The Old Wives' Tale

Bennett picks up the narrative two years after the events of Chapter 4. In the intervening time, Samuel has begun taking more of a leading role in managing the shop. Sophia has been working in the shop, and there has been no word from Gerald. Returning from a New Year’s Eve service, Sophia and the others find Gerald sitting on their doorstep—the first time they have seen him since the day John died. This unexpected event startles Sophia: “Mr. Scales sitting on her mother’s doorstep in the middle of the snowy night had assuredly the air of a miracle, of something dreamed in a dream […]” (128). Gerald has been traveling through the area and claims to have been assaulted by some ruffians, so the family takes him in and hears his story. He returns the next day, showering attention on Sophia and coyly setting up an impromptu rendezvous later that day. Mrs. Baines later finds out about their meeting, however, and confronts Sophia about it, adding to the rising tension between them.

This chapter opens by relaying Sophia’s experiences and feelings about her meeting with Gerald. She has fallen in love with him, romantically idealizing what little she knows about him. Mrs. Baines, however, is suspicious of Gerald and sets a plan in motion to ensure that Sophia won’t be able to see him on his next business trip. She knows about his arrival in advance and puts Sophia in a different department, where she must attend to customers. The plan falls apart when Samuel—whose attraction to Constance is growing more noticeable—becomes jealous of Constance’s conversation with Gerald. Eventually, Sophia comes out of the other department, having finished with her customers, and joins Constance at the counter just as Samuel invents an excuse to draw Constance away. Mrs. Baines enters to find Gerald talking to Sophia—just the result she hoped to prevent.

As Gerald speaks with Sophia, he slips her a note suggesting another rendezvous. Later, they meet at a spot near the construction of a railroad bed, and in a moment of boyish impulse Gerald scales a wall to peer into a mineshaft, which makes Sophia terrified for his safety. When he sees her reaction, he tries to comfort her in a teasing and intimate way. While Sophia is still head-over-heels in love with him, she’s also taken aback by his presumption:

Did he suppose, because she chanced to be walking with him, that he had the right to address her familiarly, to tease her, to call her ‘silly little thing’ and to put his face against hers? She resented his freedom with quick and passionate indignation (150).

She leaves in a huff but holds onto his parting call that he’ll write to her. On her return, her mother confronts her again, expressing her disapproval of Gerald, but when their conversation is done, Sophia still hopes to hear from her admirer.

Mrs. Baines’s older sister, Harriet, arrives. The two sisters discuss the family situation and agree that Sophia will go to live with Harriet in the nearby town of Axe. Sophia discerns the real motive behind this plan—to keep her and Gerald apart—but goes with her aunt anyway. With Sophia gone, Mrs. Baines turns her attention to her other daughter—and is surprised to find that this situation has become far more advanced than she thought. Over dinner, Samuel brings up the possibility of he and Constance getting engaged. When Mrs. Baines hesitates, he grows angry and offended. In the end, they leave the matter unresolved, with the expectation that Mrs. Baines will provide an answer later.

Harriet returns, looking for Sophia, as Sophia has run away on the pretense of returning to Bursley. Harriet and Mrs. Baines figure out that Sophia has gone away with Gerald, who (they learn from Mr. Critchlow) abandoned his commercial company after receiving an inheritance. Soon thereafter, they receive a note from London: “Dear Mother, I am married to Gerald Scales. Please don’t worry about me. We are going abroad. Your affectionate Sophia. Love to Constance” (168). Feeling utterly defeated, Mrs. Baines resigns the shop to Samuel and Constance and goes to live with her sister.