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Mr. and Mrs. Harewood are middle-class parents of three children, Edmund (12), Charles (10), and Ellen (8). They provide a temporary home for Matilda Sophia Hanson (7), whose father, a wealthy Barbados planter, has died and whose mother must remain there for some time before she can remove to England. Not the superior child the children expect, Matilda proves on her arrival to be a spoilt, rude, bully who creates instant distress in the household, both for the Harewoods and for the female black slave Zebby who has accompanied her and who likewise takes up residence with the Harewoods. Unwilling to tolerate her unacceptable behavior, Mr. Harewood sets out to rectify Matilda’s faults, refusing to allow anyone in the household to respond to her demands until they are put as polite requests. The family members all labor patiently to reform Matilda’s bad character, which we learn derives wholly from her late father’s laxness in regulating her conduct, and not from any innate viciousness. They all engage in positive reinforcement of her good behavior until she gradually gains control of herself, assumes a milder and more generous disposition, and becomes a congenial member of the family. Throughout her retraining the Harewoods, and especially Mrs. Harewood, repeatedly instruct her on the necessity of virtue and moderation, of humility and charity, and of personal industry in forming a proper moral character, a lesson that Matilda internalizes with surprising speed and which she applies in her subsequent life.
Mrs. Harewood soon employs as governess a Miss Campbell, who further advances Matilda’s moral and social education and prepares her and Ellen for social life, which is to commence with a small-scale ball held in the spring at the Harewoods’ home. Before that happens, the Harewoods are visited by the sister of their housemaid, Betty, who had earlier given birth to twins. Having ostentatiously offered on that earlier occasion to contribute to a collection taken among the Harewoods for the young mother’s benefit, and having had her large offering refused on the grounds of its egotistical motive, Matilda now responds by humbly making an appropriate contribution for the twins, a gesture which prompts immediate acceptance, along with praise for the further moral reformation it demonstrates. Matilda is now permitted to exercise the still greater charity which her family’s wealth allows, and she procures for the young mother a mangle to assist her in her profession as a washerwoman.
Zebby, who had gradually exchanged a spare but healthy diet for a more luxurious one during her residence with the Harewoods, falls seriously ill with a fever. At a critical point Matilda, in an overzealous attempt to be of service to the delirious Zebby, offers her scalding broth which Zebby rejects forcibly, splashing Matilda and burning her severely on the face and chest. Matilda instinctively reverts to her original manner, screaming and berating the innocent Zebby for the consequences of her own mistake. But after being comforted and treated for the burns, she regains her composure, accepts responsibility for her misfortune, apologizes, and again becomes tractable and serviceable. Zebby, who had (in accordance with Matilda’s mother’s instructions) been made a free woman on arrival, recovers and resumes her voluntary residence with the Harewoods.
The ball, scheduled for Midsummer vacation, arouses great anticipation. The children exhaust themselves preparing decorations, and after they retire Matilda’s long-expected mother, Mrs. Hanson, arrives, visits and kisses her sleeping daughter, and retires to a troubled night filled with anxiety about her daughter’s former ill behavior. The following day, the day of the ball, Mrs. Hanson is delighted to learn the extent of Matilda’s transformation, some of which is apparent at a pre-ball dinner at which Matilda displays remarkable poise and maturity. At the ball, Matilda is accosted by a particularly precious, materialistic, and foolish girl (Miss Holdup) whose self-serving advances perplex and embarrass Matilda. The situation deteriorates when Matilda is also teased mercilessly by some of the children, especially about what some of them regard as the inhumanities of the slave-owning Barbados culture to which they connect her. Shaken, Matilda is rendered helpless and speechless until Mr. Harewood, who has overheard, intervenes with a ringing defense that rights all and restores Matilda to her previous popularity. Soon afterward Mrs. Hanson and Matilda move to Brompton, in part to permit the Harewoods to accommodate another mother and child from Barbados, Mrs. Weston and Harriet (aged 6). By happy circumstance, Mrs. Weston agrees to serve as Matilda’s governess and to engage Matilda in turn as Harriet’s governess.
Years pass and the children mature and enter public life. Edmund studies for the bar, while Charles studies languages with an eye to an international career. Ellen grows into an attractive young woman and Matilda into an even more striking one. But Matilda seems to be in danger of being seduced by the fashionable world, as indicated by her interest in the waltz, that form of dance regarded by morally conservative society as an unacceptably intimate and sensuous indulgence. Although her adult mentors discourage this interest, Matilda indulges at a ball where, flattered by the attentions of the fashionable but officious young dandy Sir Theodore Branson, she consents to waltz with him. Disoriented by the actual intimate contact, however, and regretting her rash indulgence, Matilda flees in mid-dance to the margin of the room, where she meets Edmund, Charles, and a young stranger, Mr. Belmont, all of whom clearly disapprove her conduct. Charles recounts gossip to the effect that Matilda is to marry Sir Theodore, which false report she firmly denies, to Charles’s evident delight.
Back at the Harewoods’, Charles explains and defends Matilda’s conduct to the satisfaction of Ellen and the elder Harewoods (but not Edmund’s). A messenger now arrives with news that Charles is to depart immediately to assume the post of secretary to an unnamed foreign embassy. Hurt by his younger brother’s sudden advance beyond his own prospects, Edmund rushes from the room. Mr. Belmont then proposes to Ellen and is immediately accepted. Having mastered his emotions, Edmund helps Charles prepare for his departure. Ellen and Mr. Harewood visit Matilda and her mother to share the news, Mr. Harewood secretly hoping that Charles’s departure might produce an engagement between him and Matilda.
What no one knows - and what the author has effectively concealed - is that Edmund loves Matilda, and she him. Ellen first reveals Charles’ appointment, in which Matilda takes joy. But when Ellen announces there is to be a marriage in the family, Matilda assumes it is Edmund who is to marry and she is devastated, though she reveals nothing about the cause of her distress. When it finally emerges that it is Ellen herself who is to wed, Matilda’s relief and joy are immediate. Now Mr. Harewood begins with pleasure to understand the real state of affairs, and in the final pages an initially uncomfortable and cold encounter between Edmund and Matilda, who still do not know each other’s hearts, ends warmly though remarkably unemotionally in their implied decision to marry. A brief denouement advises us that the two marriages took place after an appropriate interval, and that Charles returned from abroad in a few years and married Harriet Weston, whose mother continued to reside with Mrs. Hanson. Edmund and Matilda remain in the area and Matilda subsequently gives birth to an unspecified number of children, the eldest of which gives particular pleasure to Mrs. Hanson. The Belmonts remove to the family estate in Staffordshire where Ellen is universally beloved and respected.
© 2000 Stephen C. Behrendt / Sheffield Hallam University
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