Rebecca de Winter and Doctor Baker

Rebecca de Winter's concealed medical appointment with Doctor Baker, a well-known women's specialist, on the afternoon of the day she died, stands as the pivotal revelation that resolves the central mystery of her death. The discovery of this visit, recorded in her engagement diary under the false name "Mrs Danvers," provides the only credible motive for her suicide—a diagnosis of an inoperable and deeply rooted cancer—and simultaneously destroys the blackmail case that Jack Favell had built against Maxim de Winter. It is the moment when the narrative's accumulated dread and suspicion give way to a terrible, clarifying truth, reshaping the understanding of Rebecca's final actions and her character itself.

Discovery of the Appointment

The existence of the appointment emerges during the tense evening following the inquest, when Colonel Julyan, Maxim, Frank Crawley, Favell, and Mrs Danvers are gathered in the library at Manderley. Favell has just produced a note from Rebecca, written on the day she died, which reads: "I've got something to tell you, and I want to see you as soon as possible." Searching for an explanation, Mrs Danvers retrieves Rebecca's engagement diary from her locked room. Colonel Julyan examines the page for the date of her death and finds, alongside entries for a hair appointment and lunch at her club, the single word "Baker" at two o'clock, marked with a heavy cross. The diary also lists a telephone number, 0488, with a faint letter beside it that Mrs Danvers identifies as possibly an "M." Frank Crawley telephones the number, Museum 0488, and learns from a night porter that the address is a doctor's consulting rooms in Bloomsbury, and that the doctor, Baker, has since retired to a house called Roselands near Barnet.

The Consultation and Its Truth

The following morning, Maxim, the second Mrs de Winter, Colonel Julyan, and Favell drive to Roselands. Doctor Baker, initially puzzled, confirms that a woman calling herself "Mrs Danvers" consulted him on the twelfth of the month at two o'clock. He remembers her clearly: tall, slim, dark, and very handsome. She had come a week earlier complaining of symptoms, and he had taken X-rays. At the second visit, she demanded the truth, saying she did not want "soft words and a bedside manner." Baker complied. The X-rays revealed a deep-rooted, inoperable growth. He told her that in three or four months she would require morphia, and that an operation would be useless. The pain was still slight, but the disease had taken too firm a hold. She paid her fee and left without flinching. Baker also notes that the X-rays showed a malformation of the uterus that meant she could never have borne a child, though this was unrelated to the cancer.

Consequences and Aftermath

The revelation shatters Favell's accusation. Colonel Julyan immediately grasps that the diagnosis supplies the missing motive for suicide: a woman of Rebecca's vitality and pride, who had told Mrs Danvers she wanted to die "quickly, like the snuffing out of a candle," could not face a slow, painful decline. Favell, visibly shaken and grey, mutters about the horror of cancer and abandons his blackmail attempt. Colonel Julyan warns him that any further trouble will be dealt with by the magistrate. The party returns to London, and Maxim telephones Frank Crawley to report the outcome. The only discordant note is Frank's news that Mrs Danvers has disappeared from Manderley, having packed her belongings and received a long-distance call—presumably from Favell—before vanishing through the woods. The truth about Rebecca's illness, once known, not only exonerates Maxim but also recasts Rebecca's final act: her laughter and her goading of Maxim on the night she died were not the triumph of a malicious schemer but the last, defiant bluff of a woman who had already chosen her own death.