Esther contracts smallpox and Richard becomes dangerously obsessed with the Jarndyce case. Tulkinghorn reveals to Lady Dedlock that he knows about her relationship to Nemo and Esther receives an unexpected proposal of marriage.

Disaster strikes in several forms as Esther contracts smallpox, one of the characters bursts into flames, and the moneylender Smallweed acquires the love letters once owned by Nemo. As Richard becomes dangerously obsessed with the Jarndyce case, Esther has a fateful meeting with Lady Dedlock.

Having acquired the incriminating love letters from Smallweed, Tulkinghorn reveals to Lady Dedlock that he knows all about her relationship to Nemo. Recovered from smallpox, though disfigured and spurned by an unwelcome former suitor, Esther receives a new and unexpected proposal of marriage.