Chapter 8 Summary

The chapter opens with a letter from Becky to Amelia. She writes about the dirty conditions of the house and how shocked she was to meet Sir Crawley. Becky writes of his extreme frugality, how he takes her candles after eleven o'clock and how he calls her a hussy. The property at Queen's Crawley is not as run down as their town house, but Becky says the Crawley home is glum and old fashioned.

Becky writes of dinner with the Crawley family. The current Lady Crawley is the daughter of an iron worker, from similar means as Becky. Pitt Crawley is ugly, quiet and dresses like an undertaker. Becky passes the evening reading boring political pamphlets while the family members entertain themselves by the light of a single candle. The eldest Crawley son reads "dismal sermons" to the family every evening while Lady...