Chapter 56 Summary

While Lady de Winter is waiting for her evening appointment with Felton, she spends her time fabricating the tale she will relate to him. When he finally arrives he is treated to an intricate story in which Buckingham is a horrible villain who drugged and kidnapped her in an effort to seduce her. She paints herself as a pious puritan who resists him to the very end, in the face of his tactics which are more and more evil as her story continues. By the end of this first half of her story, she can tell by Felton's reaction that she has very nearly got him in the palm of her hand.

Chapter 56 Analysis

Lady de Winter knows exactly what will extract the most sympathy from Felton. He is a religious man, of a sort whose sect has experienced persecutions from the political...