Remembering Babylon: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

In late afternoons, George likes to wander off with a French book and read, transporting himself away from the drudgery of the settlement to a land of refinement. As he is walking, he is accosted by Mrs. Hutchence, an older woman who lives, with a young woman named Leona, in the single actual house in the settlement. Mrs. Hutchence is dragging a heavy branch and asks George to take it for her. He considers this work beneath him, annoyed that she does not feel the same way, but he takes it anyway. The house seems like it belongs to a different place and time; though simple enough, it has multiple rooms, making it the most luxurious building anywhere near the settlement. Mrs. Hutchence herself is hardy, wearing boots like a man and doing physical work, which unsettles many of the settlers, George included.

They arrive at Mrs. Hutchence’s house and George deposits the branch before accompanying her inside. It is the first real room George has seen in over a year, and he is taken aback. Gemmy, Janet, Meg, and Hec Gosper are there. Leona, beautiful and elegant, stands at the stove. Hec seems irritated to see George’s arrival; he has been flirting with Leona all afternoon, assuming that Janet and Meg are unaware. Janet, however, can easily see all the dynamics at play, though she is confused since Hec is only 17 and Leona is at least 25. Janet has spent part of the afternoon helping Mrs. Hutchence tend to her beehives and has learned much more about her and Leona than anyone else in the settlement knows, which still is not much.

Leona plays the dynamic between the two young men—both of whom are entranced by her elegance and refinement—and is careful to balance her affections and keep either from feeling neglected or disheartened. Although in her mind, her interaction with Hec is only a child’s game, George gives her pause; she is not sure what to make of him. Leona acts playfully bossy towards both, and they cheerfully comply with her every whim. This surprises both Janet and Meg, who have never seen Mr. Abbot the schoolmaster being anything but stern and authoritarian. Janet observes, with an acuity that surprises herself—though the world, it seems, becomes more clear to her by the day—that Leona masterfully maintains complete control the entire time, manipulating both Hec and George to play into her flirtations.

Janet and Mrs. Hutchence leave to tend to the bees. As the conversation fades, Leona remarks that she calls Mrs. Hutchence “Ma,” even though they’re not related, and that the old woman has a powerful insight into people which allows them to speak freely and self-assuredly in her presence. As George watches Mrs. Hutchence work the hives, blowing smoke from her sleeves, he feels a “pleasant drowsiness and lack of concern for himself, an assurance that he could leave now and come back, and when he did there would be a place for him.” George excuses himself and walks home feeling light and airy. He notices Gemmy, waiting to escort the McIvor girls home, and tries to greet him, but Gemmy does not lift his head when he passes.