	Rachel Ablow’s The Marriage of Minds purposes to the reader that sympathy within the novel is designed to form a bond between the reader and the novel. More specifically, this sympathy can take many forms, “differentiating between public and private spheres”. With Ablow’s idea in mind, one is to be trained this sympathy by the novel, instructed and influenced accordingly. Sympathy is a timeless feeling, entwined within humanity throughout the ages. In the case of Villette, the contributions Lucy brings to Marchmont’s final days through her sympathy, while limited, are timeless in respect to the reader. Lucy Snowe’s principal role is an abstract marriage to the reader, one in which rather than being trained herself by the novel, Lucy’s interactions with Miss Marchmont ultimately train the reader sympathetically through the usage of time. 
	Firstly, it is important to recognize the need of sympathy for the reader. The novel comes with the implication that the reader is imperfect. Villette, through sympathy, is built to have the reader insert themselves, or follow along Lucy’s journey accordingly. In many respects, the reader is engaging in a marriage with Lucy across the novel, with the idea that one has much to gain in reading, either spiritually or emotionally, the novel is built to better oneself through intrinsic rewards like the aforementioned sympathy. Better yet, Lucy appears as “a worn-out creature” to Marchmont, though Lucy believes it merely external. This quote representing the travels to Marchmont’s dwelling represent the passage of time, with the journey far from over, it’s evident that the commodity of sympathy will be exchanged numerous times. 
The reader comes to a respite briefly in the chapter with Miss Marchmont, an old, wizened Marchmont comes to Lucy, and the reader, with much knowledge and thought to be had. 
Time is something that weighs on all of humanity, acknowledging it as limited. In the case of this chapter, it provides a sense of urgency in what Marchmont has to provide to Lucy and the reader, it’s immediately apparent that Lucy’s time spent here will be limited, yet still valuable as her caretaker. 
The interesting aspect here is that Lucy can so effortlessly describe her passage of time, while still capturing the reader’s sympathy by indoctrinating servitude. The imagery of Lucy’s dedication floods the mind of thoughts of much tiring, long, and arduous work, all in such a simple line. All the same, in portraying Marchmont as an old dying woman, the reader’s sympathy becomes Lucy’s sympathy, teaching oneself to sympathize with the elderly. A duality of sympathy between Lucy and Marchmont exists for the reader to be challenged upon with the passage of time, both in Lucy’s descriptions and on the basis of age.
Looking more closely at Marchmont, she clearly views her deceased husband as the greatest single thing to ever bless her life, “I think of Frank more than of God” she proudly proclaims. With the acknowledgement of his mortality to the reader, in Marchmont’s eyes he lives on, eternally within her, with values that she has inherited from him. One can presume what these values are, based on Miss Marchmont’s mannerisms, but as is accustomed to the elderly, she appears very nostalgic throughout. Yet, Marchmont is not speaking to just Lucy, in reminiscing, specifically going back in time, Miss Marchmont speaks to herself and the reader as well. In the telling of Marchmont’s deceased lover, the reader is driven towards sympathy with the tragic tale of Frank’s demise. With the idea that the novel is an “object of sympathies of “young and old alike” per Ablow, the relationship involved with having a far younger Lucy engaging in a nostalgic ceremony with Marchmont, forces the reader to take a side of their very own to relate to. In some respects, it is two different ages, new and old, engaging in an exchange of sympathies. Where the reader stands, of course, up to their own internal thoughts, but it’s important to recognize that by design, in abstractly marrying to Lucy as the reader of the novel, as per Ablow’s idea, one is trained to attune themselves to sympathize as though they were Marchmont’s own caretaker in this case. Pulling on the past for sympathy is of course, nothing new, yet it’s one of the many powerful tools used to mold the reader’s thoughts towards sympathy. 
