Madame tries to make Maud go to Church Scarsdale

Madame de la Rougierre’s attempt to take Maud Ruthyn to Church Scarsdale exposes the coercion beneath her staged affection. When Maud refuses to cross the estate boundary, Madame’s coaxing turns to physical force; Maud’s insistence and evident terror compel her to give up the destination, though the altered route does not restore trust.

Background and Suspicion

For weeks at Knowl, Madame had seemed less tormenting in her everyday manner. She repeatedly invoked their supposed vow of friendship, stood close with an arm around Maud’s waist, and reminisced about the earlier walk to Church Scarsdale as if it had been a delightful excursion. Maud remembered it otherwise and evaded suggestions that they repeat it. The discrepancy between Madame’s warm account and Maud’s fearful recollection gives the proposed outing its uneasy significance.

On the day of the confrontation, Maud was dressing to go out when Mrs. Rusk, the housekeeper, came into her room and asked whether the long walk to Church Scarsdale might be too much for her. Maud was startled: she had not said she was going there and insisted that it was precisely where she least wanted to go. Mrs. Rusk’s question made clear that the destination had somehow been presented as settled before Maud had agreed to it.

Madame came with a basket, held discreetly beside her full skirt, and said nothing about either its contents or the intended route. She walked alongside Maud, chatting affectionately, until they reached the stile at the sheep-walk. There Maud stopped and suggested turning back toward the pigeon-house in the park. Madame’s silence about her plans and the unexplained basket intensify Maud’s suspicion, but the episode does not establish what the basket contained or what Madame intended to do.

Refusal at the Stile

Madame initially answered Maud’s reluctance with a pretence of easy agreement, calling the place beautiful while suggesting that they need not walk all the way there. Maud made her boundary explicit: she would rather not walk outside the grounds that day. When she declined to cross the stile, Madame’s manner changed abruptly. Her face mottled yellow and green with anger; she called Maud foolish, ordered her to do as she was told, and seized her arm in a grip that hurt.

Madame appeared ready to drag Maud across by force. Maud cried out for her to let go and repeated the demand as the pain increased. Madame released her with a laugh and shoved her backward, giving Maud a dangerous tumble. The stile thus becomes more than a point on the route: it marks the line Maud is trying to defend, while Madame’s grip makes plain that the promised friendship does not protect Maud’s freedom to refuse.

After the shove, Madame changed tactics again. She patted Maud’s cheek and hand, coaxed her to be a good child, and urged her not to vex poor Madame. Her ingratiating gestures and affectionate diminutives follow immediately upon physical intimidation. Maud withdraws when Madame would kiss her, while Madame laughs off the rejection as childishness. The quick return to tenderness does not erase the force that came before it; it shows how readily Madame moves between pressure and soothing when one fails to secure Maud’s compliance.

Maud Holds Her Ground

Maud directly asked why Madame was so intent on walking to Church Scarsdale that day. Madame denied that there was anything particular about the day, professed not to understand the question, and described the place as pretty. She then mocked the possibility that Maud thought she meant to kill her and bury her in the churchyard. The joke offered no reassurance. Maud read Madame’s contracted gaze and frown alongside her earlier violence, and remained immovable.

The narration distinguishes Maud’s refusal from mere stubbornness or caprice: she is governed by a profound fear of going with Madame to Church Scarsdale that day. Maud believes her instinct was true, but the scene does not confirm a specific plan or threat. Her suspicion that Madame might have intended to poison her arises as she studies the governess’s bitter disappointment and wonders what is in the basket; it remains Maud’s fearful conjecture, not an established revelation.

As Maud’s alarm escalates, she wrings her hands and cries that the situation is a shame. Madame’s face relaxes, and Maud thinks the governess may have been frightened by her extreme agitation because it could work against her with Maud’s father. Madame then says that Maud need not go to Church Scarsdale if she does not wish to, presenting the change as a concession and insisting that the walk is Maud’s choice. The retreat follows Maud’s resistance and visible distress, not a resolution of the underlying distrust.

The Changed Route and Its Meaning

Maud and Madame turn toward the pigeon-house through the forest trees. Maud walks silently, frightened by the encounter; Madame is silent too, occasionally glancing sideways to gauge whether Maud has recovered her composure. Within less than a quarter of an hour, Madame has returned to her customary brightness. She sings with spiteful cheerfulness, twirls the basket, and capers as they approach the ruined brick tower that had once served as a pigeon-house.

The scene ends not with renewed intimacy but with the unease of an abandoned plan and a redirected walk. Madame has not taken Maud to Church Scarsdale, yet she still accompanies her and carries the unexplained basket; Maud, for her part, has secured a change of destination only by refusing, enduring a painful grip and a shove, and making her fear unmistakable. The contrast between Madame’s declared friendship and her attempt to compel Maud gives the episode its central turn: Maud asserts a limit, and Madame yields that particular demand while preserving the appearance of cheerful companionship.