The Fraud

At the literary salon, the other writers celebrate William. They ask where his wife is, and Eliza and William evade these questions. William’s daughters are watching the salon from the staircase.

Eliza joins the girls on the staircase. She identifies the men in the salon for the girls. She asks after their mother, who is still crying and not eating. Eliza promises to stay with the girls as long as they need her.

While William is enjoying his literary career, Frances is prematurely aging and fading. Several doctors have tried to diagnose Frances, but to no avail. Eliza believes that Frances is dying of a broken heart.

The men in the literary salon discuss politics. They debate the extent to which England should intercede on the issue of slavery. Eliza advocates for abolition, and William embarrasses her by telling her to stop talking. One of the men points out that Eliza’s husband’s family built their wealth from cotton plantations. Eliza argues that it’s difficult to blame a woman for money she inherits when she isn’t allowed to work for her own money.

Back in the narrative present day, 1870, news of Charles Dickens’s death rattles the nation. He is only 58 years old at the time of his death. Dickens is such an integral part of British culture that everyone mourns.

William accompanies Eliza to an appointment in London. William is annoyed that Charles Dickens will be buried in Westminster Abbey, near the memorial for William Shakespeare.

In London, Eliza watches street performers, Ethiopians as well as white men in Blackface. She and William laugh together as they used to when they were younger.

Eliza meets with her lawyer. A claimant to Eliza’s late husband’s will has died, so now Eliza’s financial benefits from his will are going to increase. Eliza refuses to find out who the other claimants were because she agrees with the lawyer that some things are better left unknown.

Eliza thinks about all the women and girls in fairy tales and real life who have been ignored and oppressed by men.

Eliza is overwhelmed by the new freedom that her new access to money has given her. Eliza admires the diversity in the streets of London. She sees people from all over the world and wonders about their lives.

Eliza thinks about Mr. Bogle from Sir Roger’s speech. She was surprised by how Mr. Bogle has a private and public self. Eliza had thought it was only women who could wear many masks.

In a flashback from 1836, Lady Marguerite Gardiner Blessington welcomes Charles Dickens, William, and Eliza to her home. She flirts with both men. Eliza explains she’s a widow, which Lady Blessington approves of because she doesn’t like married women and is also a widow.

Eliza notes the two Black children serving Lady Blessington. Lady Blessington’s house is garishly decorated. She tells them that the politician and abolitionist Mr. Wilberforce owned the house before, but she doesn’t care for his politics or his taste. Eliza is annoyed by how often Lady Blessington name-drops famous writers like Lord Byron to impress her guests.

Lady Blessington shows them the book she published of conversations between herself and Lord Byron.

Eliza has heard the rumors about Lady Blessington. She lives with her son-in-law, the Duke d’Orsay, who inherited the Blessington fortune before his wife, Lady Blessington’s daughter, left him. It is rumored that Lady Blessington and the much-younger d’Orsay are also together romantically. It is also rumored that Lady Blessington comes from a poor family in Ireland and that she was once a courtesan before marrying rich.

Frances has moved back in with her father, and their daughters are away at school. This leaves Eliza the only woman in William’s all-male literary world. Eliza wonders if the reason she doesn’t like Lady Blessington is because she reminds her of herself.

Lady Blessington shares some epigrams she keeps in a notebook. Her behavior makes Eliza think of Don Juan.

Eliza excuses herself to take a break from Lady Blessington. Eliza overhears the two Black servant children making fun of Lady Blessington with the milk-boy. Eliza interrupts them, and they look at her with resentment.

Back in the present, Clara grows up well and happy in Hurstpierpoint. Eliza burns a package addressed to William. It’s a copy of his novel Old St. Paul’s with one of the illustrations scratched out, again sent anonymously. It makes Eliza think of the conflict between William and one of his illustrators, George Cruikshank, who publicly accused William of not giving him credit for his role in the illustrations. Eliza’s income from her late husband’s will has doubled, but she still hasn’t collected the money or moved out of William’s house.

