In which Dorothea visits the Hall to discuss the improvement of the estate with Mr. Brooke, sharing her heartfelt concern for the welfare of the tenant farmers, while Will Ladislaw reveals the tension between himself and Mr. Casaubon. Meanwhile, Mr. Brooke’s attempt to manage petty poaching among his tenants leads to a strained and discontented encounter with the Dagley family, illustrating the complex social undercurrents of rural Middlemarch.