The Maidens

Once on campus, Mariana feels comforted by its solid, unchanging presence. Her and Sebastian’s story is one of many and no more important than any other. Seeing police officers milling around reminds Mariana to find Zoe, but first she runs into Julian Ashcroft, an old psychotherapy classmate who is now a “talking head” for true-crime documentaries and strikes Mariana as “slightly artificial.” He reveals that he is working with police to identify the killer, that the murder was excessively brutal, and that the victim was indeed Tara. Mariana rushes off to find Zoe. 

Glimpsing Zoe through a stained-glass window, Mariana recalls Zoe’s childhood; scarred by her parents’ sudden death, Zoe struggled with depression in adolescence but eventually overcame her trauma to gain admittance to Cambridge. Mariana worries about how the death of Tara, Zoe’s best friend, will affect her.

Seeing Mariana, Zoe throws herself into her aunt’s arms and weeps that Tara’s death is her fault. Reluctantly, she reveals that shortly before the murder, Tara was “high on something” and “a real mess” (59), afraid that Edward Fosca, her Cambridge tutor, was going to kill her.

An hour later, Zoe repeats the story to Sadhu Sangha, the inspector in charge of the investigation, adding that Tara and Edward were sleeping together. Sangha leaves to speak to Edward and returns saying he has an alibi: He was teaching six students in his rooms at the time of Tara’s death. Sangha then asks Zoe what she knows about Conrad Ellis, a friend of Tara’s with a history of drug dealing and aggravated assault whose neighbors heard him having violent arguments with her. Zoe claims he is “a nice guy” who never hurt Tara, but Sangha does not seem convinced. When Mariana challenges him, he warns her not to interfere in his investigation. 

As Mariana comforts Zoe after the interview with Sangha, Edward appears. He explains that he had to fail Tara for the year since she had been missing classes and not submitting assignments. He claims that Tara took it badly, fearful of how her strict father would react, and that her sexual allegations against him were an attempt at retaliation; he insists he would never have sex with a student. Despite herself, Mariana finds him believable. When he asks an embarrassed and uncomfortable Zoe if they are “okay,” she replies affirmatively. After he leaves, Mariana announces her intention to speak with Conrad and then spots Ashcroft across the lawn.

Ashcroft arranges a meeting with Conrad, whom Mariana finds expressionless and lumbering but gentle. He repeatedly insists that he loved and did not hurt Tara, but he calls her friends “witches.” Ashcroft relentlessly questions him, seemingly with the intent to reveal his guilt, though no evidence implicates him. When asked about Edward, Conrad reveals that he bought drugs for him and that he “fancied” Tara. Mariana believes Conrad is innocent and heartbroken, but Ashcroft disagrees. He invites Mariana for a drink, but she declines, finding Ashcroft “cold, hard, unkind” (72).

A memorial service is held for Tara in a campus chapel built in 1612. Tara’s parents, Lord and Lady Hampton, come from Scotland to attend. Mariana empathizes with their loss. Edward attends with six young women wearing long white dresses. Mariana wonders if they are the “witches” that Conrad referred to in his interview. Her thoughts wander to memories of Sebastian’s death and its aftermath, including her use of drugs and alcohol to cope with the rage she alternately felt at him for being reckless and at herself. She excuses herself from the memorial and watches the sky for some sign of Sebastian’s presence, but none comes.

After the service, Zoe is determined to help Conrad and rebukes Mariana for her reluctance to get involved, saying that Sebastian would “know what to do” (78). Mariana voices her concern that Zoe is hiding something, but she denies it. She catches Zoe looking at Fosca with a fearful expression. When he walks over and formally introduces himself, Mariana is surprised to discover that he knows that she is widowed. 

After the memorial, Mariana meets with her former teacher Clarissa Miller, a kind, patient widow in her late 70s. The two women discuss the brutality of the murder, recalling the opening lines of the Iliad and their reference to frenzied rage; they also talk about Edward and grief. Clarissa encourages Mariana to stay and try to help the investigation, but she demurs, saying she needs to return to London the next day. Clarissa offers to find Mariana a guest room on campus and gives her a volume of Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam A. H. H.

A porter, Mr. Morris, shows Mariana to her guest room. Polite and formal, he is the grandson of the porter Mariana remembers from her student days. They discuss the murder, and Morris mentions that Tara’s friends are a “provocative group of young women” and “boisterous” partiers (89).

After Morris excuses himself, Mariana passes the time reading In Memoriam, Tennyson’s elegy for his beloved friend, classmate, and possible lover, Arthur Henry Hallam. After Hallam’s sudden death, Tennyson became lost in grief. Reading his poems, Mariana feels she is reading her own thoughts. She wonders if returning to London is her way of running away and resolves to stay in Cambridge a few days longer and investigate. Perhaps Edward’s behavior was rehearsed.