling to see a patient in Little Hintock and picks up Giles, who is walking along the road. Dr. Fitzpiers talks to Giles about the nature of love and asks about an attractive woman he has seen walking sometimes near his house, whom Giles recognizes as Grace. Dr. Fitzpiers had assumed the woman, from her refined demeanor, was Mrs. Charmond. When returning from an inn, where he shared a drink with Giles, Dr. Fitzpiers sees the woman in question, Grace, by a window in her house. Her true identity as the daughter of Mr. Melbury now becomes clear to him.