Lady Audley's Secret

Aboard the Argus, a young man looks at the waves wearily after three months at sea. He is sailing to Liverpool following three-and-a-half years in Australia. Thinking of his return, he mutters, “Poor little girl, how pleased she'll be!” (17).

The man is George Talboys, and his fellow passengers are accustomed to seeing him as “the life and soul of the vessel” (17). However, as they approach England, he has become anxious and short-tempered in his eagerness to reach his destination.

One evening, a fellow passenger strikes up a conversation with George. She is a governess returning home after 15 years in Australia. She and her fiancée had been too poor to start a life together, and she now hopes that they will be able to marry. Unlike George, however, she is nervous—who knows what may have happened in the past 15 years? George is rattled by this, but the governess tells him that her situation has no bearing upon his.

George then tells her that his wife’s father had been a miser who was willing to sell his daughter to the highest bidder, while George’s father was rich. The couple consequently got married but, upon hearing that his son had married a penniless girl, George’s father cut all ties with him.

With money dwindling, the couple moved in with the girl’s father, who proceeded to fleece them of their remaining funds. However, upon hearing about gold-digging opportunities in Australia, George saw a chance to provide for his family. It took longer than he had hoped, but he ultimately prospered.

George tells the governess that, if anything has happened to his wife, he “shall fall down dead” (25). The governess tries to reassure him, but he cannot stop brooding. 

During a quiet evening at the grounds of Audley Court, a young woman makes her way across the gardens. She is a country girl called Phoebe Marks, who is employed as Lady Audley’s maid.

In one of the garden’s recesses she meets Luke: her cousin and suitor. They talk for a while, and Luke mocks Phoebe’s claims that she has become “genteel” (28). He does not want a wife who is genteel; he hopes to set up a public house when they have enough money.

Phoebe talks wistfully about how Lady Audley had been a mere servant like her not so long ago, but Luke tells her that she should focus on herself. Luke then asks whether the Lady is at home, and Phoebe informs him that she is at a dinner party. Luke consequently asks for a tour of the house, and Phoebe agrees.

As they walk through the house, Phoebe says that she would show Luke the Lady’s jewels, but she does not have the key. Then, she notices that the Lady has left the key behind. They look at the jewels, and Luke notes that even one of them could set them both up for life. Phoebe chides Luke for speaking such things, but, when Luke presses upon a brass knob on the jewelry box, a drawer flies out containing a baby’s shoe and a lock of hair. Phoebe’s lips curve into a “curious smile” (32) and she announces, “you shall have the public-house” (32).

Sir Michael’s nephew, Robert Audley, became at barrister at the advice of his friends. He was already well provided for by his father, but being a barrister would enable him to supplement his allowance. Still, being a “lazy, care-for-nothing fellow” (32), he does not take on cases.

Alicia is especially fond of Robert and writes him an angry letter berating her father’s decision to marry the new Lady Audley. Robert has no doubt that Alicia and her new stepmother will quarrel incessantly.

It is the morning after the events of the previous chapter, and Robert is waiting for a cab when a man runs into him. Robert chastises him for not looking where he is going, but the man exclaims “Bob!” (34). Robert finds the man familiar but cannot place him until he reveals himself as George Talboys. Robert then remembers his old friend and asks how he has been.

George recounts the story that he told the governess, adding that he has some Australian notes that he needs to lodge in the bank. Robert accompanies him to the bank and afterwards, they go to a coffee house where George is expecting a letter from his wife. However, the waiter informs him that there is no letter. They sit down and George picks up a newspaper. Upon seeing the obituaries, he turns pale: one entry reads, “On the 24th inst., at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Helen Talboys, aged twenty-two” (36).

George faints upon reading of his wife’s death and, the next thing he knows, he is lying in Robert’s chambers. Suddenly, George recalls the news about his wife. Trying to comfort him, Robert suggests that it might have been another person called Helen Talboys, or a misprint. However, George is certain. That night, he dreams of his wife in old age and his son as a grown man.

The next day, they try to find information about George’s wife. Inquiring about her father at a hotel, they are told that a man of that name had stayed there and are given the address of his cottage.

When they arrive at the cottage, Helen’s father is not home but the landlady invites them in. She tells them that Helen had come to the cottage a week before her death, in the final stages of decline.

When George says that he is her husband, the landlady refers to him as a deserter. George, however, denies this and retells his story. When he asks if Helen ever spoke of him, the landlady replies that she did not, although she had once talked wildly about her mother. George is upset to think that his wife spoke of her mother—who died when she was a child—but not of him.

The landlady gives George a lock of his wife’s hair, and George notices that, whereas it used to be wavy, “it seems smooth and straight” (41). The landlady replies that it changes in illness. They then walk to the churchyard in which Helen is buried. George says that he would like to see the local stonemason, to whom he gives an inscription for his wife’s headstone.