54 pages 1 hour read

Charlotte Brontë

Shirley

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1849

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Chapters 26-30

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 26 Summary: “Old Copy-Books”

Shirley and the Fieldhead party arrive once Caroline is nearly better and Mrs. Pryor tells Shirley everything. Shirley had already guessed that Caroline was Mrs. Pryor’s daughter. Shirley invites Caroline to Fieldhead to meet her cousins the Sympsons, including Shirley’s favorite cousin the young Henry who spends all his time with Shirley when not with his tutor, Louis Moore. Caroline is surprised to see that the Sympsons as well as Shirley essentially ignore Louis and the only one who pays attention to him is Shirley’s dog, Tartar. Caroline asks Shirley why she never told her that she knew Louis, and worries that Shirley does not like him. Hall and William, however, both love Louis despite everyone at Fieldhead finding him grave. One day when she is with Henry, Caroline learns that Shirley was once Louis’s pupil and that Louis has kept her old workbooks. Henry reveals that Shirley made Louis happy at first, but morose later. Louis and Hall arrive and have lunch with Henry and the women, and Caroline sees that Shirley is much more intimate with Louis than she first thought.