Emily Peggotty’s elopement with James Steerforth turns a hoped-for marriage and a close family life into sudden separation. David Copperfield learns of it through Ham Peggotty, then reads Emily Peggotty’s farewell letter to Daniel Peggotty. The disclosure identifies James Steerforth as the man who has taken her away, leaves Ham Peggotty bereft of his intended bride, and sets Daniel Peggotty on a search for the niece he refuses to disown.

The Candle and the Disclosure

Before the news is spoken, Daniel Peggotty imagines Emily Peggotty’s return. He has kept a candle in the window, as he expects to do after she marries and leaves home, and takes its light as a sign that she is coming. The expectation makes Ham Peggotty’s arrival especially stark: Ham enters wearing a large sou’wester hat, but Emily Peggotty is not with him. He asks David Copperfield to come outside, away from the others, and David sees that Ham Peggotty is pale and distressed.

Ham Peggotty tells David Copperfield that Emily Peggotty has gone. His account emphasizes the depth of his attachment: he had regarded her as the pride and hope of his life and says he would have given his life for her. He also fears that she may come to ruin and disgrace. The announcement overturns the future the family had expected, but it does not make Ham Peggotty’s concern for her disappear. Even in shock, he asks David Copperfield how to tell Daniel Peggotty what has happened.

The Letter and the Man Identified

Daniel Peggotty cannot understand the news until David Copperfield reads Emily Peggotty’s blotted letter aloud. Dated the previous night, it says that she has left her home in the morning and will not return unless the man who has taken her brings her back as a lady. She describes her heart as torn, acknowledges the kindness of the family she is leaving, and asks that Daniel Peggotty be comforted. She also asks him to imagine her as if she had died in childhood, a request that reveals how thoroughly she expects separation and shame to define her absence.

The letter does not name the man. Ham Peggotty supplies the identifying evidence: a strange carriage and horses were seen on the Norwich road before daybreak, and the servant who had been in hiding was seen going to and from it. Emily Peggotty was near the carriage when he returned; another man was inside. Daniel Peggotty asks whether the man is James Steerforth, and Ham Peggotty confirms it. The confirmation makes the loss both personal and specific: Emily Peggotty has left the home where she was loved, and the man accompanying her is someone David Copperfield knows.

A Family’s Response to Separation

Daniel Peggotty’s first response is to set out at once and search for his niece. Mrs. Gummidge stops him, urging him not to begin the journey while overcome by grief. She recalls that Daniel Peggotty took her in when she was a poor widow, and places their present distress within the history of a household that has sheltered and cared for its members. Her appeal brings him to a pause; David Copperfield, who had felt an impulse to ask forgiveness for the desolation he believed he had caused, is moved to tears alongside them.

When Daniel Peggotty later pleads with Mrs. Steerforth, he insists that his love for Emily Peggotty is as deep as a parent’s and asks that she be saved from disgrace. He says that her family would not shame her or demand her return; they would accept separation and trust her to the life she might make. Mrs. Steerforth refuses to countenance a marriage, arguing that Emily Peggotty’s humble connections would ruin her son’s prospects. The exchange makes the social barrier plain: the family’s willingness to forgive cannot by itself overcome the status judgment that treats the match as unacceptable.

The Aftermath in Memory and Shame

The elopement does not end with the departure. Emily Peggotty later speaks of the river as the fitting companion to a life she believes has been made miserable and defiled. Her words present her despair as an aftermath of separation and social disgrace, not as indifference to the family she left. She remembers that she was parted from the people who made life dear to her, and especially grieves that she is separated from someone who had always treated her kindly.

That person is Martha, whose own exclusion from society gives Emily Peggotty another fear: that people will remember their former companionship and accuse Martha of having corrupted her. Emily Peggotty says she would have died to restore Martha’s good name. The account links the two women through reciprocal concern, even after the elopement has divided Emily Peggotty from her home. For David Copperfield and Daniel Peggotty, hearing her regret does not undo the departure, but it makes clear that the family bond and her affection for those left behind have survived the separation.