The Return of the Native Book 5, Chapter 3 Summary

Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning

  • Clym grows increasingly furious on his way home.
  • He storms in on Eustacia getting dressed and the two proceed to have an epic argument that lasts the entire chapter!
  • Clym does most of the talking at first and yells at Eustacia. He basically accuses her of being a murderer and a whore since she's having an affair with a "mystery man," whom he suspects is Damon.
  • Eustacia opts to not even bother defending herself at first; she says that Clym won't believe her or listen to her.
  • Clym demands that she apologize and admit what she did.
  • He says he can't forgive her if she won't appear guilty.
  • Then he goes on a rant about how amazing his mother was, and it's borderline creepy.
  • Eustacia finally can't stand it anymore and yells back at Clym for being a jerk about everything. She tells him that the entire incident was a mistake and that she certainly isn't a murderer.
  • Eustacia then says she'll leave and proceeds to get dressed in the most awkward scene ever.
  • Clym actually helps her tie her bonnet and feels bad for her for a minute.
  • Eustacia then leaves.
  • Later that day a servant comes to tell Clym that Thomasin gave birth to a baby girl and named her Eustacia Clementine.
  • Clym thinks this is super ironic.