CHAPTER 20: Summary
Nancy and Godfrey walk home in silence and stand together in the parlour. Nancy admitted they would have to give up all hope of adopting Eppie. Godfrey admitted that Silas was right when he said that it was too late for Godfrey to reclaim the blessing of having a child when he had once seen her presence as a burden.
Godfrey decided he would not let anyone know that Eppie was his daughter. He would still do all he could for her regardless of the life she had chosen. Godfrey and Nancy knew that Eppie was engaged to Aaron Winthrop, who was a good fellow. They resolved to be better people.
 Nancy admitted they would have to give up all hope of adopting Eppie. Godfrey and Nancy’s mutual acceptance of each other’s thoughts and feelings demonstrate that they had not lost everything. They loved each other, even though they had no children. Godfrey found peace which had been evading him for a long time.
Q1. What was the role of material wealth in finding peace and happiness?
Ans. Godfrey Cass believed that he could use his wealth to buy happiness in place of love that he had neglected to give. He had disowned Eppie, his daughter. After eighteen years, Godfrey wanted her back to fill a void in his childless life and make him happy. He had believed that his wealth could replace his missing love.
Eppie could not feel as if she had ” any father but one,” meaning Silas Marner, who cared for and loved her for sixteen years. The lack of love could not be replaced with wealth, and Godfrey’s life was to remain incomplete.
 Silas Marner was once incomplete and unhappy also when he was “cut off from faith and love,” and lived only to collect a hoard of gold. He shut out the rest of the world. “His life had reduced itself to the functions of weaving and hoarding”. In the life with only gold, and without love, Silas was an unhappy and lonely man. He remained in this bleak position for fifteen years until his gold was lost and replaced by Eppie. He started loving and caring for a child, who finally brought him happiness.
