David Copperfield

David remembers how, at their last meeting, Steerforth had asked him to remember him at his best. David says that he had always done so, and couldn't "change now, looking on this sight."

Some local men who had known Steerforth carry his body up toward the house where Ham is, but hesitate to place him inside. Instead, they go to the inn, and David arranges to take the body to London that night; he feels that he should be the person to inform Mrs. Steerforth of her son's death. As David makes the journey, he feels as though he is surrounded by the "ashes of his youthful friendship," but when he arrives in Highgate, the Steerforths' house looks exactly as it always has.

When David finally nerves himself to ring the bell, he tells the maid that something has happened, and that he needs to speak to Mrs. Steerforth directly. He then waits in the drawing-room, surrounded by mementos of Steerforth, as the maid takes his card up to Mrs. Steerforth and Rosa. Eventually, the maid returns and tells David that Mrs. Steerforth is ill, but that he can see her in her chamber. This turns out to be Steerforth's old room, which Mrs. Steerforth says is better suited for an invalid. David guesses, however, that she has moved to it in order to immerse herself in memories of her son. Rosa, meanwhile, seems to guess instantly that David is there with bad news and watches him closely.

Mrs. Steerforth expresses her condolences for Dora's death, and David replies that they all "must trust to [Time]" in grief. This unnerves Mrs. Steerforth, and she guesses that Steerforth is sick. David says that Steerforth is "very ill," but when Mrs. Steerforth asks whether he has reconciled with her son, he can't reply. Instead, he mouths the word "Dead" to Rosa. Mrs. Steerforth, however, does not see this, and David tries to break the news to her gently, hinting that "if" Steerforth had been sailing during the storm, something might have happened to him.

Upset, Mrs. Steerforth asks Rosa to come to her. Rosa does, but also asks whether Mrs. Steerforth's "pride" is satisfied, now that Steerforth has paid with his life. Rosa continues on over Mrs. Steerforth's moans, asking her to look at the scar Steerforth gave her. Steerforth's temper, Rosa says, was the direct result of Mrs. Steerforth's temperament, as well as her indulgence of her son. David tries to stop Rosa, but she ignores him, insisting that Mrs. Steerforth "moan for [her] corruption of [Steerforth]," and mocking her for seeing herself as a victim now. 

Rosa continues, saying she loved Steerforth more truly than Mrs. Steerforth, and that she would have endured any mistreatment if she could have been his wife. She also suggests that Steerforth could have loved her and been a better person because of it: when he grew up, she says, he felt guilt over the scar he gave her, and he was "freshest and truest" when he was in her company. Rosa meanwhile, allowed Steerforth to court her and treat her as "a doll, a trifle for the occupation of an idle hour, to be dropped, and taken up, and trifled with, as the inconstant humour took him." Eventually, she says, she and Steerforth drifted apart under the strain of his own personality, and since then, Rosa herself has been treated like a "disfigured piece of furniture" in the household.

David begins to say that Rosa ought to feel compassion for Mrs. Steerforth as a grieving mother, but Rosa interrupts, asking who will feel sorrow for her. David again tries to speak, referencing Steerforth's "faults," but this only angers Rosa, who says he "had a soul worth millions of the friends to whom he stooped." David assures Rosa that he himself loved Steerforth, and finally finishes what he has been trying to say, urging Rosa to help Mrs. Steerforth, even if she cannot forget what she or her son did. Rosa accordingly goes to Mrs. Steerforth, cursing David and telling him to leave. As he does, he looks back to see Rosa weeping over Mrs. Steerforth and trying to revive her.

David returns later that day with Steerforth's body, and learns that Rosa is still with Mrs. Steerforth, who is insensible despite doctors' efforts to revive her. He then walks around the house pulling down the shades on all the windows, finally reaching the room where Steerforth's body is and lingering there, where "all the world seemed death and silence."