The Dairy
- "The dairy was certainly worth looking at" is how this chapter begins (7.1). Well, that had better be the case. Why else would it get a whole chapter? Yet Arthur, and Eliot, quickly abandon "the dairy" to stare at its pretty dairymaid.
- Hetty blushes deeply when handsome Arthur Donnithorne appears. Hetty is a babe. Even while she's at work, there's something splendid about her appearance, since "they are the prettiest attitudes and movements into which a pretty girl is thrown in making up butter" (7.5).
- As Arthur looks on at Hetty, he makes her promise him a dance or two at his upcoming birthday feast. All in the presence of Mrs. Poyser, of course. And, of course, with some polite line about how "you must bring all your children, you know, Mrs. Poyser" (7.11).
- Or is he just being polite? Arthur wants to say hello to little Totty (who really is one of the more hilarious characters in this novel).
- Mrs. Poyser goes to fetch her darling. Arthur and Hetty exchange some small talk about shipping the butter to market. Mrs. Poyser comes back with Totty. More pleasantries, more small talk, Totty shows Arthur the "tiny pink pocket" on her frock (7.27), which is, believe it or not, not a euphemism.