Bertram Cope’s Year · Chapter
Cope Shall Be Rescued explained
After a tense evening, Cope leaves early with Lemoyne, avoiding the household.
What happens
After a tense evening, Cope leaves early with Lemoyne, avoiding the household. Foster, sleepless, overhears their murmuring and later discusses Cope's situation with Randolph, who learns of Cope's disinterest in Amy. Randolph arranges a dinner with Mrs. Phillips, Hortense, and Pearson to strategize Cope's 'rescue' by promoting Pearson as a suitor for Amy.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the story's dramatic climax because it marks the emotional and psychological peak of Randolph's disill…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Social Manipulation and Patronage
Randolph orchestrates a dinner to engineer a match between Pearson and Amy, manipulating social settings to 'rescue' Cope.
- Unrequited and Ambiguous Desire
Cope's despair over Amy and his closeness with Lemoyne suggest ambiguous desires; Foster's bitter observations highlight unrequited longing.
- Youth vs. Middle Age
Foster, older and infirm, contrasts with the young men's vitality and murmuring; Randolph mediates between generations.
Characters to notice
- Bertram Cope
Leaves before breakfast with Lemoyne, exhausted and distressed; meets Randolph at the library and expresses despair over Amy, saying 'let him' win her.
- Arthur Lemoyne
Stays overnight with Cope, makes breakfast, and offers blunt advice about Amy being a 'clinger'; his presence and intimacy are noted by Foster.
- Basil Randolph
Meets Cope at the library, learns of Cope's true feelings, and arranges a dinner to promote Pearson as a suitor for Amy.
- Joe Foster
Restless and bitter, overhears Cope and Lemoyne talking; later discusses the situation with Randolph, comparing the pair to a young married couple.
- Medora Phillips
Attends Randolph's dinner, praises the house and Sing-Lo, and agrees that Cope and Amy are not suited; supports the plan to push Pearson forward.
- George F. Pearson
Invited to Randolph's dinner; speaks confidently, questions Amy's future as a violin teacher, and leaves determined to win her.
Key passages
“She is a clinger. She will cling until she is loosened by something or somebody. Then she will cling to the second somebody as hard as she did to the first.”
Lemoyne describes Amy as someone who attaches herself to a man and will only transfer her attachment to another man when forced.
Lemoyne's cynical view of Amy's affections.
“George Pearson? Win her? In heaven's name, let him!”
Cope exclaims that he has no interest in Amy and would welcome Pearson pursuing her.
Cope's true feelings revealed to Randolph.
“They brought the manners of the bedchamber into the drawing-room.”
Foster compares Cope and Lemoyne's public intimacy to a married couple's private behavior, implying impropriety.
Foster's bitter observation about the young men's closeness.
