Chapters 22 and 23 Summary and Analysis
Summary
Milly talks with Susie, who has just come from talking to Sir Luke Strett, Milly’s physician. Milly knows that her companion has taken the news of Milly’s fatal illness hard, and how she is struggling not to show pity. Milly sees this and in turn feels pity for Susie. Milly changes the conversation to talk about Susie’s impression of Sir Luke. The doctor had said that Milly is to do as she likes, and Susie is to help her in that.
Milly then asks Susie what she thinks of Merton Densher. Susie replies, after a prolonged pause, that she thinks he is handsome. Susie turns the conversation back to Milly’s health, and Milly states categorically that she is determined to live.
Susie goes to see Mrs. Lowder and asks her just to let her cry, since she cannot do so with Milly around. However, she does not go into specific details about the extent of Milly’s illness. She says that the doctor concluded that Milly does not have what she had thought she had, but she instead has “something else.”
Mrs. Lowder asks Susie for her impression of Merton Densher. They speak of putting Milly in his way so that he will fall in love with her. Susie correctly guesses from Mrs. Lowder’s hints that Kate is in love with Merton. Mrs. Lowder tells Susie that, if Milly asks if Kate is in love with Merton, she is to deny it. Susie is quite willing to work against Kate under the appearance of helping Milly.
It is revealed that Sir Luke Street, in his conversation with Susie, had asked her to get Milly involved in something as a means of getting the sick woman’s mind off of herself. Then, after enjoying the rest of the summer and the autumn, Milly is to return to visit Sir Luke. Milly wants to see Sir Luke now, however, in order to thank him. She is surprised that she has not received a reprimand (a “stiff note”) from him for her trick of not being at home during his house call. However, Susie says that he understood that her intention was to give him time to discuss with Susie how she may best take care of Milly during the time she has left.
Milly feels that Sir Luke is trifling with her by pitying her. When Susie says that he does not pity her but that he simply likes her, Milly replies that, since he is a physician, he has no business liking her.
When Milly visits Sir Luke, she tells him how touched she is by his good nature. She feels that all of her friends (in which she includes Sir Luke) are excellent for each other and for her. She tells him that she is headed for the Tyrol (in present-day Austria) and then for Venice in Italy. He states that he will then see her in Venice, for he is going there in October. He asks if Susie will be going with her. Milly states that she hopes that Susie will stay with her to the end. “To the end of what?” Sir Luke blankly asks. When Milly replies that she meant to the end of “everything,” Sir Luke says that the end of everything is far off. Mrs. Lowder and Kate are also going with them, she says, and she explains to him the situation with Kate and Merton. Sir Luke offers to help with the case of Merton, but Milly replies that there is nothing he can do.
Analysis
Henry James develops the theme of honesty versus deception...
(This entire section contains 1014 words.)
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by the depiction of the relationships between the main characters. In Chapters 17-21, Kate and Merton devised a scheme by which Merton will pretend to be in love with Milly, since Kate believes that Milly is interested in Merton. By this deception, Kate will be relieved of her Aunt Maud’s focus on her relationship with Merton. For Mrs. Lowder’s part, she has asked Susie to determine from Milly if Merton has returned to London and to encourage a relationship between Milly and Merton in order to keep Kate from marrying him. In addition, Susie is asked by Mrs. Lowder to lie to Milly, should the latter ask if Kate is in love with Merton, since Mrs. Lowder desires it to appear that Merton’s love is unreciprocated. Susie lies to Mrs. Lowder concerning Susie’s illness, with the implication that it is not serious. The only honesty seems to be between Susie and Milly, and between Sir Luke and Susie. Even between Milly and her physician, there is a less-than-forthcoming analysis of her illness. Knowing that the full truth is not being told to her, Milly arranges Sir Luke to speak with Susie. The secrets that exist in all these relationships provide a level of dramatic tension, as each character must act thinking that he or she has an accurate knowledge of circumstance when in fact this is far from the case.
The situation between Milly and Sir Luke is interesting in that each seems to be concerned about the relationship becoming more than a normal doctor/patient one. It is not so much a fear that it will move into the romantic area, but that it will become a friendship. Milly reacts strongly to Susie’s suggestion that Sir Luke likes her, stating that he should not do this. She worries that he will treat her with pity, an emotion she refuses to countenance as she struggles to take Sir Luke’s advice to avoid focusing on her illness at the expense of her living her life with happiness. She is grateful for his honesty, and she knows that she will need to consult him frequently, but she would rather that he speak to her through Susie. For this reason, she absented herself when he came to her hotel for the promised house call. Avoiding pity at all cost, Milly must keep those who are most knowledgeable about her condition at arm’s length.
