Pamela Chapter 38 Summary

Sunday

  • No church for Pamela, and Mr. William got told off for his trouble.
  • Pamela notes that Mr. Williams's future livelihood depends on the master's good opinion (as the master will elevate Mr. Williams to a higher position as soon as the man who currently holds it, who is ill, passes away).
  • Pamela says she had started trying to get a friendship going with one of maids, Nan, but Mrs. Jewkes caught on before that plan was even halfway out of the gate. Mrs. Jewkes not only warned Nan against spending time with Pamela, but also commanded Nan to take away Pamela's shoes.
  • Pamela is allowed to walk in the garden—but only with Mrs. Jewkes.
  • Then John, the footman from Bedfordshire, came to deliver letters from the master to Pamela and Mrs. Jewkes.
  • In his letter to Pamela, the master reported what went down between him and Pamela's father.
  • To ensure that her parents are not "fatally touched with grief" (38.19), the master requested that Pamela use her own handwriting to write out a letter of reassurance that he has pre-drafted (this is the letter to Mrs. Jervis, later forwarded to her parents, that the editor has already described). She agreed.
  • She also wrote the master begging for better treatment.