“Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you.”
Why it's great
A blunt denial flips into a promise, which is why the line lands so warmly.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
Not in the least, because I'll be right beside you.
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Roderick Asks Stella to Leave, Explained
The Uninvited · 1944
Chapter 17 of 28 · 2'05"
Roderick has come to Stella with a plan and a proposal, but he has misread her. He asks her to leave Windward forever and offers a small flat in London; she answers with her mother, who she believes is calling her back to the house. "You talk about destroying that house," she says. "You'd be tearing me apart."
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:56–1:12
❝ Monologue · 6 lines Rick's plan
He shifts from pleading to promising, turning a tiny flat into a shared future.
16s - 1:16–1:55
The Breakup at Beech's House
40s
Roderick Asks Stella to Leave, explained
What happens
Roderick visits Stella and tells her she must never go back to Windward. He has thought it through and wants them to leave together for a small flat in London. Stella refuses: she believes her mother's ghost is waiting for her there. She asks Roderick to take her, and when he refuses, the argument turns bitter. She tells him she hates him and will never forget her mother.
What's really going on
Roderick thinks he is rescuing Stella, but he has misread what she wants. His plan — London, a small flat, tearing down Windward — is generous and completely beside the point, because Stella is not afraid of the house; she is drawn to it. Her line, "You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart," makes the house and her mother the same thing. Roderick answers with the language of health and sense, calling her beliefs "horrible, unhealthy stuff" and telling her to "turn your back on the past and run." She refuses, and the love scene turns into an ending: she says she hates him, and vows he will never make her forget her mother. The visit makes him a rival to a ghost — a contest he cannot win.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you.”
- Roderick's answer to whether he would mind leaving: not at all, because his plan is to go with her.
- “You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart.”
- Stella makes her mother and the house inseparable: to destroy Windward would be to destroy her.
- “Turn your back on the past and run, run hard.”
- Roderick's advice, delivered as a command: stop looking backward and run toward a new life.
- “But Stella, you're talking of a dream and a memory.”
- His attempt to shrink her devotion to something unreal, which is exactly what she will not accept.
Theme
- Death & grief — Stella cannot give up her dead mother, and the ghost gives her a reason to refuse a new life.
- Heartbreak — Roderick offers a shared future and is answered with hatred; the romance ends in the same conversation.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
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A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“You talk about destroying that house. You'd be tearing me apart.”
Why it's great
Turning a house into her own body makes an abstract argument suddenly physical.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
Selling the old house would be tearing us apart.
“Turn your back on the past and run, run hard.”
Why it's great
Two commands and a repeated run make it sound like both an order and a plea.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
Turn your back on that mistake and run.
“But Stella, you're talking of a dream and a memory.”
Why it's great
A gentle, cruel deflation that calls the thing she lives by a phantom.
Register
Neutral
Use it yourself
You're talking of a dream and a memory, not a plan.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ Rick's plan
I've thought this thing out, and you must go away from here. - Go away? - Yes, forever. You wouldn't care? Not in the least, because I'll be coming with you. It won't be luxury, just the smallest London flat, but it'll be ours. And no unseen, uninvited guests.
He shifts from pleading to promising, turning a tiny flat into a shared future.
Up next · 18mind at restThe scene: They Plan a Séance for StellaTakeaways
What you walk away with- A refused plea can turn affection into blame.
- Rick's promise of a tiny flat is really a promise of safety.
- Stella measures love by a mother, not a man.
- The quarrel ends on a line no apology can undo.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy has Roderick come to see Stella?
He wants her to leave Windward forever and to start a new life with him in London. He has decided the house is dangerous and thinks the plan will rescue her from it.
Why does Stella refuse to leave?
She believes her mother's ghost is waiting for her at Windward. Rather than fear the house, she feels called back to it, so Roderick's plan reads to her as a betrayal.
Why does Stella say she hates Roderick?
Because he promises she will never go back to Windward. To her, that means being cut off from her mother, so she turns on the person trying to take that away.
What happens to their relationship in this scene?
It ends. Roderick offers a shared future and Stella answers with hatred and a vow never to forget her mother, leaving him as a rival to a ghost.
Who is Mary Meredith?
She is Stella's dead mother, and the ghost at Windward. Stella calls out to her by name at the start and insists she is waiting for her.