Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 10, 2023 October 3, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
At the Bellomont, Lily and Mrs. Trenor are gossiping as usual. Mrs. Trenor tells Lily that Percy Gryce has left Bellomont because he felt snubbed when Lily canceled her walk with him to spend time with Selden. Worse, Gryce's departure may have been influenced by Bertha Dorset, who told Gryce about the "skeletons" in Lily's closet as well as her serious financial problems related to gambling debt. Lily thought she could simply spend one day with Selden and the rest of her stay with Gryce in at attempt to win him over, but her hopes of marrying him are not yet defeated. Still, she knows that Gryce has become a topic of conversation among the women at the Bellomont, most of whom find him disagreeable. Lily also realizes that she is accruing enormous debt from gambling and buying nice clothes, so she decides to return to the house of her aunt, Mrs. Peniston, as soon as possible.
Before leaving, Lily goes to the train station to pick up Gus Trenor, coming home to the Bellomont from a business trip. As they talk on the ride, the topic of Wall Street and investment comes up. Knowing that some of her friends have had success with stock market speculation, Lily decides to ask Trenor to invest some money for her. Trenor assents, although we later find out that he is interested in helping Lily because he is sexually attracted to her. Lily confesses to him that she is considering marriage to Gryce, about which Trenor expresses disgust. She admits that she needs more financial security and is no longer able to stay at the Bellomont.
The Wall Street speculation works initially; Lily begins receiving checks, which she uses to pay off her various gambling and clothing debts. She feels a sense of superiority over women such as Carry Fisher, who rely on the rich men with whom they flirt to pay off their debts. Several weeks after she begins investing, Lily's cousin Jack Stepney marries Gwen Van Osburgh. At the wedding, Lily meets Gerty Farish, a socially inept and generally disliked cousin of Selden who spends a lot time with him. Lily learns to her horror that Gryce and Evie Van Osburgh, the youngest Van Osburgh daughter, have been courting one another since they met at the Dorsets' house under the invitation of Bertha Dorset. Lily now knows that Bertha actively tried to prevent her marriage to Gryce.
Financially, Lily's investments continue to produce money; Lily receives another check for $4,000. Trenor invites her to return to the Bellomont to stay for several weeks, but Lily refuses his offer at first. He also encourages her to be friendly to Simon Rosedale, to whom Lily is ordinarily rude because she dislikes him intensely, as we see in a meeting between the two.
Chapter Nine introduces us to Mrs. Peniston and her house at Richfield, which Mrs. Peniston cleans thoroughly once every autumn. At her aunt's house, Lily has ample time to wander and think about her social situation, and she decides to stay away from the Bellomont until the Christmas holidays because the people there have become bored with her, knowing her too well.
Later that fall, Lily receives a visit from Mrs. Haffen, the woman who worked as a maid at the Benedick, where Selden lives. She presents to Lily a collection of letters written to Selden which he had not properly destroyed after reading. The letters, written by Bertha Dorset, are presumably love notes she wrote to Selden when they were having an affair (though this is never said explicitly). Realizing the letters could hurt Selden if they fell into the wrong hands, Lily purchases them from Mrs. Haffen and decides to destroy them. Before she can do so, however, Mrs. Peniston returns from Stepney's wedding and announces that Bertha was personally responsible for arranging the marriage between Evie Van Osburgh and Gryce. Realizing that the letters could also be used to blackmail Bertha, Lily decides to save them in her drawer so that they can be used to her advantage later.
Please wait while we process your payment