Summary

Isabel travels through the English countryside on a train with her maid, Staines. She thinks of her cousin, Ralph Touchett, whose deathbed she has just come from. Coming down off of the train into London, Stained immediately argues with a porter. Isabel meets Staines’ brash attitude with little discouragement, and the two continue on. As they walk, they pass a grown man wailing loudly. It is a “strange, inhuman sound” that he produces, but Isabel does not stop to help the “poor creature” (8-9). Isabel is surprised that Staines pays the man so little attention.

At the Dover Street hotel, Isabel refuses the room set up by Ralph’s mother, her aunt Lydia, and opts for something less lavish. Alone, she considers the “burdensomeness of her wealth” while withdrawing a large amount of money at the bank (23). The banker and his boss become...