My Cousin Rachel: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Philip feels guilty about how unhappy Ambrose’s marriage has rendered him and tries to hide his disappointment. Meanwhile, his neighbors, including the vicar’s wife, Mrs. Pascoe, whom Philip detests, rejoice in the news. Only Seecombe, the steward at the Ashley house, feels as gloomy as Philip. He laments: “A mistress in the house will have everything upside down, and we shan’t know where we are.”

In a conversation with his childhood friend Louise Kendall, Philip reacts particularly snappishly to the topic of Rachel. This prompts Louise to ask Philip, “You aren’t jealous, are you, by any chance?” Philip vehemently denies being jealous of Rachel, but when his godfather, Nick Kendall, mentions that an heir produced by Ambrose and Rachel would significantly alter Philip’s life, Philip admits that he is, in fact, experiencing “the jealousy of a child who must suddenly share the one person in his life with a stranger.”

Philip finds himself miserably imagining what Rachel will be like. He hates all the versions of her he invents, from “middle-aged and forceful” to “simpering and younger than Louise.” Soon, Philip receives a letter from Ambrose, which states that he and Rachel will spend the remainder of the summer in Italy in order to sort out the massive debt left to Rachel by her first husband, Sangalletti. Philip feels relieved until Mrs. Pascoe suggests that “perhaps […] Mrs. Ashley’s state of health forbids her travelling,” implying that Rachel is pregnant. Annoyed, Philip willfully misinterprets Mrs. Pascoe’s comment, replying: “Ambrose mentioned in his letter that [he and Rachel] had spent a week in Venice, and both of them came back with rheumatism.” Crestfallen, Mrs. Pascoe responds that Rachel “must be older than [she] thought.”

Mrs. Pascoe’s comment causes Philip to imagine yet another version of Rachel: “The nursery receded, and I saw the drawing-room become a lady’s boudoir […] and someone calling to Seecombe in a testy voice to bring more coal, the draught was killing her.” This image of Rachel makes Philip feel immensely comforted, as though “[his] home was still [his] home.”

Time jumps forward to the winter, and Philip begins to receive anxious, nostalgic letters from Ambrose, filled with “a kind of loneliness that struck me as strange in a man but ten months married.” Philip notices that Ambrose’s tone when he writes about Rachel has become suddenly “formal […] and cold.” Ambrose also mentions that he has been experiencing frequent headaches.

Philip does not hear from Ambrose throughout the spring, and he begins to grow worried. In July, Philip finally receives a letter from Ambrose; it is incoherent and paranoid. Ambrose writes that he trusts none of his Italian doctors, all recommended by someone named Rainaldi; he also says that Rachel “watches [him] all the time,” and it is “better [to] keep silent.” Alarmed, Philip shows the letter to his godfather, Nick Kendall, who reveals that Ambrose’s father died of a brain tumor. Kendall worries Ambrose might be suffering the same fate, and he suggests that Philip make a trip to Italy.

On a July morning, Philip sets out on his journey to Italy; as he is driving away from the estate, a servant rides up with a letter. It is from Ambrose, and it reads: “For God’s sake come to me quickly. She has done for me at last, Rachel my torment. If you delay, it may be too late.” Philip is devastated by the letter, as he knows there is no way he can make it to Ambrose until mid-August.