Doctor Strong makes a will for Annie

Doctor Strong makes a will for Annie Strong, leaving her everything unconditionally. The document turns a private act of provision into a charged domestic revelation: Mrs. Markleham presents it as proof of the Doctor’s devotion, while Annie’s urgent response gives the discovery a gravity her mother does not understand.

Discovery in the Study

Mrs. Markleham says she entered the Study after noticing a light there, because it was the only room in the house where a paper could be read comfortably. She found Doctor Strong with two legal professionals, pen in hand, making his will. Her account emphasizes the decisive provision: the Doctor asked whether the document gave Annie everything unconditionally, and one of the professionals confirmed that it did.

The discovery reaches the others through Mrs. Markleham’s animated retelling. She recounts that she apologized and hurried out by the back passage near the pantry, then presents the episode as evidence of the Doctor’s foresight and affection. Annie, hearing her mother describe the will, turns quickly from the window; the account makes clear that the news affects her differently from the way it delights Mrs. Markleham.

The Will and Its Interpretation

For Mrs. Markleham, the will confirms her earlier confidence that Doctor Strong would provide generously for Annie. She treats the making of it as a completed act that has put his mind at rest, and assumes that he has signed and sealed the document. Her approving narration is sincere, but it reduces the moment to a reassuring financial arrangement and overlooks Annie’s distress.

The scene also places the intimate decision within formal legal procedure: Doctor Strong makes the document in the presence of two professionals, and its central term is that Annie receives his estate without condition. The will therefore gives concrete form to his confidence in his wife, while its discovery prompts an emotional reckoning rather than ending the tension at once.

Annie and Doctor Strong

After the visitors leave, the group goes to the Study. David Copperfield sees Doctor Strong seated calmly among the folio volumes, his head resting on one hand. Annie enters pale and trembling, supported by Mr. Dick; she drops to one knee before her husband and lifts her hands imploringly toward him. Mrs. Markleham, who had just celebrated the will, drops her newspaper and stares in astonishment.

That contrast is the event’s decisive turn. The will is reported as an unconditional provision, but Annie’s posture shows that the document’s meaning cannot be contained in its legal terms or her mother’s cheerful explanation. The passage records the moment of appeal and the Doctor’s calm presence, without stating in this scene what he says or what follows between them.