The Woman in White: The Third Epoch: Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Walter begins by telling the story of Marian and Laura and how they found each other after Sir Percival and Count Fosco split them up. Marian returned to Limmeridge, after recovering from her illness at Blackwater, but grief-stricken by news of Laura’s death. Count Fosco stayed at Limmeridge for Laura’s funeral and wrote to Mr. Fairlie while he was there. In these notes, Count Fosco told Mr. Fairlie that Anne Catherick had been found and returned to the asylum. The note also warned Mr. Fairlie that Anne Catherick now maintained a delusional fantasy that she was his niece, called herself Lady Glyde, and that she might send letters to the family of Lady Glyde in her insanity.

Shortly after she comes back to Limmeridge, Marian falls ill again. When she recovers, she tries to find out about Sir Percival, Count Fosco, and Mrs. Rubelle. She hires someone to spy on the Count’s house in London and on Mrs. Rubelle, but discovers nothing, and hears that Sir Percival now lives in Paris. Thwarted, Marian decides to go to the asylum that Anne Catherick is confined in.

She is shown into the establishment and learns that Anne is in the garden. Anne is pointed out to her by a nurse and, when Marian approaches, the woman flings herself into Marian’s arms. Marian instantly knows that this woman is Laura; her sister whom she believed to be dead. Marian is in shock for several moments but soon recovers and assures the nurse that she does not need help. Instead, she takes Laura a short distance into the garden, away from the nurse, to speak to her more privately.

Laura calms down when she realizes that Marian recognizes her.  Returning to the nurse, Marian gives her some money and asks her to arrange a time when Marian and “Anne Catherick” can meet privately. The nurse reluctantly agrees to allow them to meet the next day and to cover for them with the other staff. Marian does not think that Laura can withstand much more time in the asylum, and she plans to free her sister as soon as possible.

Marian visits her stockbroker and withdraws all of her savings. She takes this money with her to the asylum, prepared to bribe the nurse if necessary. After speaking to the nurse for a short while, Marian learns that the nurse is saving up to get married and that she will be dismissed if Laura goes missing. Marian, therefore, decides to give the woman several hundred pounds to pay for her wedding if she helps Laura to escape. The nurse promises to help her the next morning and Marian returns to the asylum the next day at ten am.

Marian and the nurse concoct a plan to distract the authorities after Laura goes missing from the asylum. The nurse is to casually drop into conversation with the other nurses that Anne Catherick has been asking for directions to Hampshire, where Blackwater Park is situated. This way, when the police attempt to follow her, they will likely go in the wrong direction. The nurse brings some of her own clothes to disguise Laura, and Marian is able to free her sister and catch a train with her to Carlisle, in the direction of Limmeridge.

On the train to Carlisle, and during their first few days at Limmeridge, Laura tells Marian the story of what has happened to her. Unfortunately, like Mrs. Michelson, Laura does not remember the date that she traveled to London and met Count Fosco. He met her on the platform when she arrived, and she immediately asked about Marian. The Count told her that Marian was still at his house—she had decided to rest before journeying to Limmeridge—and the pair got in a carriage together.

They arrived at a house somewhere in London and Count Fosco showed Laura into an upstairs room. He told her that Marian could not see her for the moment and returned with a foreign gentleman. He did not introduce Laura to this man and, soon, the Count returned with a second man who began to ask Laura questions.

After this had gone on for some time, Laura grew panicked and felt faint. Count Fosco summoned a servant with a jar of smelling salts, and this is the last point in her journey to the asylum which Laura remembers clearly. She is adamant that she slept at Mrs. Vesey’s house with Mrs. Rubelle and then woke up the next day in the asylum. The nurses there showed her the tags on her clothes, which had Anne Catherick’s name written on them, and told her that she could not be Lady Glyde because Lady Glyde was dead.

Marian is able to work out from Laura’s story that she was taken into the asylum on the 27th of July and that she was formally identified there as Anne Catherick. Marian notes that her sister is much changed by the experience, and that she is extremely mentally fragile. When they arrive at Limmeridge, she decides to approach Mr. Fairlie the next day, with the news about Laura, rather than that evening.

When Marian tries to present Laura to Mr. Fairlie the next morning, she is aghast to find that he coldly rejects Laura. He says that he has been warned by Count Fosco about an imposter who pretends to be Laura and that he is fully convinced that the real Laura is dead. He demands that Laura leave Limmeridge House.

Laura is so like Anne Catherick already, and looks so tired and ill after her ordeal, that even the servants at Limmeridge do not recognize her. The pair decide that they must head back to London because the authorities will no doubt look for Laura at Limmeridge—believing her to be Anne Catherick. Before they go, Laura wishes to visit her mother’s grave. They make their way to the churchyard, where they unexpectedly meet Walter Hartright.