Adam Visits the Hall Farm
- Adam returns from work, stops in to see (and, once again, quarrel with) his mother, then sets off for the Hall Farm in his best set of clothes. Or so he thinks. He's barely left when Lisbeth runs after him. She is "uneasy at the thought that she had vexed him" (20.6). She's also none too happy about him courting a n'er-do-well like Hetty, but she doesn't have the gumption to say this now.
- So Adam and his mum part on decent terms after all. The Hall Farm (and Hetty, of course) awaits. The Poyser men are still at work, but Mrs. Poyser gives Adam a hearty welcome and a drink of whey (which: ew). Then there's one of those awkward "I'm here because I've got a crush in someone in your family" conversations.
- Adam decides to take a walk (wouldn't you?) and look at the Poysers' roses. He's contemplating these "large and disorderly" flowers when Totty trundles into view (20.22). Hetty is not far off. In fact, she's right ahead, picking some fruit.
- Adam decides to help her with this chore. For him, it's a Hallmark card moment, the two of them working together. But Hetty, well, she's "absorbed as usual in thinking and wondering about Arthur's possible return" (20.35). Ouch.
- As they return to the house with their fruit, Adam speaks of his feats of strength, his travels, and his affection for Arthur. He even picks a flower and puts it in Hetty's hair. And this is only the beginning. In his imagination, Adam sees "long years of his future life stretching before him, blest with the right to call Hetty his own" (20.56).
- By now the Poyser men are back. Everyone heads into the house and settles down to dinner. It should be a pleasant meal, even though one of the Poyser servants has dropped a jug. Mrs. Poyser, miffed, decides to get out "the brown-and-white jug," a prized possession (20.72).
- And that prized possession promptly falls to the ground and breaks. Mrs. Poyser stands in shock. Not because of the jug (may it rest in peace), but because Hetty has appeared in a positively shocking outfit. Luxurious, vain Hetty—she's showed up dressed in dour, Dinah-like clothes.
- Yes, it's all in fun. But it also reminds Mrs. Poyser that her much-admired Dinah, alas, has skipped Hayslope. Hetty goes and changes. Adam has a good dinner and talks about his plans, his goals, his education.