The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Chapter 22 Summary & Analysis

Helen admits to her diary and herself that her joy in being Arthur Huntingdon’s fiancé is tempered by the faults of his character that she sees more and more. She had considered thoughtlessness his main character flaw, but now she is worried that his heart is less kind than she thought. She discovers this flaw when out riding with him, Lord Lowborough, and Annabella. With the lord and Annabella at a safe distance ahead of them, Arthur acquaints Helen with some of Lowborough’s unfortunate history, which includes losing his fiancé because he’d squandered his fortune gambling. Lowborough, Arthur says, is singularly unfortunate at the tables, whereas Arthur is always lucky.

Arthur insists he doesn’t care for gambling. He only goes to watch the action and find amusement in others’ gains and losses. Arthur then treats Helen to a story about Lowborough’s gambling problems. One night, on the verge of ruin, Lowborough takes a challenge from Grimsby for just one more game. Grimsby wins and Lowborough, completely out of money, goes home with Arthur, who gets him drunk in hopes of taking his mind off his problems. Lowborough grows sentimental and predicts that his fiancée will have nothing to do with him now. No matter, Arthur says—he can always find a woman willing to marry him for his title.

Arthur continues his tale. Lowborough has replaced gambling with drinking as his favored vice, and Arthur and the rest of the crew encourage him in this because it seems to make him feel better about his indebted state. One night, though, Lowborough vows to drink no more and to be a more responsible and ethical man from then on. Arthur assumes he’s joking, but then they don’t see Lowborough for a week. Eventually he turns up again, saying he is only joining them to get a break from his own morbid thoughts. In celebration, Arthur pours him a glass of liquor, and Lowborough drains it discreetly. When Arthur pours him a second, however, Lowborough throws it at him. After that, Lowborough abstains completely from drink and gambling.

Lowborough still joins the group often, though, because he doesn’t want to be alone, and gradually the young men grow annoyed with him for being so moderate in his habits. Either he joins in the fun, his friends say, or he has to stay away. Arthur takes his side, though, and tells them to be patient—he’ll come around. One night, Lowborough comes to the club, obviously suffering from having taken too much laudanum the night before. That is the one vice he still has. He says he cannot see any reason to rejoice in life, and his friends try to cheer him up. Arthur offers him a bottle of brandy, which he refuses at first, but later drains to great applause. Unfortunately, though, the drink sends him into a seizure and he is laid low for a time with a fever.

Arthur tells Helen that, when Lowborough recovers, he counsels him to adhere to a program of moderation. Drink for fun, Arthur suggests, but don’t let it rule your life. For a short time, it works, but Lowborough has an addictive personality and is soon on a rollercoaster of abstinence and indulgence that lands him in complete despair. He confides in Arthur that his only salvation is a wife. He needs a companion who, unlike Arthur and the rest of the men at the club, will encourage him to keep to the straight and narrow. He worries, though, that no one will have him on account of his poverty, and, as Arthur points out to Helen, that has indeed been the case. Mothers are turned off by Lowborough’s lack of fortune, and their daughters by his downcast looks.

Then Lowborough met Annabella, and his prospects brightened. He had hoped but not dared dream he would meet a woman who would take him and whom he could also love and esteem, but Annabella seemed to be both, especially when she joined the party at Staningley and was no longer around her other suitors. Lowborough approaches Arthur one night and tells him that his greatest hopes are at hand: Annabella loves him! Arthur, laughing, lets Helen in on a little secret: Annabella despises Lowborough and is only encouraging his attentions because she wants his title and estate. Helen is horrified. How can Arthur find such a tragedy funny? Especially when it concerns his dear friend?

Arthur contends that he cannot tell Lowborough the truth. It will break his heart, and it would be playing a dirty trick on Annabella to betray her confidence. Perhaps Annabella will act out the lie so well that Lowborough will never know the truth and will be happy in his self-deception. But Arthur says he will do whatever else he can to make his beloved happy. Helen begs Arthur then to never again take pleasure in the suffering of others, and he agrees and lets her go.

Returning to her room, Helen finds Annabella Wilmot there. Helen silently admires the other woman’s blooming beauty. Annabella then confides in her that Lowborough has proposed and she has accepted. Does Helen envy her now? No, Helen says, but she wishes her every happiness. Annabella assures her that she is the happiest woman alive, and then leaves. Helen’s servant Rachel, who is there to help Helen dress for dinner, tells her mistress that the servants have heard rumors about both Lowborough and Arthur Huntingdon not being the best of men, but Helen silences her. 

The guests leave and Helen feels the absence of Arthur keenly. He writes to her often though, and his letters are like his personality: witty, diverting, and full of affection. Helen wishes that he could express himself differently at times. She wonders when they’re married what she’ll do with the serious side of herself.