Brideshead Revisited V

Julia is very upset and angry.. and so is Charles. Cordelia comes home from Spain and says she will probably take up nursing if there is a war. Then Lord Marchmain startles them by saying he is coming home. He returns with Cara, and he is obviously ill and wants to die at Brideshead. Cara is Italian but she is married for convenience to someone English so she can stay in England. Lord Marchmain has met Beryl Brideys new wife and hates her for being vulgar, silly and overly Catholic. He reckons its unlikely that she will provide an heir and neither will Sebastian, so he decides to leave the castle to Julia. Julia has met Beryl by now and says that she's not as prim and proper as Bridey has made out. She has been friendly to Julia and said that a lapsed Catholic is often nicer than the rest of the family. Julia reckons that she is marrying Bridey for security and money (as she has 2 children by her first husband) but she's not a bad person.

Brideshead Revisited IV

Several years pass and Charles loses touch with the Flytes. Julia is married to Rex Mottram who is a successful Tory politican. Lady Marchmain dies, and the Flyte house in London is turned into apartments. Charles is successful in his painting but he is dissatisfied with his life. He has married Celia Mulcaster, the sister of one of Sebastian's college friends but the marriage is not very successful. Charles finds out she has been having an affair and decides to go abroad to paint in the South American jungles. He spends a long time there and then comes back home, sailing on a luxury liner. He finds Julia is also a passanger on the voyage. Celia is seasick as are many of the passangers, so Charles and Julia can spend time together and talk. She tells him she is very unhappy with Rex - they had a baby but it died. She then had an affair with a man and went to America to see him but the affair died out and now she is coming home. Charles tells her about his marriage and how he still misses Sebastian and the 2 of them become lovers. She tells him Sebastian is still living abroad and Cordelia has gone to Spain to nurse. She tried being a nun but it didn't work out. Brideshead is managing the family estate and seems to be happy in his odd dull way. When they get back to London they continue their affair and visit Brideshead castle at times. After a while Julia starts to hint that they are a happy couple and perhaps they should get married. In Catholic terms, marrying a divorced man like Charles is wrong, but she feels she should try and put her life in order, before war might break out. Charles' makes plans to get a divorce from Celia, and is generous to her because he wants the marriage ended. Then Bridey (Lord Brideshead) tells them that he wants to get married. He has never shown any interest in women and now they are very surprised. He shocks them by telling Julia that he tolerates her affair with Charles and her marriage to the divorced Rex, but that his ladylove Mrs Musprat, is a devout Catholic and a middle class woman and she would not be willing to visit a fallen woman like Julia.