Brighton

Brighton is the seaside setting of Mildred’s postnatal stay, where Philip sees her and their newborn daughter off after her recovery and later visits them. The episode turns his hope that motherhood might deepen Mildred’s attachment to the baby into a practical test: she arranges to place the child with a caregiver, while Philip, still devoted to her, helps make the arrangement possible.

Mildred’s stay after childbirth

Three weeks after Mildred gave birth, she left for Brighton with the baby. She had recovered quickly and looked better to Philip than he had ever seen her. The boarding-house she chose was familiar to her from weekends spent there with Emil Miller. To explain her return, she invented a story that her husband had to go to Germany on business and that she was arriving with her baby; the details of the fiction gave her pleasure.

Mildred intended to find a woman in Brighton who would take charge of the child. Philip had expected the maternal instinct to emerge after the birth, and had counted on it to persuade Mildred to keep the baby. Instead, she argued that the child should be placed elsewhere before it became accustomed to her. She met its needs and sometimes found it amusing, but remained emotionally indifferent, imagined that it already resembled its father, and regretted having had it.

Philip’s visit and the proposed arrangement

After passing his examination, Philip received a letter from Mildred saying she wanted to remain in Brighton another week. She had found a woman willing to care for the baby for seven shillings a week, but wanted time to investigate her. Mildred also asked Philip to send money for a new hat, explaining that she did not want to appear repeatedly in the same one beside her dressy lady-friend. The request extinguished the pleasure he had taken in passing, and he briefly considered joining her for the week before deciding he could not risk discovering that his company was unwelcome.

He sent a five-pound note and cautiously offered to visit for the weekend. Mildred replied that she had already arranged to attend a music-hall on Saturday and that Philip’s staying at the boarding-house might provoke gossip; she invited him down instead on Sunday. On the fine day, she waited for him at the station. After lunch they went to Hove to meet the prospective caregiver, Mrs. Harding, an elderly woman living in a small but clean and tidy house in a back street.

Mrs. Harding and the child’s future

Philip asked Mrs. Harding whether caring for a baby would be an onerous nuisance. She explained that her husband was a curate who struggled to find permanent work because vicars preferred younger assistants; occasional temporary posts and a small charitable pension helped support them. Her life was lonely, she said, and caring for a child would give her something to do, while the few shillings would help maintain the household. She promised that the baby would be well fed.

The meeting gave Philip a concrete alternative to Mildred’s care: a household with limited means, but a woman who seemed kind and welcomed the responsibility. Brighton thus becomes the place where Philip’s effort to preserve the child’s welfare meets Mildred’s wish to relinquish the daily burden. His concern for the baby does not alter her decision, and the episode leaves him bound to a role of emotional and financial support even as he recognizes how little she reciprocates his devotion.