A Waif's Progress

A Waif's Progress by Rhoda Broughton

A Waif's Progress opens on the household of Edward Tancred, a Stock Exchange man fifteen years younger than his wealthy, plain, childless wife Camilla, as they debate a letter from Edward's sister Felicity Glanville proposing to send them Bonnybell Ransome, the orphaned and disreputable daughter of the late Lady Ransome (Claire), a woman who died in scandalous circumstances after a life of drink and disgrace among a "demi-monde" set. Felicity, unable to keep the girl herself because her husband Tom has "put his foot down," urges the Tancreds to take her in. Despite Camilla's harsh misgivings about the girl's inherited vice, the couple agrees. Before Bonnybell's departure from the Glanvilles', Felicity gives her a hasty briefing on the Tancreds' characters and warns her to temper her worldly frankness. On the train to Stillington, Bonnybell reveals her true calculating nature, musing on marriage as her only escape and on how soon "Edward" will tire of her, as Tom did. She arrives to a frosty reception from Camilla, who is scandalized by the girl's casual references to her dead mother by her Christian name, her admission of expulsion from a Paris school, and her utter ignorance of religion, history, and propriety, though Bonnybell's beauty and practiced meekness partially disarm her. Edward, quieter and gentler, is drawn to her prettiness despite noting her glib untruths, and rebukes her only once, when she disparages Camilla's age and appearance. On a walk to church and afterward to the Dower House to visit the Aylmer family, Bonnybell schemes to attract the family's son and heir, "Toby" Aylmer, pumping Edward for information about him. At the Dower House she is horrified to encounter Lady Tennington, an old disreputable acquaintance of her mother's, and narrowly avoids exposure. In the schoolroom she shocks the young Aylmer daughter Meg with gossip about a kept woman's finances, prompting the elder Aylmers to lodge a formal complaint with Camilla the next day. Confronted, Bonnybell narrowly avoids expulsion by pleading ignorance and her deprived upbringing, winning a reprieve from Camilla, who resolves to educate her. Camilla sets Bonnybell to daily lessons in spelling, history, and geography, all of which expose her profound ignorance, while Bonnybell secretly neglects her studies for smuggled French novels. She gradually ingratiates herself with both Tancreds—teaching tricks to the dog Jock to soften Camilla, and cultivating a wary, careful friendship with Edward, from whom she seeks unspoken help in avoiding future gaffes, provoking his sharp reproof only when she disparages Camilla again. One day, while the Tancreds are in London, Bonnybell secretly accepts an invitation from Lady Tennington, risking exposure to visit her, where she is dismayed to find the loathed Colonel Charlie Landon, an old, lecherous acquaintance from her mother's circle, present. She manages to avoid his escort home by enlisting the unwitting help of Toby Aylmer, who arrives and, taken by her flattery, gives her information and aid, deepening her secret campaign to attract him. She returns home undetected, lies smoothly to cover her absence, and narrows a near-discovery when Edward appears to see through one of her fabrications about the dog. That night, Camilla, softened by seeing Bonnybell asleep with books piled by her bed (in fact abandoned unread), begins to believe some awakening of conscience in the girl and reflects with rare tenderness on her own childlessness, while Bonnybell, oblivious to this shift, continues to calculate her next moves toward Toby amid the ever-present threats posed by Landon's knowledge of her past.

By Rhoda Broughton · First published 1909 · Genre: Coming-of-age (Bildungsroman), Social Satire, Domestic Fiction · 35 chapters · 111,093 words

First lines

"Well? " she asked.

From the other end of the breakfast-table he returned -- "Well? " and for several minutes this exchange of monosyllables seemed going to be the end -- it was not quite the beginning -- of the conversation that had sprung from a letter, and to the perusal or reperusal of that letter Mrs. Tancred had returned.

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orphan · Victorian era · social class · reputation · marriage · satire · beauty · deception · inherited vice · morality · manipulation · scheming

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