Brideshead Revisited

Charles’s commanding officer laments the conditions at Brideshead. When he asks if anyone knows the area, Charles remains silent. A retired soldier from the area reports that “Lady Julia Flyte, as she calls herself now” still lives at Brideshead (326); she is still married to Rex and is currently serving in a women’s corps abroad. Marchmain left the house to her alone. The retired soldier shows them around Brideshead, including the paintings that Charles once did himself. Charles wanders the “desolate” house, eventually encountering a maid who recognizes him. Nanny Hawkins still lives upstairs; Charles finds her shockingly aged. Nanny reports that Julia and Cordelia are serving abroad; Brideshead and Beryl (now Lord and Lady Marchmain) had their first house bombed, their second requisitioned. Beryl now lives in a hotel. Rex is in residence; Nanny approves of his anti-Hitler rhetoric. Brideshead is serving in Palestine, as are Cordelia and Julia.

Charles speaks with Nanny for a while; when he returns, he finds that Hooper has been tricked by their subordinates, who wished to get out of working. Hooper marvels at the size of the house for a single family and Charles bitterly comments that he has neither home nor family.