Foxhall Clifford's proposal to Rue Barrée

Foxhall Clifford's proposal to Rue Barrée is the decisive turning point in Clifford's attachment: what begins as reckless infatuation becomes a formal offer of marriage, and what he imagines as a romantic surrender is answered by Rue Barrée's lucid refusal. The scene gives the proposal unusual moral and social weight because Rue Barrée does not reject him casually; she measures what marriage would mean for a woman who is alone, materially powerless, and accustomed to the streets, and then declines despite her gratitude.

Circumstances and Impulse

The proposal follows Clifford's admission that his distress concerns Rue Barrée. He is described as being “all broken up,” while Richard Osborne Elliott listens with visible impatience and scorn. Elliott asks whether Clifford believes Rue Barrée is a pure girl, whether he truly loves her rather than merely pursuing another attractive woman, and finally whether he would marry her. Clifford answers yes to each question, turning a vague emotional crisis into a test of intention and respectability.

Clifford's answers are dogged rather than confident. His willingness to marry Rue Barrée alarms Elliott because it threatens to convert a passing infatuation into a social and familial scandal. Elliott imagines the reaction of Clifford's family to a marriage with a grisette whose mother is a washlady, treating class difference as an obstacle that could make the proposal humiliating for everyone involved. Yet Elliott also believes that Rue Barrée has already rejected Clifford's aspirations decisively, and therefore assumes that the danger has passed.

The Proposal

In the fountain plaza, Clifford's recklessness overcomes his hesitation. Although he knows he is acting foolishly and recognizes that infatuation is not love, he offers himself to Rue Barrée “soul and body, goods and chattels.” The language is extravagant, but it also carries a binding legal and moral force: each word seems to place him under an obligation from which he cannot easily escape. His excitement is therefore double-edged. He performs absolute devotion while privately understanding that his judgment is compromised.

Elliott watches from nearby, scowling over the plaza and restraining both bulldogs from rushing to Clifford's aid. The dogs sense that something is wrong, while Elliott silently rages and growls curses. His presence makes the proposal a small public drama rather than a purely private exchange. Clifford is emotionally exposed, Rue Barrée is placed under pressure, and Elliott becomes the skeptical witness who sees the danger before Clifford can fully acknowledge it.

Rue Barrée's Refusal

Rue Barrée does not answer immediately. Clifford finishes his declaration in a glow of excitement, but the delay allows his ardour to cool as the situation assumes its proper proportions. Regret begins to enter his mind, yet he suppresses it and renews his protestations. Rue Barrée stops him at the first word, preventing the proposal from expanding into a longer performance of passion.

Her response is grave and measured. She says that no man has ever offered her marriage, then acknowledges that Clifford is offering her a great deal. She understands the practical value of his offer because she is alone, has nothing, and describes herself as nothing. Her gratitude is therefore not theatrical modesty; it arises from a clear awareness of the protection, recognition, and social position that marriage could provide.

Rue Barrée then turns her attention toward Paris, brilliant in the sunshine. She describes the hardship of always working alone, without a friend whom she can have in honour, and the narrow alternatives offered to women in her position. The love offered to such women, she says, means the streets and the boulevard once passion has died. Her account links romantic desire to economic vulnerability: when a woman has no one and nothing, surrendering herself may appear to be the only available form of love, even when the ending is already known.

The rose at Rue Barrée's breast gives the refusal a quiet physical emblem. She touches it, briefly forgets Clifford, and places a petal inside her book before looking up at him again. She thanks him and says that she is grateful, but then states plainly that she cannot accept. The gesture with the rose contrasts with Clifford's verbal excess. His offer is expansive and binding; her answer is restrained, deliberate, and final.

Consequences and Recovery

The proposal changes Clifford's emotional condition without producing the marriage he has imagined. It takes him a month to recover completely, although Elliott declares him convalescent after the first week. Rue Barrée's cordial acknowledgment of his solemn salutes helps that recovery by preserving civility between them and allowing him to remain in her presence without open humiliation.

Clifford repeatedly blesses Rue Barrée for refusing him and thanks his lucky stars that she did so. His retrospective judgment recognizes that the refusal saved him from an impulsive commitment. Yet gratitude does not erase pain. At the same time that he celebrates the practical wisdom of her decision, he suffers the tortures of a blighted lover. The scene thus ends not with a clean conversion from illusion to reason, but with two incompatible truths held together: the refusal was fortunate, and it was devastating.

Narrative Significance

The event is comic in its social embarrassment but serious in its account of class, gender, and emotional self-deception. Clifford imagines that sincerity can overcome the difference between his position and Rue Barrée's, while Elliott reduces the potential marriage to an absurd family announcement. Rue Barrée sees more clearly than either man what the offer would and would not solve. Her refusal is not a denial that Clifford has offered something valuable; it is a recognition that gratitude, need, and passion cannot safely be treated as the same thing.

The scene also subverts the expected romantic progression. A declaration of love leads not to reciprocal attachment or a promise of future union, but to a refusal that is both compassionate and irrevocable. Clifford's ardour moves toward commitment, then collapses into regret and wounded longing; Rue Barrée's apparent vulnerability becomes the source of the scene's firmest judgment. The proposal therefore reveals the difference between romantic language and durable love, while giving Rue Barrée authority over a decision that Clifford initially believes his intensity should settle.