The newspaper reports that the Tichborne Claimant case will be heard in court and that there will be a large audience in attendance. Eliza suggests to William that they attend because William has been looking for a more contemporary subject to write about. He tells her he’s capable of finding his own subjects and suggests she take Sarah to the trial. Eliza tells him about the George Eliot novel she’s enjoying and William mocks Eliot writing so many volumes of a novel even though she’s a woman.

Eliza is both fascinated and annoyed by Sarah. They go to the Court of Common Pleas together to wait for the Tichborne Claimant case to begin.

The lawyers for the defense and the prosecution present their opening arguments. Sir Roger’s lawyer tells the story of Sir Roger’s unhappy childhood and confirms that the damages of a shipwreck to the body can erase memories and Sir Roger’s previous ability to speak French.

William doesn’t want Sarah and Eliza going to the hearings anymore, but Eliza convinces him that it’s good for Sarah’s growing literacy. Eliza brings pen and paper to the hearings as well, where she takes her own notes.

Sir Roger’s military tailor, Mr. Greenwood, takes the stand. He treats the questions he is asked with humor, and the audience laughs.

The date when Sir Roger will take the stand is announced in the newspaper. Eliza is excited to attend so she can see Mr. Bogle again. She has her paper and pens at the ready and feels an enormous creative and intellectual pull. She wonders if this new feeling is the same kind that William, Dickens, and Eliot have.

Sir Roger takes the stand. The most prescient question is whether he’s actually Arthur Orton. The butcher known as Arthur Orton from Australia can’t be located. What’s more, many people in Wapping, Australia have identified this Sir Roger as Arthur Orton.

Sir Roger explains that he knows the Orton family because he had once met Arthur Orton abroad and wanted them to know that Arthur had done well for himself. Still, people find it suspicious that a nobleman would visit a lowly butcher’s family. Mr. Coleridge, the lawyer for the opposing counsel, reveals that someone has been anonymously paying the Orton family, likely in exchange for their silence. They compare the claimant with daguerreotypes to point out that he doesn’t look like Sir Roger, but photography is still in its early stages and it is difficult to use this as evidence. Mr. Coleridge asks the claimant directly if he is Arthur Orton.

The claimant denies being Arthur Orton. He is asked about his education at Stonyhurst College and can’t remember his classical education. To Eliza, it’s obvious the claimant is lying, but Sarah disagrees.

As Eliza writes notes, she notices a woman in the audience sketching the figures. Eliza admires the woman’s skill. The claimant is asked if he seduced Katherine Doughty, the love of Sir Roger’s youth.

Eliza takes a walk around London. She enjoys walking but discovers how much London has changed since she lived there.

Eliza stands on a bridge and looks into the water. She recalls Frances vividly and recalls their happy memories together.

Eliza visits a graveyard and sees the grave of Emma Soyert, a talented painter she once knew. Emma died in childbirth at the age of 28. Though Emma had a successful painting career, she is no longer remembered for her art. Eliza reflects that Lady Blessington at least understood that she could achieve some notoriety that would live past her by developing a published friendship with Lord Byron.

Eliza sees the grave of Mary Scott Hogarth, who died at age 17. Mary was Dickens’s sister-in-law, and Eliza recalls how hard he cried at Mary’s funeral. Eliza reflects on the nature of love.

Eliza thinks about the scandal with Katherine Doughty, which involves rumors of a pregnancy. Eliza writes a note about how men are more concerned about a woman’s honor than what has been done to the woman herself.

Eliza returns to life at Hurstpierpoint, bored by the routines. William is working on his 29th novel, one about Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleves. Eliza still hasn’t decided what to do about her new access to money. The Tichborne case is adjourned until November. Eliza can’t stop thinking about Mr. Bogle.

An article in a magazine depicts the country’s depression now that they must wait for the next part of the Tichborne case. The article proposes turning the trial into a public party.