Picnic at Hanging Rock: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Mike, who has been away from Lake View for a week, realizes he’s left an important letter from a solicitor at his aunt and uncle’s. He returns to the estate to retrieve the letter and stay the night. After supper, he heads down to the stable to visit with Albert and have some whisky. The two men talk about how they’ve been busying themselves lately, and when Mike tells Albert he’s planning on touring Australia, Albert says he’s always dreamed of doing such a thing. Mike invites Albert to come with him. Albert says he doesn’t want to abandon his post at Lake View but could probably get someone to cover his work for the winter. Mike urges Albert to write to him once he has a plan for covering his position, letting Albert know he’s welcome to come along on the journey.

As Mike sips his whisky, he mentions that he’s been drinking more and more at night in order to sleep—he has frequent and vivid dreams of Hanging Rock. Albert slaps his knee and says he, too, often has “bobbydazzler[s]” that are so real they’re frightening—but he never lets them upset him. He says he often dreams of his younger sister, whom he hasn’t seen since their days in an orphanage. After finishing telling Mike about his dreams, Albert asks Mike if Mike thinks he’s crazy. Privately, Mike experiences a stream-of-consciousness reverie in which he believes there is more sense in believing in Albert than believing even in God, a “terrifying old man” who has arbitrarily found and saved or allowed to die all the girls lost that day on Hanging Rock.

The next morning, after breakfast, Mike picks up his suitcase and overcoat and heads down to the stable so that Albert can drive him to the station. On the way, they run into a local shop boy who hands a letter to Albert. Albert is shocked to be receiving a missive—no one writes to him. After the boy leaves and the journey carries on, Mike asks if Albert is going to open the letter. Albert admits he can only read print and asks Mike to read the letter for him. Mike is scandalized, but nonetheless agrees to read it aloud once they arrive at the station.

The letter is from Mr. Leopold. It thanks Albert for his assistance in finding and rescuing Irma. Also enclosed in the envelope is a very large check. The letter states that if Albert ever has any wish to “change [his] present employment” as a coachman and work for a large bank, he need only write and say so. Albert is so stunned that he barely notices when Mike, seeing his train arrive, shoves the letter back into Albert’s hand and runs to board it.

On the way back to Lake View, Albert stops in town. He runs into Tom, who excitedly tells him the news about Miss Lumley and her brother. Albert, however, can barely focus on the lurid story. He says he needs to be getting back, but Tom asks him before he goes if he knows any place looking for the help of a married couple. Albert hurriedly says he may have a post for them at Lake View, then excuses himself and heads out—he cannot wait to get home and read the letter to himself again. Tom, meanwhile, spends the drive home envisioning a serene and beautiful cabin at Lake View that is all his and Minnie’s—and, of course, that of their brood of smiling children.

Albert arrives home and spends the next several hours memorizing the letter from Mr. Leopold by heart. Once he knows it well enough, he places the check in a tin can and burns the letter itself. Sitting happily in his chair, Albert decides to take a small holiday from work and join Mike on his jaunt around Australia after all. Albert borrows some paper, envelopes, and a pen from the kitchen, then sits down and writes some letters.

The first letter Albert writes is to Mr. Leopold, thanking the man for the gift—the first he has ever received in his life. He writes that he plans to buy himself a grand, tall horse with the money and let the rest sit “tite in the Bank.” He thanks the man again for the gift and wishes him a “long and prosperus” life. In a postscript, he adds that it was Mike Fitzhubert who really saved Irma’s life.

The second letter Albert writes is to Mr. Fitzhubert, giving the man his notice and recommending Tom to run the stables at Lake View. The third letter is to Mike, asking if they can meet up in the city, have a beer, and fix a date for the start of their travels.