The Mill on the Floss Book 6, Chapter 9 Summary

Charity in Full Dress

• It’s the day of the bazaar in St. Ogg’s.
• Maggie is stuck manning a popular booth, which doesn’t make her happy. She’d rather be somewhere less conspicuous.
• Stephen hangs out at Lucy’s booth and she scolds him for ignoring Maggie.
• Mr. Wakem then goes over to Maggie’s booth and is very polite to her.
• Maggie is confused by his behavior.
• Stephen then comes to see how she’s doing after Mr. Wakem leaves.
• Meanwhile, Philip is lurking in a corner watching them.
• Stephen sees him and goes over to confront him.
• The two get into a passive-aggressive argument.
• Stephen then leaves Philip and goes to the town library to sulk.
• Maggie is still at her booth, having yet another internal crisis.
• Dr. Kenn sees her and notices she looks distraught. He goes up to talk to her.
• He asks if she’ll be in town long and Maggie says no rather abruptly.
• Dr. Kenn leaves and Maggie goes back to pondering Philip and Stephen.
• Later that night, Lucy and Maggie are talking and Maggie tells her that she is going away soon to start a new governess position.
• Lucy is upset that Maggie hadn’t told her earlier and can’t understand why Maggie is leaving Philip.
• Maggie explains that Tom would never let her marry Philip and she can’t break off relations with her brother.
• Lucy thinks Tom is being ridiculous.
• Maggie assures Lucy that she’d marry Philip if it weren’t for Tom, and Lucy believes her.