The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Arthur returns from London in even worse shape than he did the year before. He is feverish and impatient with everyone, and Helen bides her time, waiting for the right moment to confront him about his conduct. Finally, after he explodes at a servant for dropping a tray of crockery, Helen begins gently reminding him that his fever and ill humors are, in fact, his fault. He is only sick because he did not take care of himself in town. She tries to cheer him up by bringing little Arthur in, but the baby is teething and his fussiness annoys his father, so she takes him back to the nursery. She is gone for a time, getting little Arthur to sleep, and when she returns, her husband scolds her for caring more for the baby, and for the feelings of a clumsy servant, than she does for him.

Helen begins to weep, and Arthur grows frustrated with her. What could she possibly have to cry about? Helen tells him that she is crying for him. When he degrades himself, he degrades her. Arthur wants only another glass of wine and to be left alone. He informs Helen that he lived more in the last four months than she has her entire life, and it’s a wonder such living didn’t kill him. He wishes that she were more like Milicent. Hattersley’s wife is perfect, Arthur argues—she lets him do exactly as he pleases and never complains. Helen says Milicent is miserable. Arthur says that’s impossible, because if Hattersley is happy, so is she.

Helen knows better. In letters, Milicent has complained about her husband’s bad behavior and implored Helen to try to use her influence with Arthur to remedy things. Helen gently declines her friend’s request, telling Milicent that she overestimates Helen’s influence with Arthur, and that the two men feed on each other. It’s not enough that one should reform. This exchange angers Arthur, who wishes Helen would be as kind and caring to him as she was last time he came home in a feverish state. But Helen knows such kindness would do no good. He does not repent his treatment of her, only his illness, and now she has a son to look after as well as an ailing and peevish husband.

Helen’s biggest enemy is Arthur’s drinking, so she does whatever she can to curb it. She has help in this matter from Mr. Hargrave, whose own moderate habits serve as a check on his friend. Helen had approached him and asked if he might help her keep Arthur on the straight and narrow, and while she now considers Walter a friend, she worries sometimes about his fondness for her and how Arthur would feel if he knew she and Walter had a secret from him.

Helen also worries that she has grown desensitized to vice and bad behavior. What before she would have deemed wrong and sinful she now has daily acquaintance with and is therefore growing rather used to. On one hand, she is glad. She is less judgmental than before, more accepting. On the other hand, she is concerned because she is so close to Arthur, so intimately connected to him and his foibles, and she fears she will be pulled down into the sinful hole he’s dug for himself.

As Arthur grows healthy again, Helen suggests they all go to the seaside as a family, but Arthur refuses. He finds the coast boring, and, besides, he has an invitation from a friend to go shooting in Scotland. Helen is upset about his leaving her again, but he assures her there’s nothing to worry about. A shooting excursion in Scotland is bound to be a pretty tame affair.