Mrs Danvers and Jack Favell

Mrs Danvers and Jack Favell are bound by a shared, fanatical devotion to Rebecca de Winter, forming a covert alliance that operates in the shadows of Manderley. Favell, Rebecca's cousin and lover, uses his connection to Mrs Danvers to gain access to the estate, while Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper who adored Rebecca, facilitates his visits and shields him from Maxim de Winter's prohibition. Their relationship is one of mutual convenience and loyalty to the dead, culminating in a joint attempt to blackmail Maxim after the discovery of Rebecca's boat, a scheme that ultimately collapses when the truth of Rebecca's terminal illness emerges.

Favell's Secret Visits and Mrs Danvers' Complicity

Favell's access to Manderley depends entirely on Mrs Danvers' cooperation. When Maxim is away in London, Favell drives to the estate in a green sports car, which he deliberately conceals behind the rhododendrons at a bend in the drive so it cannot be seen from the house. He does not present himself at the front door; instead, he slips around to the back regions to meet Mrs Danvers in her domain. The second Mrs de Winter, returning early from a walk, discovers him in the morning-room, where he has been sitting with Mrs Danvers. Favell's manner is familiar and offensive, and he asks the narrator not to mention his visit to Maxim, saying, "it might get poor old Danny into trouble." This request reveals the clandestine nature of their meetings and Mrs Danvers' awareness that she is violating Maxim's orders. The narrator later overhears Maxim confronting Mrs Danvers in the library, warning her: "You can write and tell him from me to keep away from Manderley in future, do you hear?... If you want to meet him you can meet him outside Manderley. I won't have him inside the gates, do you understand? Remember, I'm warning you for the last time." Mrs Danvers emerges from the library with her face "grey with anger, distorted, horrible," confirming that her loyalty to Favell and Rebecca places her in direct opposition to Maxim.

Shared Hatred and the Conspiracy at the Inquest

Mrs Danvers and Favell act as a united front against Maxim and the second Mrs de Winter. At the inquest into Rebecca's death, they sit together at the back of the room, watching the proceedings with hostile intent. Favell, who has been drinking, later confronts Maxim at Manderley, accusing him of murder and attempting blackmail. When Colonel Julyan challenges him to produce a witness, Favell immediately thinks of Ben, the local half-wit, and declares, "There's a local half-wit who spends his time on the beach... I could make him talk if he did see anything that night." He then summons Mrs Danvers to corroborate his story about his relationship with Rebecca. Mrs Danvers, however, unexpectedly contradicts him, stating that Rebecca "was not in love with you, or with Mr de Winter. She was not in love with anyone. She despised all men." This moment of truth-telling, born of her own possessive love for Rebecca, undermines Favell's narrative and reveals the limits of their alliance: Mrs Danvers' devotion to Rebecca's memory supersedes any loyalty to Favell himself.

The Collapse of the Alliance

After the visit to Doctor Baker reveals that Rebecca was terminally ill, Favell's blackmail scheme is destroyed. He is visibly shaken, his face grey, and he mutters, "Cancer! Oh, my God!" Mrs Danvers, learning the truth, disappears from Manderley. She packs her belongings, has the station collect her boxes, and slips away through the woods, never passing the lodge gates. Favell, left alone, makes a final, impotent threat to Maxim, waving and laughing as the car drives away, but Colonel Julyan warns him that as a magistrate he has the power to deal with blackmail. The alliance, forged in shared devotion to Rebecca, dissolves when the foundation of that devotion—the image of Rebecca as a victim—is shattered by the revelation of her illness and her deliberate manipulation of Maxim. Mrs Danvers' flight and Favell's retreat mark the end of their conspiracy, but the narrator's final dream, in which she sees Mrs Danvers' face "through a hollow door," suggests that the shadow of their complicity lingers even after they are gone.