Middlemarch, Chapter 61 summary

What happens

1. Harriet reports Raffles’s intrusive visit, and Bulstrode’s meeting with him at the Bank deepens his fear of exposure.
2. Bulstrode recalls joining Mr. Dunkirk’s profitable pawnbroking business and using religious arguments to excuse its dishonest practices.
3. The narrator reveals that Bulstrode conceals the discovery of Dunkirk’s daughter, enabling his marriage to her wealthy mother without property reservations.
4. After seeing Raffles depart, Bulstrode summons Will and reveals that he marries Will’s grandmother and gains her wealth.
5. Will extracts Bulstrode’s admission that he knows his mother is alive, then rejects an offer of five hundred pounds annually.
6. Will leaves in anger, and Bulstrode weeps before his family returns, taking some comfort in Will’s probable silence.

In this chapter

What to notice

Will rejects the idea that inherited wealth or family connections determine his worth. His refusal makes personal conduct the basis of his claim to honor.

Quick check