Silas Marner: Chapter 19–Conclusion

by George Eliot
After he is falsely accused of stealing money from his church, Silas Marner is abandoned by everyone, even his fiancée. He flees to a small rural village and attempts to isolate himself from the world — but when he takes in an abandoned child, his life changes forever. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–18, Chapter 19–Conclusion
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. beholden
    under a moral obligation to someone
    It was one of my family did you the wrong—the more grief to me—and I feel bound to make up to you for it in every way. Whatever I can do for you will be nothing but paying a debt, even if I looked no further than the robbery. But there are other things I'm beholden—shall be beholden to you for, Marner.
  2. disclosure
    the act of making something evident
    It had been agreed between him and his wife that the subject of his fatherhood should be approached very carefully, and that, if possible, the disclosure should be reserved for the future, so that it might be made to Eppie gradually.
  3. benefit
    derive an advantage from
    Mrs. Cass and I, you know, have no children—nobody to benefit by our good home and everything else we have—more than enough for ourselves. And we should like to have somebody in the place of a daughter to us—we should like to have Eppie, and treat her in every way as our own child.
  4. banish
    drive away
    Her cheeks were flushed, but not with shyness this time: the sense that her father was in doubt and suffering banished that sort of self-consciousness.
  5. penitence
    remorse for your past conduct
    He had been full of his own penitence and resolution to retrieve his error as far as the time was left to him
  6. virtuous
    morally excellent
    he was possessed with all-important feelings, that were to lead to a predetermined course of action which he had fixed on as the right, and he was not prepared to enter with lively appreciation into other people's feelings counteracting his virtuous resolves.
  7. perish
    pass from physical life
    "Then, sir," he answered, with an accent of bitterness that had been silent in him since the memorable day when his youthful hope had perished—"then, sir, why didn't you say so sixteen year ago, and claim her before I'd come to love her, i'stead o' coming to take her from me now, when you might as well take the heart out o' my body?
  8. alter
    cause to change; make different
    "I'm glad to hear it, sir," said Marner, with gathering excitement; "but repentance doesn't alter what's been going on for sixteen year. Your coming now and saying "I'm her father" doesn't alter the feelings inside us.
  9. sacrifice
    a loss entailed by giving up something
    It seemed to him that the weaver was very selfish (a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice) to oppose what was undoubtedly for Eppie's welfare; and he felt himself called upon, for her sake, to assert his authority.
  10. rejoice
    feel happiness
    I should have thought your affection for Eppie would make you rejoice in what was for her good, even if it did call upon you to give up something.
  11. imply
    have as a logical consequence
    Her imagination had darted backward in conjectures, and forward in previsions, of what this revealed fatherhood implied; and there were words in Godfrey's last speech which helped to make the previsions especially definite.
  12. determine
    shape or influence; give direction to
    Not that these thoughts, either of past or future, determined her resolution—that was determined by the feelings which vibrated to every word Silas had uttered; but they raised, even apart from these feelings, a repulsion towards the offered lot and the newly-revealed father.
  13. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    Silas, on the other hand, was again stricken in conscience, and alarmed lest Godfrey's accusation should be true—lest he should be raising his own will as an obstacle to Eppie's good.
  14. hinder
    prevent the progress or accomplishment of
    "I'll say no more. Let it be as you will. Speak to the child. I'll hinder nothing."
  15. privilege
    a special advantage or benefit not enjoyed by all
    Besides, Nancy, used all her life to plenteous circumstances and the privileges of "respectability", could not enter into the pleasures which early nurture and habit connect with all the little aims and efforts of the poor who are born poor: to her mind, Eppie, in being restored to her birthright, was entering on a too long withheld but unquestionable good.
  16. gratitude
    a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation
    "Eppie, my dear," said Godfrey, looking at his daughter, not without some embarrassment, under the sense that she was old enough to judge him, "it'll always be our wish that you should show your love and gratitude to one who's been a father to you so many years, and we shall want to help you to make him comfortable in every way.
  17. cleave
    stick or hold together and resist separation
    And he's took care of me and loved me from the first, and I'll cleave to him as long as he lives, and nobody shall ever come between him and me.
  18. fend
    try to manage without help
    I've always thought of a little home where he'd sit i' the corner, and I should fend and do everything for him: I can't think o' no other home. I wasn't brought up to be a lady, and I can't turn my mind to it.
  19. victuals
    any substance that can be used as food
    I like the working-folks, and their victuals, and their ways.
