Silas Marner has lived in the village of Raveloe for fifteen years, but is still considered and outsider. Nevertheless, his weaving is in much demand and he grows rich Silas throws himself into his weaving, “…reducing his life to the unquestioning activity of a spinning insect.”,”…so to bridge the loveless chasms of his life.”. In his isolation, his growing hoard, “Gradually the guineas, the crowns and the half-crowns grew to a heap.” of coins were becoming his dear friends. “He loved the guineas best,…the silver, the crowns and half-crowns…he loved them all”, accumulating them becomes his only purpose in life, “His gold…gathered his power of loving together into a hard isolation like it’s own”. His money obsessed him, he “…bathed his hands in them…counted them…and thought fondly of them…”.
Squire Cass is the most important man in Raveloe. He has two sons; Godfrey and Dunstan. His brother, Dunstan, who knows of his secret marriage to Molly, a drug addict, is blackmailing Godfrey, the eldest son. To prevent Dunstan telling his father, Goodbye allows him to take Wildfire, his beloved horse, to sell at the hunt the next day. Dunstan strikes a bargain with Bryce for the sale of the horse, but foolishly goes on to ride it in the hunt. There is an accident, which kills the horse, but leaves Dunstan alive to walk home. On the way back to Raveloe, he loses his way in the thick fog, and stumbles across Silas’s cottage. The cottage is empty and Silas has gone on an errand, but has a cataleptic fit, on the way back, causing him to lose consciousness and track of time. Whilst Silas is gone, in his greed, Dunstan steals Silas’s gold, “Who would know that anyone had come to take it away?”
When Silas returns to his cottage, he sees that the gold has gone. He searches everywhere in disbelief, that it can have gone, “Didn’t the gold lie there after all?”. He is devastated; “He put his trembling hands to his head and gave a wild ringing scream, the cry of desolation”. He goes to the Rainbow Inn to tell the Villagers of his loss, in the hope of recovering his lost gold. When Silas arrives at the inn, the villagers are in the middle of a lively discussion. It takes them a while to see that Silas is there and initially mistake him for being a ghost. Once they realise that he is not a ghost he tell them of his loss. The villagers are intrigued and sympathetic and agree to help him.
Discussion of the robbery continues, but there is no real evidence as it has all been washed away by the rain. Bryce, who had agreed to buy the horse, comes to Godfrey and tells him about the accident. Bryce tells Godfrey that he doesn’t know where Dunstan is. Godfrey, who is now very worried about the truth coming out, decides to confess everything to his father, Squire Cass. Godfrey manages to tell his father about Wildfire, and the missing money,but omits to tell him about his secret marriage.
Silas mourns the loss of his gold, but the villagers are becoming more friendly and some of them begin to visit him. The great dance at the Red house on New Years Eve is an extrvagant soaial eventNancy Lammeter, who Godfrey wishes to marry, is among the many guests. Molly decides to go to othe Red house and shame Godfrey in front of everyone. She struggles against the cold snow and wind, stopping for a moment to take some Opium, causing her to tire and sleep, the cold then kills her. The child wakes up and sees the light coming from Silas’s cotaage, she is drawn towards the light, interested to see what it is. The child walks into the cottage, past Silas, who is having a Cataleptic fit and falls asleep in front of the warmfire. When Silas recovers from his catalepticfit he sees the child by the fire and mistakes it for his gold, “It seemed as if there were gold on the floor in front of the hearth. Gold! – his own gold”. When he goes to see the gold, he discovers that it is actually a “sleeping child… with soft yellow rings all over it’s head”. Silas first hinks that it is a reincarnation of his little sister who died “when he was a small boy without shoes or stockings”. He then goes outside & finds the body of the dead mother.
Silas takes the child to the great dance, to report the death of the mother and the discovery of the child. When silas tells them this Gofrey doesn’t admit that the child is his & that he is married to he woman. Silas announces that he intends to care for the child, and nobody opposes him. Silas christens the child Eppie, and looks after her well. Eppie follows Silas everywhere
