The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

The next day, Helen and Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell attend a party at the Wilmots’, making the acquaintance of Wilmot’s handsome and outgoing niece, Annabella, and Annabelle’s quieter cousin, Milicent Hargrave. Annabelle is a flirt and very popular with the men in attendance. Milicent becomes quickly attached to Helen. Mr. Huntingdon is also there, as is his friend, Mr. Grimsby, whom Helen dislikes instantly on account of his sinister and insincere air. Helen mentions the practice of having men lead women into the dining room. Grimsby is charged with leading her in. She finds the whole thing silly and obsolete, and wonders why party guests aren’t allowed a say in such coupling.

Helen then ruminates on the possibility that Mr. Huntingdon would not have picked her anyway, as he seems partial to Annabella Wilmot. The two flirt all through dinner and afterwards, when the whole party has adjourned to the drawing room, Annabella does her best to monopolize Mr. Huntingdon’s attention. Helen, stuck in a corner looking over Milicent Hargrave’s paintings, is jealous of Annabella until finally Mr. Huntington approaches her. Bored by Milicent’s artwork, Arthur casts it aside and launches into a round of entertaining conversation that Helen finds impossible to recreate in a faithful way. There is something about Mr. Huntingdon’s charm that invests everything he says and does with great interest and fun.

Mrs. Maxwell comes over and, by overwhelming Mr. Huntingdon with what Helen considers irrelevant questions, puts an end to the conversation. Helen moves to a different part of the room and is joined by Mr. Wilmot, who, made bold by wine, attempts to woo her in a clumsy and unrefined manner. Helen finds him repulsive but does not want to be rude to her host, and is only saved from further discomfort by Mr. Huntingdon, who begs her to come with him to look at a painting.

Helen happily agrees, and finds that Mr. Huntingdon cares very little about the painting, a striking Vandyke. He hoped only to get her away from Mr. Wilmot, whose attentions to Helen anger him. Mr. Huntingdon then asks Helen how she feels about him. Reluctant to confess her feelings before understanding his, she turns the question on him, and he is telling her that he adores her just as Mrs. Maxwell arrives again to interrupt them and take Helen aside. Mrs. Maxwell asks Helen if Mr. Huntingdon has proposed, and Helen tells her he has not. Mrs. Maxwell says they will talk further once they’re home.

Having left the party, Mrs. Maxwell visits Helen in her room and reminds her of the conversation they had in which Helen promised she would not even think about marrying a man strictly for his looks and charm. Her aunt asks if Helen believes Mr. Huntingdon to be a good man, and Helen says she thinks he could be a good man if he had a woman like her to guide him. He has often said so himself. Mrs. Maxwell brings up a rumor that Mr. Huntingdon was involved for a time with a married woman, but Helen brushes it off as untrue and stubbornly defends Mr. Huntingdon. Mrs. Maxwell insists that he spends his time poorly, engaging in immoral activities with a group of vide-ridden young men. If all the scandalous rumors are true, Helen says, she vows to save him from himself.

Their conversation comes to an end when Mr. Maxwell calls for his wife. He has been in a bad mood, Helen writes, because his gout has gotten worse. Mrs. Maxwell goes on to use Mr. Maxwell’s health as an excuse to quickly flee from London back to the country, but Helen suspects her aunt of ulterior motives—she wants to get Helen away from Mr. Huntingdon. While they prepare to leave town, Helen refuses to mention the young man’s name to either her aunt or her uncle, but he is never far from her mind.