The Lake House

Anthony has a wonderful life, which makes everything that much worse. He has a loving wife and three wonderful daughters, and there is another baby on the way. So many men came back who didn’t have such things waiting for them. Shortly after coming home, he spends a lot of time in the boathouse. But with Eleanor’s help, he sets up his office in the attic. He was happy to see the boathouse revert to the girls, and it is now used to accommodate staff.

Anthony reminisces about France and wonders if flowers grow on Howard’s grave. He remembers two people in particular from France, Monsieur Durand and Madame Fournier. Anthony walks off into the woods. Alice had wanted to go with him, but Eleanor said no because she “had become expert over the years at reading his moods; there were times when it seemed she knew him better than he knew himself” (364). Ever since the news of the baby, things have been getting worse. Anthony hears phantom cries in the night, and every time the dog barks, he tenses. Eleanor is right. He is becoming unpredictable. Last night he awoke to Howard’s ghost saying he was going to be a father, just like Anthony. Anthony knows Howard will continue to appear as the due date draws closer.

Anthony reflects on his time in the war, which lasted two and a half years. One day Howard announced he was going to desert because he had fallen in love with Sophie, M. Durand’s housekeeper. He planned to run away with her, marry her, take care of her and her son, Louis. Anthony tried to stop Howard. They wrestled and fought until Howard bloodied Anthony’s nose. Anthony decided shortly thereafter to help Howard flee.

Anthony stole food from the commissary one night and met Howard, Sophie, and Louis in M. Durand’s barn so he could give them the supplies and wish his best friend, who was more like a brother, good luck. Louis woke up and began to make noise. They all heard a dog barking outside. Anthony was afraid of what would happen if they were caught. He wanted baby Louis to be quiet and so he tried to smother the boy, but Howard threw him back with force. There were voices outside getting closer. Anthony drew his sidearm.

The door to the barn swung open, and M. Durand and an English officer entered. The English officer was surprised and wanted to know what was going on. Howard confessed to attempting to desert, insisting that he would have succeeded had Anthony not caught him. The officer took Howard away in shackles. Anthony didn’t say anything. While marching back to camp, Anthony tried to think of a way to save his friend.

He couldn’t think of anything but regret:

He […] silenced that baby, that dear little child who’d barely started to live, who wouldn’t have known what was happening, for whom Anthony could have made it mercifully quick, then Howard would have been spared. That it had been his only chance to save his brother and he’d failed. (376)

Sadie leaves for Loeanneth soon after speaking with Alice. She wonders how to explain her reasons for returning to Bertie. She thinks about going to the lake house first, but since the house doesn’t have electricity and it’s growing late, she decides to face Bertie and get that out of the way. When she arrives, Bertie greets her graciously, inquiring if she came down for the festival. Sadie considers using that as an excuse but decides she should be forthright. She tells him all about the Bailey case and why she came to Cornwall in the first place. She also tells him about her meeting with Alice.

Bertie is very kind and accepting, but he wonders why the Bailey case got so underneath Sadie’s skin. This leads Sadie to admit to the letters she received from Charlotte Sutherland. Bertie knows her as Esther because when Sadie broke the rule about naming her child, Esther was the name she chose. Bertie feels Sadie should answer the letter and get in contact with Charlotte, but Sadie still doesn’t want to, claiming it’s better for her and Charlotte to just move on.

Sadie struggles to fall and remain asleep. She can’t stop thinking about Charlotte/Esther and the Edevanes. She leaves for the house bright and early in the morning, leaving a note for Bertie to let him know where she is. Clive is waiting for her when she arrives. Sadie had called him the night before to tell him about the interview with Alice and the new theory that Anthony accidentally killed Theo in a violent episode of post-traumatic stress.

Sadie and Clive enter the house and find it in remarkable shape. They split up to search different areas of the house for documents. They both climb the stairs. Sadie will search Eleanor’s writing bureau, and Clive will search Anthony’s study. Sadie’s phone rings. It’s Nancy Bailey. Sadie mutes her phone and places it back in her pocket. She makes her way to Eleanor’s room but first makes a stop in the nursery. Sadie senses she is dealing with something sacred and recognizable and is overcome by finally being in the place where it all began and ended. While contemplating the timetable of events leading up to Theo’s disappearance, Sadie finds a round silver button on the floor and pockets it. Nancy Bailey tries to call again.

Sadie enters Eleanor’s bedroom. Sadie has always felt a connection with Eleanor, and being in the bedroom only increases those feelings. She finds the keys for the desk right where Alice said they would be. Sadie opens the bureau and finds a row of journals lining the shelves at the back. Sadie finds the journal with the dates she needs and reads through it. She finds detailed and emotional letters written to Daffyd Llewellyn, who Eleanor had opened up to and shared her troubles with, telling him about Anthony and even her affair with Ben Munro.

Sadie doesn’t find any hard evidence, but Daffyd had expressed fears that Anthony would take the news of the affair very badly. Sadie searches through more letters. It’s a long process. Eventually, she discovers a packet of love letters and the first half of the letter she had found back at the boathouse. She begins to read and “a missing piece of the puzzle, a clue she hadn’t even realized she was searching for, fell right into her lap” (394).

Clive enters, informing Sadie he believes he’s found what they need. He tells Sadie how the tone of Anthony’s letters changed after his friend Howard died in the war, and that the birth of his son hadn’t made him happy; rather, Anthony found that the boy’s cries brought up traumatic memories. Clive tells Sadie that Anthony had written that his daughter had come to him once and given him news that shattered “the illusion of his perfect life” (395). Clive asks Sadie what she found.

