Richmond Riverside

Richmond upon Thames is a burough of London and was primarily rural during the time of the novel. But its proximity to London made it an easy place for Ethel and Elizabeth to escape London without going far.

11. Vacation from London (215)

Instead of retreating to Longfield (avoiding Lady Lodore), the group goes to Richmond.

“A few days found Ethel and her aunt installed at their little villa, and delighted to be away from London. Education made loneliness congenial to both: they might seek transient amusements in towns, or visit them for business; but happiness, the agreeable tenor of unvaried daily life, was to be found in the quiet of the country only; --- and Richmond was the country to them; for, cut off from all habits of intercourse with their species, they had but to find trees and meadows near them, at once to feel transported, from the thick of human life, into the most noiseless solitude.” (216)

Ethel develops feelings for Villiers, he separates from her during this time because of guilt over his money problems, but later he regains hope and asks Ethel to marry him.