Hello Middlemarchers!

We're wrapping up the penultimate book! Can you believe it? This week's chapters were so unexpected. I had no idea our literary village romance was about to go all Agatha Christe on us. I'm hoping there is retribution for Raffles because no one deserved what Bulstrode put him through.

Summary

Chapter 69

The day after Bulstrode refused to help Lydgate with his debt, Caleb Garth unexpectedly arrives in Bulstrode’s office. Garth tells Bulstrode that Mr. Raffles has returned to Middlemarch, is unwell and staying at Stone Court. Garth is hesitant to speak but asks to end his business with Bulstrode. Bulstrode questions him and it comes out that Raffles told Garth the truth on the way into Stone Court. Humiliated and angry, Bulstrode sends for a doctor and tries to make Garth swear to never tell anyone what he has learned about Bulstrode’s past. Garth is offended that Bulstrode wants him to swear – claiming as an honest man that when he said he wouldn’t tell anyone else, he meant it. Garth leaves, all their business concluded.

Bulstrode races to Stone Court to make sure Raffles hasn’t told anyone else. He finds the man unwell and, despite being a religious man, he hopes that whatever sickness Raffles has will kill him. Lydgate arrives and examines Raffles, finding that he has alcohol poisoning. Before he leaves, he talks with Bulstrode, saying that Raffles should make a fine recovery, as long as Bulstrode and those caring for him follow Lydgate’s instructions and don’t let Raffles drink any more liquor. Lydgate is perplexed that Bulstrode seems to want to care for Raffles, wondering why Bulstrode couldn’t have chosen himself and Rosamond as instead.

Lydgate returns home to debtors in his home, taking away more furniture. Rosamond is in shock and decides to go stay with her parents until Lydgate fixes everything.

Chapter 70

Bulstrode weighs in his mind the moral and ethical rights that are owned to Raffles. He spends the first night watching over Raffles and following Lydgate's instructions carefully. During this time Bulstrode hopes that Raffles dies, because with Raffles dead he would be free from blackmail about his past. The next morning Lydgate checks on the patient, sees some further decline and prescribes small amounts of opium to help him sleep. Lydgate is very clear that the doses of opium must be small and shows Bulstrode how to do it. He then repeats that Bulstrode must continue to follow his earlier instructions – to keep alcohol away from Raffles being the big one. The thought of Raffles recovering seems to break something inside Bulstrode.

Before Lydgate leaves for the day Bulstrode offers to pay off the debt of one thousand pounds that he previously refused to help with. He writes a check for Lydgate and sends him off. It is not until Lydgate is on his way home that he questions Bulstrode’s sudden change of opinion.

The next few pages are chilling; Bulstrode decides he needs to rest and leaves the care of Raffles to one of his servants, Mrs. Abel. On his way to bed he realizes that he forgot to tell her exactly how much opium the patient could safely take. He debates fixing this mistake, but he doesn’t. When Mrs. Abel comes to him just before he goes to bed and asks him if she can give Raffles any alcohol to ease his pain (a normal form of treatment during this time period) Bulstrode says nothing, just gives her the key to his drink cabinet. He sleeps well that night.

The next morning, Raffles is on his deathbed. Mrs. Abel has emptied the entire supply of opium and a bottle of brandy overnight while treating him. Bulstrode sits by him and waits. Lydgate arrives in time to see Raffles die. As he talks to Bulstrode he silently begins to question what happened overnight: he can’t believe he misjudged Raffles’ situation. A doubt creeps into his mind about the reasoning behind Bulstrode’s helping him with the thousand-pound debt the day before, but he is afraid to say anything to insult the man.

The chapter ends with Mr. Farebrother chatting with Lydgate about his debts. Lydgate, not happy with himself but proud, says that Bulstrode has taken on the debt. Farebrother congratulates him but Lydgate is reminded of an earlier conversation the pair had, where Farebrother warned him to not become obliged or indebted to Bulstrode.

Chapter 71

Mr Bambridge and a few other men are gossiping at the Green Dragon when Banbridge spills that he’d met some guy called Raffles who was bragging that he could put Bulstrode behind bars if he so desired. Mr Hopkins pipes up that Raffles was buried at Lowick just the previous day and that Bulstrode had put on a good funeral for his ‘relative’. Everyone’s shocked, and the scandal deepens when Bambridge spills everything that Raffles said, including what he knew about Will’s grandmother, and when Hopkins shares that Bulstrode sat up with Raffles for two days before he died and Lydgate was the only doctor to see him. 

On the other side of the rumour mill, Mrs Bulstrode lets slip to a friend that her husband gave Lydgate a huge loan the day before Raffles died. The two rumours collide and before you know it, everyone in Middlemarch has heard that Bulstrode bribed Lydgate to off Raffles! 

The town is relishing in the downfall of the superior Bulstrode, and the matter is brought before the hospital board. The board demand that Bulstrode step down from public office or publicly address the rumours, which causes a fit of ill health. While Lydgate is escorting him from the room, he realises that his association with Bulstrode is tanking his already fragile reputation and that people are accusing him of taking a bribe. 

Farebrother and Mr Brooke then visit with Dorothea, who has been in Yorkshire. They tell her all the tea about her friend Lydgate, and she resolves to clear his name.

References:

Chapter 69:

• The epigraph to chapter 69 is a quote from Ecclesiasticus 19:10
• Dr. John Ware (1795 - 1864) was a doctor who studied and published on the treatment of alcohol poisoning and delirium tremens (1831).

Chapter 70:

• Political Unions) increasingly appeared from the early 1830s, lobbying for reform of the currency, taxation and Parliament.
• 'An execution' at the time this word, alongside the obvious, also referred to the enforcement of a court judgement, in this instance the seizure of personal goods Lydgate and Rosamond experience from their debtors at the end of the last chapter. This is what the characters are speaking about, but I think Elliot is using this word as a nod to the readers here as well, referring to what we know of the death of Mr. Raffles.

Chapter 71:

• The epigraph comes from Measure for Measure, a Shakespearean comedy
• Botany Bay was at this time a British colony in Australia where prisoners were transported 
• ‘Delirium tremens’ is alcohol withdrawal symptoms

As usual, I’ve popped some questions in the comments to get us started, but they’re just a jumping off point. Please be mindful of spoilers if you’ve read ahead, and feel free to ask questions of your own.