“Take care Mr Bellingham hears nothing of this Mr Benson’s note,” said Mrs Bellingham, as she delivered the answer to her maid; “he is so sensitive just now that it would annoy him sadly, I am sure.” (chapter 10)
Mrs. Bellingham is insistent on keeping Ruth as far away from her son as possible. She intercepts Mr. Benson’s letter and even has the audacity to write back to him (as not the correspondent of that letter), telling him off. Ruth had her innocence taken away by Henry and he aided in this perception of Ruth as a “fallen woman”. Mrs. Mason shares a similar perception of the situation as Mrs. Bellingham. There is a lot of shame surrounding Ruth, but nobody considers how her age and upbringing affect how she is being affected by Henry. She is still young and has been swept off her feet by someone who is 7 years older than her, there is automatically a power dynamic between the two.
Why does Mrs. Bellingham care so much about and put the blame entirely on Ruth? Henry could have easily said to Mrs. Mason that they weren’t doing anything romantic or scandalous, but he made a choice not to and let her be fired. Why was Ruth disregarded because people thought she was romantically/physically interested in Henry when plenty of people themselves are attracted to others in the same way she was to Henry?
