June

June marks a pivotal turning point in the second Mrs de Winter's early married life at Manderley, when Maxim's two-day absence for a London dinner leaves her alone for the first time, triggering a sequence of encounters that expose her profound loneliness, her growing unease with the house's secrets, and her vulnerability to the malevolent influence of Mrs Danvers.

Maxim's Absence and the Narrator's Reaction

At the end of June, Maxim had to go up to London to some public dinner, a man's dinner connected with the county. He was away for two days, and the second Mrs de Winter dreaded his going. When she saw the car disappear round the sweep in the drive, she felt exactly as though it were to be a final parting and she should never see him again. She went through the whole thing as she was sitting at lunch, imagining an accident, a call from a cottage hospital, and herself leaning on Frank Crawley's arm at the funeral. It was so real to her that she could scarcely eat any lunch, and she kept straining her ears to hear the telephone should it ring. When Robert came across the lawn, she knew it was the telephone and felt physically sick, only to learn it was a message from the club that Maxim had arrived safely. The relief was tremendous; the pain had gone. She began to feel rather hungry, and crept into the dining-room through the long window and stole some biscuits from the sideboard, eating them in the woods in case a servant should see her and gossip.

A Sense of Freedom and a Return to the Cove

Once Maxim was safe in London, the second Mrs de Winter felt very well and curiously happy, aware of a sense of freedom, as though she had no responsibilities at all. It was rather like a Saturday when one was a child, with no lessons and no prep. She was rather shocked at herself, not understanding this lightness of heart. She went through the Happy Valley to the little cove, where the azaleas were finished and the bluebells made a solid carpet. She lay down in the long grass beside the bluebells, chewing a piece of grass, and realized she did not want anyone with her, not even Maxim, because when he was there she would be watching his eyes and his expression, wondering if he was bored. Now she could relax. She scrambled up the rocks to the other beach, the cove where the cottage stood, and saw the buoy painted white and green with the name "Je Reviens." She walked up the beach towards the cottage, pushed open the door, and found it dark and damp as before. Jasper began growling, and she discovered Ben hiding in the boat-store, frightened and clutching a fishing line. She told him he could keep it but must not come again. Ben, trembling, asked if she would put him to the asylum, and then gave her a shell, saying, "You've got angel's eyes. You're not like the other one." He described a tall, dark woman who gave him the feeling of a snake, who had threatened him with the asylum if he looked at her through the windows. The second Mrs de Winter left the cove with a sudden unaccountable desire to run, feeling as though someone waited down there in the little garden where the nettles grew.

The Discovery of Favell and Mrs Danvers

As she wandered across the lawn, the second Mrs de Winter noticed a sports car concealed behind the rhododendrons at the turn in the drive. Looking up at the house, she saw a man at a window in the west wing, who drew back abruptly when he caught sight of her, and a figure behind him—Mrs Danvers—closed the shutters. She went into the morning-room and found her knitting had been moved, with the imprint of a person on the divan. She hid behind the door when she heard voices, and Jack Favell came into the room. He was a big, hefty fellow with hot, blue eyes and a flashy, sunburnt look, and he smelled of whisky. He spoke familiarly, calling Maxim "Max" and Jasper "a jolly little beast," and asked her not to mention his visit to Maxim, as it might get "poor old Danny into trouble." The second Mrs de Winter felt very uncomfortable and awkward, sensing something not right about the whole business. She wondered if Mrs Danvers was dishonest, engaged in some business behind Maxim's back, and had a sudden terrifying impulse to creep upstairs to the west wing and see for herself.

The Aftermath and the Growing Shadow

When Maxim returned that evening, the second Mrs de Winter heard him through the library door, his voice raised in anger, warning Mrs Danvers to keep Favell away from Manderley. She slipped away to the gallery, hiding as Mrs Danvers came out of the library, her face grey with anger, distorted, horrible. The episode was over, but it deepened the barrier between them. The second Mrs de Winter felt that Maxim walked alone, on the other side, and she must not come to him. She became nervous and fearful that some heedless word would bring that expression back to his eyes. The memory of the cottage nagged at her, and she could not forget the white, lost look in Maxim's eyes when they came up the path through the woods, nor his words: "Oh, God, what a fool I was to come back." She knew it was all her fault, because she had gone down into the bay and opened up a road into the past again.