Pamela Chapter 92 Summary

Tuesday Morning, Eleven O'clock

  • Mr. B still isn't home, so Pamela had breakfast with Mrs. Jewkes.
  • She then received a note from him dated the previous day alerting her to the fact that he was delayed. He asked that she still head out to Sir Simon's that day—as early as possible, so she doesn't get lonely.
  • Uh oh—trouble ahead: while Pamela is writing, Lady Davers arrives.
  • Pamela reports that Lady Davers is demanding to see her and asking Mrs. Jewkes all kinds of personal questions about whether Pamela and the squire are married (or just sleeping together). Yikes.
  • There's no way to avoid it, so Pamela heads down to meet her new sister-in-law.
  • Later, she writes to report everything that transpired after she was forced to go downstairs and see Lady Davers. Here's her story:
  • Apparently, Lady Davers brought her nephew, Jackey, with her. He was immediately fresh with Pamela, saying he could not resist kissing her (and moving toward her to do so). However, Pamela shut him down immediately.
  • What followed from there was basically a litany of impertinent questions and accusations from Lady Davers and her nephew.
  • As she was accusing Pamela of immoral behavior with the master, Lady Davers let drop that Mr. B had "ruin'd" a bunch of other women, which surprised Pamela but doesn't really surprise us at all (92.29).
  • Initially, Pamela keeps the marriage a secret, but since she's Mrs. B now, she does feel the need to "shew some Spirit" and call them out on some instances of their impertinence and rudeness to her (92.33).
  • Then, Mrs. Davers "offered" to have Pamela wait on her at dinner—how big of her.
  • However, knowing that Pamela is the lady of the house, Mrs. Jewkes set a place for her at the table with Lady Davers. The gesture made Lady Davers ever more suspicious that Pamela might at least think herself married (she was not willing to admit that Pamela is married).
  • She then yanked off Pamela's glove to find her wedding ring and announced that Pamela has been "miserably trick'd" (92.51).
  • Lady Davers kept trying to get Pamela to wait on her, believing that she is not really mistress of the house, and Pamela refused.
  • After some more back and forth between the two women, Lady Davers ended up slapping her.
  • Yikes!
  • Meanwhile, Pamela still hadn't eaten. Lady Davers's servant, Beck, invited her to sit down with them at the servants' table, since Lady Davers wouldn't consent to sit with her, but Pamela had to politely refuse on the basis of her new status.
  • Then, to prove to Lady Davers that she had a previous engagement at Sir Simon's, Pamela showed her the letter Mr. B had written her the previous day. Lady Davers then proceeded to make merciless fun of it.
  • It all culminated when Jackey actually drew his sword halfway, terrifying Pamela so much that she threw herself at Lady Davers's feet and begged for her protection.
  • Eventually, Pamela managed to jump out a window and make her way to Sir Simon's.
  • Mr. B was mad that she was late, but she explained what happened to everyone, and they all get gooey over how Pamela is so beautiful and well-behaved.
  • They have dinner, play cards, gossip, and basically act like a bunch of boring 18th century aristocrats.
  • Move along, nothing to see here.
  • The squire and Pamela returned home late that night, after Lady Davers had gone to bed. Mrs. Jewkes reported that there was some commotion about where Lady Davers would sleep, and Mrs. Jewkes had had to prevent her from taking the room where Pamela and the squire slept.