In the Cottage
- The next morning at "half-past four," Dinah is "lying awake listening to the birds and watching the growing light" (11.1). Ugh. Morning people are the worst.
- Anyway, Dinah decides to sneak out without making a peep. The Bedes did just lose their paterfamilias. Let them rest.
- But Adam, "with his habitual impatience of mere passivity," is also up at this unheard-of hour (11.2). He's sitting in his workshop when he hears "a light rapid foot on the stairs" (11.5). Who is it? His mother? Hetty (and you know he'd love that)? Santa Claus? He goes to investigate…
- …and finds Dinah in the kitchen. This isn't the first sight he's had of her, but love isn't always a first-sight thing. Adam looks at her with a "concentrated, examining glance." And Dinah, "for the first time in her life, felt a painful self-consciousness" (11.7).
- Once the awkwardness has passed, Adam and Dinah talk about Lisbeth, Thias, and all that other unpleasant business. But Adam finds a silver lining. He's hopeful that his mother will like and appreciate Dinah. Hey, even Adam's dog likes and appreciates Dinah. The good animal is already comfortable enough to "put up his muzzle against her hand in a friendly way" (11.16).
- Soon, Seth and Lisbeth come down for breakfast. Adam's mother can be a tough customer, but she's warming to Dinah. It should be a pleasant meal.
- But a few chance remarks about travel and faraway places set Lisbeth off. She's afraid that her ambitious Adam will move away and leave his "feyther and mother i' the churchyard" (11.31). Adam has no such intention. He even consents to make Thias's coffin himself—as a sign of forgiveness for, you know, all that drinking Thias did.
- So Seth sets off for Burge's workshop in Adam's stead. Dinah decides to walk along with him. And Adam stays home, building the coffin and feeling amazed that a man can turn "hot and cold at only a look from one woman out of all the rest i' the world" (11.51). It's called true love, Adam. Don't worry, you'll know it yourself—about three hundred pages from now.