Amanda likes Hester, who lends her a gown, because Amanda does not have many clothes with her. She tells her some of the truth because she does not wish to lie, and Hester feels sure that she should marry her Neil because she seems too energetic for a life as a socialite in England.
However, when Gareth manages to make his proposal, Hester turns him down. She does not know if he is falling in love with Amanda but she knows he's not in love with her and she could not bear to marry him without having his love. She knows that she has little chance of finding a husband, her only other suitor is the family chaplain, whom she does not much like.. but she doesn't want to marry a man she loves unless he loves her too.
Fabian Theale is attracted to Amanda and begins to flirt with her. He convinces himself that he could easily seduce her and that it would be doing Hester a good turn to take away her suitors would be mistress. Amanda sees Fabian as a way of getting out of the house and away from Gareth, meaning to run away from him once she is beyond the reach of Gary who is as she knows planning to take her to his sister in London. She manages to flirt politely with the elderly letch and agrees to go away with him the next morning before anyone is up.
Gary goes to bed, unsure what to do next about Hester, because she seems very firm in refusing him. However, he has first to deal with Amanda. The following day, when he gets up, Fabian has already left with Amanda and Lady Widmore says that he left a message that he has taken her to her relatives, to save Gary a trip.
Gary tells Hester what has happened and sets off after them. Fabian is a bad traveller, and does not like to go fast... so Amanda, in order to fend off his amorous advances, pretends that she also gets stomach upsets in carriages, and within a short while begins to feign sickness. Theale hurries his carriage along to a nearby hamlet where there is a small inn and she is carried in, apparently very sick.
Amandas quick wits are often on display making up fancy stories to get her out of trouble.... Mr. Theale tells the landlady that Amanda is his niece and they take her upstairs to rest till she is better, while Mr Theale tries to calm his nerves with a drink or 2.
Amanda slips out and manages to get a ride in a farmer's wagon, with a young man called Joe who is going back to his father's farm. He is taken aback by her beauty and willingly takes her on his cart.
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