Pegtop beats Meg, and Silas refuses to intervene

The assault on Meg in Windmill Wood, followed by Silas Ruthyn’s refusal to intervene, reveals how little protection Maud Ruthyn’s appeals can secure for someone outside her own social rank. Maud and Milly witness Dickon Hawkes strike his daughter; when Maud reports what she has seen, Silas acknowledges the brutality in principle but treats it as a private domestic matter. His response turns the episode into more than an instance of family violence: it shows how authority at Bartram-Haugh can excuse harm while presenting that excuse as practical judgment.

The encounter in Windmill Wood

While Maud and Milly are sketching near the ruined bridge, they see Dickon watching them among the trees. On their return, they hear an angry exchange under a clump of trees and find him striking Meg with his stick. Maud is so shocked that at first she cannot speak; then she challenges him and says that her uncle will hear of his brutality.

Meg does not simply flee. After running a short distance, she turns to face her father and Maud and Milly. She indicates that she has been struck, while Dickon curses and starts towards her again. The women’s voices interrupt him. His response makes clear that Maud’s threat to report him does not command his respect: he insists Silas will take no notice of her complaint. After Dickon leaves, Meg remains behind, wipes herself, and looks at the result before rubbing it on her apron. Maud offers sympathy and promises to speak to Silas, but Meg’s sidelong, contemptuous look gives no indication that she trusts the promise to help.

Silas’s refusal and the limits of intervention

Later, Maud asks Silas whether she may tell him about something she witnessed. She recounts the encounter in Windmill Wood, emphasizing that Dickon struck Meg forcefully and that she was bleeding. Silas answers that the people working for him are rough and have different ideas, and that he considers interference in domestic disputes a bad policy. His language converts a specific complaint into a general rule: because the violence occurred within a household, he declines to act.

Maud presses him on the seriousness of what she saw. Silas concedes that Dickon’s conduct was brutal, but says that such behavior suits people he describes as brutes. Maud is disappointed; she had expected Silas’s apparently gentle nature to respond with indignation. Instead, his reasoning excuses Dickon and places the burden of acceptance on the people with less power.

Silas distinguishes Meg’s treatment from Dickon’s behavior toward Maud and Milly. When Maud adds that Dickon is habitually rude to them, Silas says that this is a different matter and that he will address it. He then defends Dickon as a useful servant, an honest and moral man, and a kind father, explaining his conduct as severity and roughness rather than evidence against his character. The distinction leaves Meg’s injury outside the protection Silas is prepared to offer, while suggesting that the women’s own standing is what makes their complaint actionable.

Authority and selective protection

Silas’s answer also separates the complaint into two kinds of offense. When Maud adds that Dickon is habitually rude to her and Milly, Silas says that this is another matter and that he will attend to it. He then defends Dickon as a useful servant, an honest and moral man, and a kind father, attributing his conduct to severity and rough manners. The contrast is decisive: Silas is willing to address disrespect directed at his nieces, but declines to protect Meg from violence within her household. His intervention follows rank and household authority, not the principle of preventing harm wherever it occurs.

Narrative significance

The episode places Maud’s impulse to defend Meg against the household hierarchy that determines whose grievances Silas considers actionable. In the wood, Maud directly confronts Dickon and promises to report his conduct; he answers that Silas will not mind her. The later conversation confirms his expectation. Silas can acknowledge brutality while still treating it as a domestic matter beyond his responsibility, and he reserves the promise of action for discourtesy toward his nieces. The contrast shows that Maud’s appeal has force only where it concerns her own position, not where it asks her guardian to protect a servant’s daughter.