Unlike Deadlock, Dickens contemplates to put Skimpole in this section. He ultimately decides to do this. It serves the function of reinforcing his negative personality, but it is also used as a device to highlight Richards negative behavior. How could any rational person befriend someone like Skimpole?

I began seriously to think that Richard could scarcely have found a worse friend than this.

The small handwriting suggest that Dickens added this in as an afterthought, but yet it adds another layer of complexity in the case. Driving into Jarndyce and Jarndyce suggest that the case is not just something a person attends, it is an entity that one lives inside of. An all consuming force that once entered no one can return.

Dickens portrayal of Mr. Vholes is a blatant criticism on lawyers. At the start he seems like a stark contrast to Richard. He has a family and seems to be healthily removed from his job. But a closer reading will reveal the indictment Dickens has made of lawyers: they are basically cannibals. Esthers physical description of him indicates this.

There was nothing so remarkable in him as a lifeless manner, and a slow fixed manner he had a way of looking at Richard.

Later on when Richard and Vholes are leaving she makes this remark

Richard, all flush and fire and laughter, with the reins in his hand; Mr. Vholes, quite still, black-gloved, and buttoned up, looking at him as if he were looking at his prey and charming it.

As the reader reaches the last few lines they understand Mr. Vholes characteristic and know the case will never end happily for Richard. Vholes is there to exploit and suck all of the money out of people like Richard Carstone.

Dickens highlights Richards further descent into madness by using his complete mistrust of Jarndyce. Carstone negates any previous work on the case including those who have been involved for years and abandons one of the only people who treat him kindly, Jarndyce for someone as vile as Skimpole.

Depictions of Ghosts walk bookend the dialogue between Esther and Lady Dedlock. The introduction of this dynamic ushers in a radically different view from the former and latter depictions. At the beginning of the chapter Esther describes it as "picturesque" and 'beautiful." She finds joyful solitude in admiring it at a distance. When she sees it for the second time her perception of the place is "grave." It is of important note that Esther is physically closer the second time, but it seems that not only has Lady Dedlock barred her from entering Chesney Wold,but the house itself seems to be pushing her away with its "turreted towers, eccentric shapes and old stone lions and grotesque monsters." It is obvious that Dedlocks revelation had a strong impact on Esther. This is enhanced when Lady Dedlock says they can never come into contact and it wasn't her fault that she was estranged from Esther. For the wisdom gained in understanding who her birth mother is, any happiness that Esther truly had while at Boythorns is gone. Discovering who her mother is and the subsequent estrangement and detachment from her is represented visually by the way Esther perceives Ghost walk and Chesney Wold. This representation is a significant part of the chapter which is why Dickens seems to place emphasis on Ghosts Walk by underlining the phrase twice.

When Esther first enters Boythorn's with Charley she looks in the mirror and sees the scar on her face from her smallpox's. This is just the first of many mirror images that will emerge throughout the chapter. The second is with Charley herself. She seems to be a reflection of Esther. She is a reflection in demeanor, employment and character. There are more throughout the chapter as well. Dickens may be suggesting that the characters in this novel have more in common than one might initially perceive by forcing the reader to relate the characters to one another.

There is evidence to suggest Dickens may have added this character in the novel to highlight how much of a child Mr. Guppy actually is. At the end of the chapter Mr. Guppy, a grown man, runs back to his mother after talking with Esther.

The struggle in Mr. Guppy's breast, and the numerous oscillations it occasioned him between his mother's door and us, were sufficiently conspicuous in the windy street.

This may procure in the reader a sense of uneasiness. As his words say he will keep the secret, his childish actions may suggest otherwise.

This draws a significant parallel to Jo sweep and Tom-All-Alones. This serves as another example of the mirror image that is reflected throughout this particular installment.

Esther is ecstatic to meet with Ada in the closing lines of this chapter. The language with which she describes their reunion is like that of a long lost love. This blissful reunion seems to exists as a dichotomy set up against her sad reunion with her mother.

O how happy I was, down upon the floor, with my sweet beautiful girl down upon the floor too, holding my scarred face to her lovely cheek, bathing it with tears and kisses, rocking me to and fro like a child, calling me by every tender name that she could think of, and pressing me to her faithful heart.

Dickens's description of what is happening is interesting. He literally and metaphorically writes off one of the most important pieces of dialogue in the text as simply "an interview with her mother." There is more in this phrasing though; the word interview suggests there is a face to face meeting in which someone is being interrogated about a topic. The initial interaction between Lady Dedlock and Esther doesn’t reflect this, but Esther does start to ask her mother about the secret and who knows of their relationship. This may indicate that the annotation isn't actually referring to the revelation itself because Dickens already noted that in the first installment, but it may be referring to the actual line of questioning after the information is revealed to Esther. The questions Esther Asks include:

But is the secret safe so far? Is it safe now? Do you dread a particular person? An enemy? Has he any suspicions? Could you trust him? etc...

Both when isolated and in context these questions seem to be indicative of a police interrogation. The language seems very straight forward. When Esther asks a question Lady Deadlock responds accordingly and to the point. Reflecting a line of questioning the police may ask a suspect when trying to piece together the parts of an undiscovered crime. This is in stark contrast to other parts in the novel when Dickens dialogue has a quality of overabundance. Once the information is revealed to Esther she immediately starts to try and piece together information about the person who might reveal the secret.

There seems to be an in emphatic finality with which Dickens places the period beside Lady Deadlock’s name. This suggests that he already knew before starting this chapter she was going to tell Esther in this section. The timing was left ambiguous. He seems to come to the conclusion that it would be best to begin with Lady Dedlock telling Esther in the first chapter, Chesney Wold. Although further analysis uncovers that this line of questioning he jots down reveals his writing process. From the very first set of installment notes he already knows that a major plot point in this novel is the uncovering of this relationship; however, when analyzing these notes one understands that Dickens has to physically put pen to paper and articulate his thoughts in a way that is accessible to readers. The disconnect between a perfect thought in one's head and actually plotting a scene can be a difficult task and here we see an example of Dickens trying to figure this out first hand.

In this chapter Lady Dedlock reveals the news to Esther that she is her mother. The chapter, Chesney Wold, seems to be titled in specific relation to this revelation. Up until this point Esther knows basic facts about Chesney Wold, where it is, who lives there, why Boythorn and Sir Leicester are in a land scuffle, but she has no need to go there and still doesn't find out the relationship to Lady Dedlock until this chapter in the novel. As the alternating chapters between Esther and Chesney Wold string together, the discovery of Lady Dedlock and Esther's relationship is what culminates with a significant tie in Bleak House and Chesney Wold.

'O my child, my child, I am your wicked and unhappy mother!