“ “Great Heaven!” exclaimed George Talboys, “is this the way you welcome me? I come to England to find my wife dead within a week of my touching land, and you begin to chatter to me about my beard — you, her father!” “True! True!” cried George” (63)
This conversation is the first one that George and Maldon have had since George left. George does not hesitate to call Maldon out for not being serious and about how the first thing he said was about his beard and not his wife. George in this conversation is obviously upset and seems like he has already had enough of Maldon, which is very reasonable. Maldon on the other hand doesn’t seem that fazed and is really just blaming his daughters death on George. Later in the conversation Maldon says “If you’d only been here a week earlier?”(63) It seems like Maldon can’t take responsibility for his actions and just wants to put the blame on someone else, or it also seems like Maldon might be hiding something. It seems like he might be lying about his daughter’s death and trying to keep a secret because of the way he acted. When he first saw George it didn’t seem like the way someone would act when they saw the husband of their daughter who had just died. I wouldn’t think that his first reaction would be to blame him for his daughter’s death. Also at the end of the conversation Robert said to himself “He seems, for some reason or other, to be half afraid of George.”(63) This shows how Maldon might not want to tell George something that would make him upset.
I think that this conversation shows the relationship that George and Maldon have and Maldons suspicious actions. Even though Maldon does seem sad his altercation with George makes it seem like he is hiding something from George.
I agree that Maldon acts very suspicious when questioned about the death of his daughter and this behavior is perpetuated as the novel continues. This is seen when Georgey talks about “the pretty lady” that visited him and gifted him a gold watch, Maldon first claims his grandson is referencing his late daughter, but then claims it was the wife of a captain who they knew. His shift in narrative proves to further illuminate his strange behavior about the passing of his daughter.
The idea that Maldon is hiding something from George is very interesting, and I did not think about how much his interaction with George displayed this. In addition to the actual dialogue within the scene, the way the characters say the lines also add onto your observation. George “exclaim(s)” and “crie(s)” when speaking with Maldon, both of which are understandable and expected forms of grief. However, Maldon just “says” what he is thinking, with little emotion attached to it, which is odd during grief. This relates to the deeper mystery of Maldons influence in George’s disappearance. When Robert went back to visit him in volume 2 chapter 2 he met with Georgey who was constantly repeating that “Grandpa told me not to tell anybody” (168). Why was Maldon so insistent in what Georgey is and is not allowed to say? This, and what you pointed out, shows how suspicious Maldon is.