That evening,
Archer unpacks the books he’s been sent from London, including
Middlemarch, which has gotten interesting reviews. However, he has trouble focusing on them until he comes to a book of poetry called
The House of Life. In this book he finds the beauty of passion and imagines it speaks of
Ellen Olenska. But the next morning, his time with her at Skuytercliff seems entirely unreal. At breakfast,
Janey and
Mrs. Archer remark that he seems ill, but they blame it on his work, which they think far more strenuous than it is.