  20. repose
    the absence of mental stress or anxiety
    That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger—not to be interfered with by speech or action which would distract the sensations from the fresh enjoyment of repose.
  21. keen
    intense or sharp
    "No," said Godfrey, with a keen decisiveness of tone, in contrast with his usually careless and unemphatic speech—"there's debts we can't pay like money debts, by paying extra for the years that have slipped by.
  22. industrious
    characterized by hard work and perseverance
    "Well, he's very sober and industrious," said Nancy, trying to view the matter as cheerfully as possible.
  23. confirm
    establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts
    "She couldn't bear to think of not looking on Marner as her father," said Nancy, not wishing to confirm her husband's painful impression.
  24. shirk
    avoid one's assigned duties
    I'd no right to expect anything but evil could come of that marriage—and when I shirked doing a father's part too.
  25. resign
    accept as inevitable
    "My only trouble would be gone if you resigned yourself to the lot that's been given us."
  26. succession
    the action of following in order
    Silas, bewildered by the changes thirty years had brought over his native place, had stopped several persons in succession to ask them the name of this town, that he might be sure he was not under a mistake about it.
  27. certitude
    complete assurance or confidence
    With some difficulty, after many turnings and new inquiries, they reached Prison Street; and the grim walls of the jail, the first object that answered to any image in Silas's memory, cheered him with the certitude, which no assurance of the town's name had hitherto given him, that he was in his native place.
  28. stifle
    smother or suppress
    "O father, I'm like as if I was stifled," said Eppie. "I couldn't ha' thought as any folks lived i' this way, so close together. How pretty the Stone-pits 'ull look when we get back!"
  29. agitation
    a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance
    "It's gone, child," he said, at last, in strong agitation—"Lantern Yard's gone. It must ha' been here, because here's the house with the o'erhanging window—I know that—it's just the same; but they've made this new opening; and see that big factory! It's all gone—chapel and all."
  30. source
    a person who supplies information
    But neither from the brush-maker, who had come to Shoe Lane only ten years ago, when the factory was already built, nor from any other source within his reach, could Silas learn anything of the old Lantern Yard friends, or of Mr. Paston the minister.
  31. placid
    not easily irritated
    "Well, yes, Master Marner," said Dolly, who sat with a placid listening face, now bordered by grey hairs; "I doubt it may. It's the will o' Them above as a many things should be dark to us; but there's some things as I've never felt i' the dark about, and they're mostly what comes i' the day's work.
  32. suitable
    meant or adapted for an occasion or use
    There was one time of the year which was held in Raveloe to be especially suitable for a wedding.
  33. fragrant
    pleasant-smelling
    It was when the great lilacs and laburnums in the old-fashioned gardens showed their golden and purple wealth above the lichen-tinted walls, and when there were calves still young enough to want bucketfuls of fragrant milk.
  34. meditation
    continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject
    She had often thought, though with a feeling of renunciation, that the perfection of a wedding-dress would be a white cotton, with the tiniest pink sprig at wide intervals; so that when Mrs. Godfrey Cass begged to provide one, and asked Eppie to choose what it should be, previous meditation had enabled her to give a decided answer at once.
  35. attire
    clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion
    Seen at a little distance as she walked across the churchyard and down the village, she seemed to be attired in pure white, and her hair looked like the dash of gold on a lily.
  36. matrimony
    state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life
    And I'd ha' said the "Amens", and willing, at the holy matrimony
  37. advent
    arrival that has been awaited
    But by this means they could not only enjoy the slow advent of their pleasure
  38. ample
    more than enough in size or scope or capacity
    they had also ample leisure to talk of Silas Marner's strange history, and arrive by due degrees at the conclusion that he had brought a blessing on himself by acting like a father to a lone motherless child.
  39. sentiment
    a personal belief or judgment
    But he met with no contradiction; and all differences among the company were merged in a general agreement with Mr. Snell's sentiment, that when a man had deserved his good luck, it was the part of his neighbours to wish him joy.
  40. retain
    allow to remain in a place or maintain a property or feature
    As the bridal group approached, a hearty cheer was raised in the Rainbow yard; and Ben Winthrop, whose jokes had retained their acceptable flavour, found it agreeable to turn in there and receive congratulations; not requiring the proposed interval of quiet at the Stone-pits before joining the company.
Created on Mon Apr 11 14:09:37 EDT 2016 (updated Thu Sep 20 15:23:57 EDT 2018)

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