The Forgotten Garden

In 2005, Cassandra goes to Julia’s apartment at the Blackhurst Hotel for dinner and a chance to read Rose’s scrapbooks. While Julia prepares dinner, Cassandra reads about Rose’s first visit to Eliza’s walled garden. Eliza declares that it will be a sanctuary to restore Rose’s health once the planting is finished. Julia asks about Cassandra’s progress with her own garden restoration, and Cassandra says it’s improving thanks to help from Christian. Julia casually mentions that Christian used to be a doctor. No one knows why he quit the profession and became a gardener. Cassandra returns to her perusal of Rose’s scrapbook. Rose writes that she’s worried about her abdominal scars being revealed on her wedding night. In another entry, Rose announces she is pregnant and then describes the arrival of her daughter. Julia comments that Eliza became emotionally distant during Rose’s pregnancy and left Blackhurst to travel overseas. Julia says, “The fact is, she went away while Rose was pregnant and didn’t come back until after Ivory was born. Their friendship was never the same again” (351). 

In 1975, Nell visits Pilchard Cottage again to have dinner with William and Robyn. Before Robyn arrives, Nell prompts William about the secret he wanted to tell her. William confesses that he was once in love with Eliza. He went to Cliff Cottage to declare his feelings but found Eliza in a compromising position with someone else: “‘Not just any someone else.’ His lips trembled a little around the words. ‘One that was family to her’” (359). Nell then asks William if Eliza abducted Ivory out of envy. William says that theory wouldn’t fit Eliza’s temperament: She was a free spirit and wasn’t interested in domestic responsibility. Eliza left Cornwall before Ivory’s birth, and William advises Nell to find out where she went: “Because I can tell you something, wherever it was she disappeared to, she was different when she came back” (364). 

When Rose and Adeline return from their New York trip, Eliza hopes her relationship with Rose can return to its former closeness. Unfortunately, Rose’s head is full of nothing but Nathaniel: “Eliza felt Rose’s absence sharply. The knowledge formed clearly and simply: Rose would never again come to her room at night, neither would Eliza go to Rose” (371). Feeling she can’t stay under the same roof with the newlyweds, Eliza asks Adeline if she can move into Cliff Cottage. Much to her surprise, Adeline agrees without an argument.

Eliza adjusts to the solitude of the cottage and begins to appreciate its value as a place to write. One day, she finds Nathaniel reading in her garden. He found his way through the maze and tells her that the garden would be an inspiring subject for a painting. Then, he casually mentions an upcoming garden party, which he assumes Eliza knows about, but Rose never invited her to attend. Later that afternoon, Adeline is putting the finishing touches on her party arrangements. She has planned the event to promote Nathaniel’s career within her social circle and convinced Rose that Eliza’s eccentricities might put off some of his prospective clients. Rose agrees not to tell Eliza about the event. Eliza emerges from the maze nonetheless just in time for Linus to capture her on film.

As he’s developing the photograph in his darkroom, Linus congratulates himself on his cleverness. Even though Eliza never consents to pose for him, he waits patiently for her to emerge from her sanctuary and then snaps her picture. He fears that he has a rival for Eliza’s affections because he has seen Nathaniel emerging from the maze on several occasions. Linus thinks back to the day he discovered that Georgiana preferred another man. When she told him that she was planning to elope, Linus slashed her neck with a penknife. That was when Georgiana ran away from him forever. 

In 2005, Cassandra and Christian are hard at work in the garden at Cliff Cottage. By this time, they’ve established an easy camaraderie. When Cassandra asks about Christian’s past as a doctor, he tells her that his mother died of cancer, so he became an oncologist. He discovered he couldn’t deal with the misery of his patients and their families. He says everyone would be better off without memories of the past to hold them back. Cassandra asks him about the reason for Rose’s curious abdominal scars. Christian doesn’t have a theory but promises to do some digging.

At the end of the day, he invites Cassandra to join him for a drink at the pub in town, where they enjoy a meal and pleasant conversation. Cassandra realizes this is the first time she’s laughed in months. Back at the hotel that evening, she receives a message that Ruby has booked a stay at the hotel and is dying for a progress report. Just before falling asleep, Cassandra scans a strange passage in Rose’s scrapbook. She talks about walling off the cottage on all sides in 1909 while Eliza is away: “And one can never be too careful, for where there is much to gain, there is ever much to lose” (397). 

By 1909, Nathaniel is growing disenchanted with his career as a portrait painter. Even though he’s now wealthy and famous, he doesn’t feel inspired by the work. When he stumbles across a copy of Eliza’s stories among Rose’s things, they capture his imagination. He begins making tentative sketches for some of the fairy tales. They eventually become full-blown illustrations. He finds himself devoting more time to the illustrations than to the portraits he’s being paid handsomely to paint. Meanwhile, Rose is despondent that she still hasn’t conceived a child after a year of marriage. Her mental attitude and physical strength both go into decline. She happens to overhear a conversation among the servants that Mary has become pregnant. Rose shares this information with Adeline, who dreads the gossip that might ensue and sends Mary packing. Mary, in turn, appeals to Eliza for help. Eliza agrees to speak to her cousin, but it has become impossible to gain an audience with Rose due to her ill health and depression.

Dr. Matthews tells Adeline that Rose’s continuous efforts to become pregnant are taking a severe toll on her health. Adeline hatches a scheme that might provide Rose with a child without endangering her further:

It would not be easy. First, Rose must be convinced that it was for the best. Then there was the girl. She would need to be made to see that it was her duty. That she owed it to the Mountrachet family, after so many years of goodwill. Difficult, certainly. But not impossible (408).

A few days later, Eliza receives an unexpected message from Rose to meet in the walled garden. Eliza is shocked by Rose’s gaunt appearance. Rose asks for Eliza’s help to do something for her benefit and for Mary’s as well. Without knowing what Rose wants her to do, Eliza readily agrees: “‘Of course, Rose,’ she said. ‘Anything. Tell me what you need and so shall it be’” (416).