The House of Mirth: Book 2: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, on a sunny day, Selden walks toward Lily’s boarding-house, convinced that he must see her immediately and share with her a word that absolutely has to be said. However, as he enters the house, he is surprised to run into Gerty Farish, who is herself surprised that he has arrived so fast. With a sense of foreboding, increased by the presence of other people in the boarding-house at this early hour, Selden enters Lily’s room with Gerty, who tells him that Lily has died of an overdose of sleeping drugs.

When Selden sees Lily lying on her bed, he feels that he is seeing “the real Lily,” but that she is inaccessible. Seeing Selden’s sorrow and shock, Gerty tries to remind him of the urgency of the situation, as the doctor has left temporarily so that they can go through Lily’s belongings. Gerty then leaves Selden alone in the room, saying that this is what Lily would have wanted.

Alone in Lily’s room, Selden simply wants to fall on his knees by her side, but he knows that he only has a short amount of time to organize Lily’s possessions. He looks away from the sleeping drug by the side of the bed and discovers, on the desk, a letter addressed to Gus Trenor that initially rouses anger and jealousy in him. However, he also discovers that Lily has kept the letter he wrote to her after the tableaux vivants evening at Wellington and Louisa Bry’s—a promise to go visit her that he realizes he had been too cowardly to fulfill.

Looking through Lily’s bills, Selden is then surprised to see that all her expenses are paid for. When he realizes that she received her aunt’s legacy the night before and addressed a large check to Gus Trenor, he finally understands that Lily had indeed received money from Gus, but could not bear the idea of staying in his debt, even though repaying it condemned her to poverty.

Selden then reflects that their entire lives were meant to keep them apart, because of the different external influences that affected them. However, he finds comfort in the knowledge that he did love Lily, and that he had been willing only a few minutes ago to start a new future with her. Despite the impossibility of making this possibility come to life, Selden knows that it exists in a safe place, separate from the dreary reality of their lives. He knows, too, that it is their love for each other that kept them alive and stronger than their circumstances and, as he kneels by Lily’s side, he feels the word pass between them that makes everything well.