The Well of Loneliness

Stephen decides to rent the house on Rue Jacob suggested to her by Valérie. She hires an architect and workmen and sets about turning the dilapidated house into a home. She hires a family of three to work for her, and as soon as construction is finished, she moves in, a happy homeowner at 27.

Christmas starts off somber; Puddle and Stephen feel quite alone. Their spirits are raised, however, by the appreciation the servant family shows for Puddle’s Christmas decorations, and by the arrival of Jean, the servant daughter Adèle’s young and handsome lover. At night, Stephen starts to reflect on what England might look like right now under the spell of Christmas, but her reverie gives way to her own self-chastising—her inner voice telling her to look forward, not back. Just as she begins to fall into bitterness again, thinking of all the obstacles the world has set in her path, she hears the servant family and their guests singing a song in French about coping and she feels soothes.

On New Year’s Eve, Stephen and Puddle receive a visit from Valérie, but after that Puddle and Stephen lead fairly isolated lives for a while. Both Stephen and Valérie are busy working, and Brockett is in London riding the success of some new plays he had recently written. Puddle is still feeling anxious about Stephen’s future, but Stephen is “quite contented” at the moment. She frequently fences with a French master named Buisson who admires her talent and tries to convince her she is a better fencer than writer. She also takes long walks about the city, taking in all of Paris. One day she finds herself in the Passage Choiseul, where she finds a beautiful notebook that she purchases and brings immediately home to “fill.”

While out about town one day, Puddle and Stephen run into Madame Duphot, who is overjoyed and tearful when she recognizes Stephen. Stephen invites her to dinner the following night, and Madame Duphot accepts but also extends an open invitation to Stephen. She then fills Stephen in on the 13 years since Madame Duphot left Stephen’s service, telling her about a small inheritance she received as well as the unfortunate illnesses of both her mother and her sister. She supports her now blind sister by teaching French to English and American children—

children who she insists are nowhere near as intelligent as Stephen. After they part ways, Stephen feels guilty for not having kept up communication with Madame Duphot, and Puddle announces that having met her, she now “like(s) her.”

Mademoiselle Duphot comes to dinner and eats with zest. After she talks more about her family’s affairs, she inquires after Sir Philip and Lady Anna. Stephen informs Mademoiselle Duphot that her father is dead and that she no longer resides at Morton with her mother. Sensing a touchy subject, Mademoiselle Duphot changes the topic, but she ponders over the cause of this breach the whole way home. She wonders if it has to do with how “strange” Stephen seems.

Stephen and Puddle go to Mademoiselle Duphot’s for lunch the next day. Mademoiselle Duphot is very proud of her home and its cleanliness and joyfully shows her guests inside. Inside, they meet her blind sister, Julie, who claims that a woman named Sister Theresa gave her sight in her fingers, allowing her to produce intricate lacework despite her loss of vision. As they leave, Julie invites them to come again. Once they are gone, Julie tells Mademoiselle Duphot how fond she is of Stephen.

During the summer of 1914, Stephen and Puddle often visit Mademoiselle Duphot and her sister. Puddle sometimes goes alone and talks with Mademoiselle Duphot about Stephen. They develop a great friendship over their mutual love for her. Stephen sends Mademoiselle Duphot and Julie various gifts, often giving them opportunities they might never have had without her kindness. 

World War 1 breaks out, and with it comes the anxiety of a generation of men and women. Widespread, unnecessary violence becomes the norm. England joins the war, and most of the men working for Anna leave to go to war. She supports their patriotism and continues to pay them a reduced wage in their absence. She also opens up Morton to Red Cross patients. Most of the men Stephen knew in England are now enlisted or involved in some way in the war, including Brockett. Stephen is furious she can’t fight for England because she is a woman. She determines to go to England anyway. This makes Puddle happy, and she encourages Stephen, telling her “this war may give your sort of woman a chance” (245).

Stephen and Puddle say goodbye to Mademoiselle Duphot and Julie, who regret seeing them leave but see the war as inevitable. Stephen and Puddle then say goodbye to Buisson, who is bitterly complaining about the ugliness of “modern warfare” as he prepares to leave the stables and join the troops (247). The churches are packed as they leave France, with everyone trying to pray their way out of this disaster.

Stephen and Puddle find work immediately upon arrival in England. They rent a flat and meet there at night after work. Stephen is dissatisfied, however, as she wants to go to the front line and fight. Policy will not allow this, and she is time and time rejected on the basis of her gender. She does notice that other women who appear to be lesbians are now much more visible, having come out of their isolation to help the war effort much like Stephen did. Even other women seem more accepting of their more masculine sisters now that the war is under way, happy to have these previously despised women help them in ways that their husbands now can’t.

One year in and Stephen still has had no luck getting to the frontline. She receives many letters from Brockett asking for sweets and expensive soaps. She also receives perfunctory letters from Anna (addressed to Puddle, not Stephen) listing the changes Morton has endured since the war began and all the local deaths. Violet Antrim sometimes drops by Stephen’s to prattle on about her life and the war, but Stephen, as usual, is only annoyed by her presence.