Synopsis - Jane enters into a walled garden with the help of a young woman about her own age. After traversing a large garden they enter the main house at St. Anne's. Jane meets Miss Ironwood, who appears in real life just as she did in Jane's dream. But Jane is dissapointed when Miss Ironwood informs her that she can not be cured of her nightmares because there is nothing wrong with her. She tells Jane that her visions are a gift from God. To prove this she shows Jane a book written by an ancestor of Jane about a battle he viewed from hundreds of miles away through a vision. Jane is so despondent becaise she thought that Mr. Dimble wanted to help cure her of her nightmares. Not use them for some strange cause. Jane leaves St. Anne's in haste with no intention of returning.
I was surprised that Camilla Deniston was able to answer Jane's knock on the garden gate as quickly as she did, considering how far the entrance is from the main house. The two of them have to travel through a spacious, walled garden. Jane likens this garden to several literary ones she is familiar with. At first she remembers the garden from Peter Rabbit. Then she decicdes it's more like the garden in Romance of the Rose, an allegory of courtly love by Guillaume de Lorris. This poem opens with the popular medieval topic of dreams and their significance. Quite appropriate in Jane's case. Next the scene reminds her of Klingsor's garden. This was a garden of temptation from Wagner's Parsifal populated with flower fairies to hinder the Grail Knights on their quest, it was set up by an unworthy knight named Klingsor who severed his own genitals after being turned down by the Grail Knights because of his lust. Finally Jane is reminded of the garden from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But she soon rejects this comparison. Jane thinks of all these different gardens. Any yet, her she makes only a passing reference to the Biblical Garden of Eden. Dismissing it as "... like the garden on the top of some Mesopotamian ziggurat which had probably given rise to the whole legend of Paradise... " rather than making a direct reference. Jane also remembers a quote - "The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male, and it is no accident that the goddess of Love is older and stronger than the god." Yet she does not remember where she originaly heard it. The window clapping shut as Jane and the young woman approach the main house feels rather ominous. Surely they are being watched.
While Jane finds herself waiting in the back of this house it is quiet, except that "Occasionally the cawing of rooks could be heard." The mention of "rooks" had me thinking of Stanley's Chess Board analogy. But I am sure it was the call of crows rather than a reference to the castle playing piece that Lewis wants us to think of. Especialy when Jane takes time to read the one book inside this room. She opens it to the exact page where she read the quote she thought about in the garden! Real deja vu. Of course the young woman returns just as Jane is reading the whole page, adding to Jane's tenseness. The woman's name is Camilla Denniston, and she will have more to do with the story as it goes on. For now, she takes Jane to Miss Ironwood's room.
Of course Miss Ironwood is just as she appeared in Jane's vision. She is very businesslike in writing down Jane's answers to her questions. Untill Jane tells her about her disturbing dreams. at first Miss Ironwood tenses up. Untill finally she breaks in two the pencil she's holding. Lewis does a fine job conveying the point that Miss Ironwood is holding back whatever it is she knows about these visions of Jane. Something she dare not tell Jane directly.
And so Jane is understandably annoyed when Miss Ironwood informs her that she can not be cured because there is nothing wrong with her. The best she can do is show Jane a book written by one of Jane's ancesstors. This book is about the battle of Worcester, the final defeat of the Royalist cause on September 3, 1651. It appears to be a first person account. And yet the writer was far away in York at the time of the battle. Apparently these distant visions run in Jane's family.
Also, that family happens to be the Warwickshire branch of the Tudors - Six of whom were monarchs of England, including Henry the VIII. So Jane has the sort of pedigree which Bill the blizzard would have been impressed by.
At one point Lewis notes about Jane, "In some ways she was very young". This reminded me of what the Green Lady said about her own inexperience in Perelandra. This must explain why Jane rejects Miss Ironwood's invitation to join her "company" and use her visions for good. And yet I can hardly blame Jane since Miss Ironwood is much too vague about just who the higher powers are whom she serves. If I was in Jane's situation, I am sure I would avoid entaglements with people who would not tell the whole truth about what it is they are doing. Even if they belive they are on the side of goodness.