'Why did she stand before me with the candle in her hand, with her cruel contemptuous eyes fixed on me, and the glittering serpent, like a familiar demon, on her breast?'

Colored illustration of an elegant woman in a pink dress holding a candle and gazing at a seated man who looks back at her.

Bertha visits her husband, Latimer, in the library wearing a white ball gown. She is about to go out, but she first wants to tell Latimer that her maid is getting married and that she will be hiring a new one. It is the same scene that Latimer’s powers of divination showed him as a young man in Vienna. Through these supernatural powers, Latimer also knows that Bertha hates him and wants him to die.

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952)

George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

1910

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952), 'Why did she stand before me with the candle in her hand, with her cruel contemptuous eyes fixed on me, and the glittering serpent, like a familiar demon, on her breast?', George Eliot Illustrations Gallery, George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/83447