The Good Soldier

In the wake of Florence’s suicide, Leonora pieces together what she saw in the park and does her best to keep Edward away from Nancy. John describes Nancy as an eccentric girl whose personality shifts from moment to moment. Sometimes she is wise beyond her years and other times she is immature. Additionally, she is completely open, honest, and innocent.

Nancy’s background is somewhat tragic. She has an abusive drunkard of a father who would often beat her mother in front of her. Luckily, as a young girl, Nancy was able to escape her father by doing her schooling in a convent. While Nancy was still young, her father went to India to serve in the army. Around the same time, Nancy’s mother, who was best friends with Leonora, asked the Ashburnhams to serve as Nancy’s guardians, a position they happily accepted. 

Luckily for Leonora, it is not as difficult as normal to keep Edward away from Nancy because he’s grown weak following Florence’s death. As the days stretch on, Edward continues to lose strength and drink heavily. Eventually, Leonora realizes that he is no threat to Nancy’s chastity and allows them to go out together unsupervised. That same night, Leonora returns to her room to find Edward on his knees, crying, while praying to the Virgin Mary. At this point, Leonora knows definitively that she can trust Edward with Nancy.