Lady Audley’s Secret

Luke and Phoebe get married and move into their public house in the village of Mount Stanning. The public house, named the Castle Inn, is run down by constant wind. The roof is battered, the shutters are broken, and the walls are discolored. However, the inn had made a healthy profit under its previous owner.

Phoebe cries as she and Luke leave their hometown. Luke says that she didn’t have to marry him and it’s not like he’s going to murder her. He then tells her that she will have to wear clothes more fitting to her station now that she is his wife.

Christmastime brings many visitors to Audley Court, mainly young men there for hunting season. Robert is one such visitor. While the other young men are experienced hunters with fine horses and dogs, Robert seems more interested in his meals, his reading, and his smoking. Even Robert’s hunting dogs are strays.

Robert prefers to stay inside chatting with Lady Audley. Alicia, who spends her days hunting, teases him for his passiveness and carelessness. She compares him to another guest, Sir Harry Towers, whom she believes “would go through fire and water for the girl he loves,” unlike Robert.

Robert thinks to himself about how Alicia is beautiful and has a troublesome temper. He says this is the consequence of Sir Michael allowing her to ride and hunt freely in the country.

While Lady Audley draws, she and Robert chat about the increase in her fortunes and how she is wealthier now than the people she used to work for. Robert remarks, “It is a change! Some women would do a great deal to accomplish such as change as that.”

A week after Robert arrives at Audley Court, Lady Audley asks if Robert has heard anything from George. She listens intently while Robert recounts all the evidence he has gathered about George’s disappearance. He states that he believes George never went to Southampton at all and Maldon is lying about seeing him.

Robert tells Lady Audley that, while he never cared for his profession as a barrister, he now feels compelled to investigate the circumstantial evidence before him. He explains that, while it may seem like mere scraps of information, when one links together all the seemingly disjointed pieces, circumstantial evidence is enough to convict someone of a crime.