Summary: Chapter 10
Upon his release from the sanitarium, Humbert heads for
a small town to stay with a Mr. McCoo. A relative of a friend of
his uncle’s, McCoo has a twelve-year-old daughter, whom Humbert
fantasizes about. When he arrives in the town of Ramsdale, however,
he learns that the McCoos’ house has burned down. Mr. McCoo recommends
a boarding house at 342 Lawn Street, run by the widowed Mrs. Haze.
Neither Mrs. Haze nor the house impress Humbert. He describes her
as a fatally conventional woman, one who, despite her so-called
cultural and community activities, has many pretensions and little
imagination. He realizes with distaste that she will probably try
to seduce him. He finds the house horribly unappealing until he
sees Mrs. Haze’s twelve-year-old daughter, Dolores, sitting on the lawn.
Humbert finds her resemblance to Annabel uncanny and immediately
remembers his time with Annabel twenty-five years ago. He decides
to stay.
Summary: Chapter 11
From prison, Humbert recalls passages from his diary regarding
the time he lived at the Haze house in 1947 and his initial thoughts
of Lolita. Almost all his entries describe encounters with Lolita
and contain romantic descriptions of her nymphet qualities, as well
as his various attempts to lure her into his presence. Delighted,
he learns that he resembles a celebrity Lolita adores, which causes Charlotte
to tease Lolita about having a crush on Humbert. Though he knows
that he should not be keeping a journal of his attraction, Humbert
can’t help himself. He often goes into Lolita’s room and touches
her things. He describes Charlotte Haze disdainfully and hates her
for always complaining about Lolita. He knows that he must behave
himself with Charlotte around, so he daydreams about killing her.
Summary: Chapter 12
Charlotte, Lolita, and Humbert plan to go to Hourglass
Lake for a picnic, but the trip continually gets postponed. Humbert
gets a further disappointment when he learns that a classmate of
Lolita’s will accompany them. Humbert learns that the previous boarder,
elderly Mrs. Phalen, broke her hip and had to leave suddenly, which enabled
Humbert to come and live with the Hazes. Humbert expresses amazement
at how fate led him here, to his dream nymphet.
Summary: Chapter 13
One Sunday, when the trip to the lake gets postponed yet
again, Lolita becomes angry and refuses to go to church with Charlotte. Delighted,
Humbert has Lolita all to himself. When Lolita starts eating an
apple, Humbert teasingly takes it away from her. He finally returns
it and, as Lolita sings a popular song, discreetly rubs against her
until he climaxes. Lolita runs off, apparently without having noticed
anything.
Summary: Chapter 14
Famished, Humbert goes into town for lunch. He feels proud
that he managed to satisfy himself without corrupting the child,
and he wavers between wanting to repeat the experience and wanting
to preserve Lolita’s purity. Later, Charlotte tells Humbert that
she is sending Lolita away to summer camp for three weeks. Humbert hides
his misery by pretending to have a toothache. Mrs. Haze recommends
that he see their neighbor, Dr. Quilty, a dentist and the uncle
of a playwright.
Summary: Chapter 15
Humbert considers leaving the boarding house until Lolita
returns in the fall. Lolita doesn’t want to go to camp, but Charlotte
dismisses her tears. Humbert muses that Lolita might lose her purity while
she’s away and cease to be a nymphet. Just before she enters the
car to go to camp, Lolita rushes back and kisses Humbert.