Sadie tells him about the letters, the one she had found earlier in the boathouse and the one she found just before he came in the room. She lets him read it. His eyebrows raise and he mutters, “Goodness” (395). The letter isn’t addressed to Anthony at all. It’s addressed to Ben, and the unborn child to which Eleanor refers in the letter isn’t Alice, but Theo. Theo Edevane was Ben’s son, not Anthony’s.

It was never Eleanor’s intention to become pregnant by Ben, but she doesn’t regret it either. She loves the baby instantly. She told herself in the beginning that Ben was merely an addiction, like the Chinese kite she had gotten from her father when she was a little girl. Nanny Bruen had castigated her for all the time she spent flying that kite.

The day she came upon Ben in his wagon, she was grateful for his hospitality and the warmth of his stove. She recalls that afternoon in the Gypsy wagon.

Ben gives her a towel to dry off, stokes the fire, and makes some tea. Eleanor feels an inkling of misgiving. Ben announces that he knows her, he remembers her from the train and the post office. Eleanor masks her disquietude and asks him about himself. Ben lives a simple, Spartan life. He enjoys the freedom of movement his life provides him. Eleanor remembers wanting a perambulatory life when she was younger. Time passes easily and comfortably with Ben, and before she knows it, two hours have passed. She gets up to leave. He sees her to the door. He hasn’t touched her. She wants him to. She feels a tingle run down her spine.

Constance notices a spring in Eleanor’s steps over the next few days. Eleanor and Ben begin an affair. She feels more alive than she has felt in years. She continues to tell herself that he is merely an addiction. At first she doesn’t notice how similar the feelings of addiction and falling in love are, but eventually she has to admit to herself that she loves Ben. She loves Ben and the carefree, easy enjoyment she gets from being with him.

As soon as Eleanor realizes she is pregnant, she knows the baby is Ben’s. She has no intention of lying to Ben about the baby, but she isn’t sure how to go about informing him. It would be better if the baby were Anthony’s; she hopes that the new baby will help Anthony heal. It takes Eleanor four months to tell Ben that the child inside her is his. She is reluctant to tell him not because she’s afraid, but because she doesn’t want anything to change.

Ben takes the news of the pregnancy like a gentlemanly cavalier. He is excited for the baby and wants to be near Eleanor, but also does not want to ruin anything between her and Anthony. Ben plans on applying to work with Mr. Harris.

Ben begins working at Loeanneth in late summer of 1932. Eleanor still has no plans to inform Anthony about the affair. She feels guilty for betraying Anthony. She still loves him, it’s just that things have become so difficult with him. Nevertheless, she regrets cheating on him. She can’t regret the affair completely, however, because she loves Ben and loves Theo.

Eleanor never imagines Anthony’s condition worsening after Theo’s birth, but it does. Though Anthony adores Theo, there is a darkness that overshadows him, especially when Theo cries. Anthony sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night screaming to stop the baby from crying. It takes all of Eleanor’s strength to hold him down and calm him.

Later, there is an incident in the garden on Clemmie’s twelfth birthday. Eleanor is tense. She worries Ben might make a scene. She believes he wouldn’t, but she isn’t certain. At one point, while the entire family is outside watching Clemmie play with her glider, Rose notices Anthony and warns Eleanor of the baby’s safety. Eleanor never told Rose about Anthony. Rose figured it all out on her own because her father suffered from something similar. Eleanor asks Daffyd to take the girls. He grasps the problem quickly. Rose takes care of Theo, and Eleanor escorts Anthony back into the house.

That night while Anthony is sleeping, Eleanor slips out of bed and takes a walk. She smokes one of her cigarettes that no one knows she smokes. She wants so badly to escape. Eleanor sees the similarities between her and the queen in Daffyd’s book, Eleanor’s Magic Doorway. She has made a deal with the devil for her baby, and now natural justice is coming to rebalance things.

Clive and Sadie are astounded to learn that Ben is Theo’s father. They wonder if Anthony knew. Clive remembers during an interview, shortly after the disappearance, that Anthony referred to Theo as Eleanor’s child and not their child. They now wonder if Anthony killed Theo on purpose and not by accident. Sadie isn’t convinced, however; she feels they are missing something.

Alice and Peter show up at the house. Alice explains her presence by matter-of-factly stating that she changed her mind about ever coming back to the house. Alice asks Peter to get the “supplies” from the car (415). They all sit down in the living room and discuss what Sadie and Clive have found. Alice is shocked to learn that Theo was Ben’s son. However, she cannot subscribe to the theory that Anthony harmed Theo on purpose. Sadie questions Alice about Daffyd Llewellyn, wondering if he could have been involved somehow. Alice doesn’t believe so. She tells Sadie that Daffyd was a longtime friend of the family, and that Daffyd and Anthony bonded over their discontinued medical careers (Daffyd had a breakdown, and Anthony had shell shock). Alice changes the subject and sends Peter off on an errand. Just then, Bertie shows up at the house.

Bertie had tried calling Sadie but her phone was on silent, so he came looking for her. He makes Alice’s acquaintance. Bertie has brought lunch, so they all decide to take a break and have a picnic in the garden. Clive says he can’t stay long, that his daughter is waiting for him. Sadie doesn’t notice his car and asks him about it. Clive came by boat; it’s the quickest, easiest way to get to the house from town. Nancy Bailey calls again. Clive asks Sadie about it, advising her to find out what Nancy wants.

Sadie’s phone rings again, and this time she picks up.