The Lime-tree Walk and the Well: Close Reading of a Passage

Pg 9 of the 2012 Oxford Edition

“. . . the lime-tree walk; an avenue so shaded from the sun and sky, so screened from observation by the thick shelter of the over-arching trees, that it seemed a chosen place for secret meetings or for stolen interviews; a place in which conspiracy might have been planned or a lover’s vow registered with equal safety; and yet it was scarcely twenty paces from the house.”

This description of the lime-tree walk essentially sets up the events of the entire story. This is Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s way of letting the reader know that this spot is important so the reader should pay attention. The possible events that are listed in the description are events that took place in this area later on in the book. This is the place where George Talboys and Robert Audley confront Lady Audley about her true identity and where her conspiracy had come to light.

An interesting note is that right after this passage is a description of the well at the end of the line-tree walk. There are two descriptions of this well. The first one is a brief mention about its condition and that the pail had possibly fallen in the water below. The second is much more detailed. It explains that no one actually knows if the well has water of if it is dried up. The two descriptions of the well and this passage about the lime-tree walk leading to the well point to the well being a key point in the plot, another sign for the reader to pay close attention to. This well is the spot where Lady Audley had thought she had killed. George Talboys, and it is the place where George survives and makes his escape from Audley Court and England.