Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Lady Maid’s Bell, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marital Conflict and Jealousy
Class and Hierarchy
Mystery and Ambiguity
Illness, Isolation, and Loneliness
Summary
Analysis
Not long after this incident, Mrs. Brympton asks Hartley to go to the pharmacist’s for her and to take a note to Mr. Ranford, all before Mr. Brympton rises. Hartley agrees but, fearing that Mrs. Brympton might be trying to take her own life, she confirms with the pharmacist that the prescription is not poison. But this information only makes her more nervous. If that’s the case, she thinks, then Mrs. Brympton must be trying to hide her contacts with Mr. Ranford, an idea that disturbs her. Hartley leaves the note at Mr. Ranford’s and hurries home, only to find that Mr. Brympton has seen her walking after all. He presses Hartley to reveal her errand, but she lies and says she hasn’t left the house that day.
Hartley knows that Mrs. Brympton’s note for Mr. Ranford suggests something important about their relationship, but, as usual, she can neither put her finger on what this is nor ask anyone about it. In fact, she is afraid and unwilling to think too hard about what this note implies. Instead, she is left with another deepening ambiguity: what, exactly, is the nature of the relationship between Mrs. Brympton and Mr. Ranford? On the other hand, she is absolutely certain that Mr. Brympton is a lout, a certainty that is evident in her willingness to lie to him about having been out, even though she’s normally truthful. Thus, Hartley takes Mrs. Brympton’s side against Mr. Brympton and contributes to the jealousy that threatens to undo their marriage.
Themes
Later, Hartley starts taking care of her sewing and has some time to think about the previous night’s events. She considers catching the first train out of there, but rejects this idea; she’s not the kind of person to leave with no notice. Still, she is certain that she heard a person leave the room across the hall and feels oppressed by the knowledge that she can’t speak to anyone about it. Her sewing machine breaks down and she has to find another one. When she opens a drawer in this new machine, a picture of the woman in the hallway falls out: with a flush of cold terror, she realizes that it is Emma Saxon (The Ghost). When she tells Mrs. Blinder that she has seen Emma Saxon’s face before, Mrs. Blinder hurries away, making excuses about getting dinner ready.
Hartley directly addresses her own isolation in the house and the sense of ambiguity and secrecy that results from this: she wants to ask Mrs. Blinder and Mr. Wace about the room across the hall, but she knows that they will just pretend they don’t know anything about it. Hartley is left to stew in her own helplessness and misery. It is at this point—when Hartley is feeling very low—that she gets a glimpse of what really might be going on here: that Emma Saxon might be haunting Brympton Place. Mrs. Blinder’s reaction shows that she knows more than she is letting on, increasing Hartley’s sense of isolation.
Themes
