Vanity Fair

In June 1815, news of the recent fights at Quatre Bras and Waterloo (the last two battles against Napoleon,) reaches England. While the news of victory is a cause for celebration, the newspapers also print lists of casualties, with new lists each day. The Osbornes are all filled with grief when they see George’s name printed. When George was alive, there was still some chance of reconciliation between him and Mr. Osborne—perhaps if Amelia died—but now it’s impossible.

Mr. Osborne stops speaking about George. Three weeks after the news breaks, Dobbin’s father comes to visit the family. He gives Mr. Osborne a letter that George wrote for him a couple days before he died. The letter is very nice, and Mr. Osborne seems to feel bad about some of the ill thoughts he had toward George. George still doesn’t express much emotion in his letter, but he says if anything happens to him, he wants to say goodbye to his father. He also hopes the best for Amelia and their future child.

Two months later, whenever Mr. Osborne goes to church, he sits in a new seat where he can better see a new memorial erected there for George. George’s sisters, Jane and Maria, fear that their father might soon forgive Amelia for taking George away. Their fears seem to be confirmed when Mr. Osborne says he’s traveling abroad to Belgium.

In Brussels, some of the wounded soldiers from George’s regiment are still recovering. Mr. Osborne asks them about George, and those who knew him speak highly of him. One of the soldiers takes Mr. Osborne out to the battlefields of Quatre Bas and Waterloo. He tells Mr. Osborne how George died right after the French started to retreat and the British made their first advance. Dobbin carried his body back.

Mr. Osborne thanks the recovering soldiers, then he drives back from Waterloo. Back in Brussels, he is surprised to run into Amelia and Dobbin. Amelia looks much paler than she did before, and Mr. Osborne might not have recognized her if Dobbin hadn’t been riding beside her in the carriage. She looks right at Mr. Osborne and doesn’t recognize him. Mr. Osborne decides he still hates her.

Dobbin rides up behind Mr. Osborne and calls out to him, saying he has a message from George. He says he was George’s closest friend and that he’s also the executor of his will. Dobbin says that Amelia was badly shaken by George’s death, and George also left her pregnant and in a bad financial situation. Dobbin asks Mr. Osborne to help Amelia, both for her and for the sake of the child. But Mr. Osborne has already made up his mind and refuses to budge.

A full year passes. Amelia is depressed with grief for several of those months until one day, she gives birth to a baby boy. The child, Georgy, brings joy back into her life. Dobbin, the child’s godfather, helps Amelia make it back to England to live with Mr. Sedley and Mrs. Sedley again. Dobbin stops by to visit often, and the Sedleys suspect he might want to marry Amelia.

One day, Dobbin says he has to leave for a long time. He says there are ways to forward letters to him. Amelia promises to write to him about Georgy.