After seeing off Agnes return to Canterbury, on account of Uriah Heep who accompanies her, David can’t help but feel distressed on Agnes’ behalf. It had been she who had advised her father to make Uriah his partner lest her father’s neglected business flounder. Unbeknownst to Agnes, Uriah not only had underhandedly insinuated himself into the family business, but he now has designs on making Agnes his wife, which scheme David had not the courage to tell Agnes lest the news make Agnes more unhappy than she already is.
As for his work at the Commons as a proctor, David attends to it diligently albeit disinterestedly when his supervisor Mr. Spenlow, citing his wish to warmly welcome his new hire, invites David to spend a weekend at Mr. Spenlow’s residence on the occasion of his daughter’s return from Paris, France, where she had attended school. David accepts the invitation what with the loneliness that is part and parcel of his a life as a bachelor.
On their way to Mr. Spenlow’s residence, for David’s benefit, Mr. Spenlow spells out the difference between a solicitor and a proctor and of the vital role the proctors play in the economic health of England. Though not wholly convinced of the latter, David defers to his supervisor’s claim.
Upon arriving at Norwood, Mr. Spenlow’s residence, Mr. Spenlow seeks out Dora, his daughter, and, having found her, introduces her to David. Incredibly, Dora is accompanied by Miss Murdstone who has been hired by Mr. Spenlow to be Dora’s companion and protector to compensate for Dora’s lack of a mother. More incredible still, David is unaffected by Miss Murdstone’s presence; David is unaffected because he has fallen in love with Dora at first sight and nothing, not even the bad memories associated with Miss Murdstone, will dampen his soaring spirits. Thus David spends Saturday evening and the whole of Sunday doting on Dora so that when he returns to London and to his humdrum duties as proctor, he can’t help but have symptoms akin to substance withdrawal. Indeed, he yearns so much to be with Dora, that he spends days, weeks, and months daydreaming of her.
One night, his landlady, Mrs. Crupp, asks David for a bit of brandy to allay her case of “the spazzums” (a chronic illness which causes an inflammation of Mrs. Crupps’ nose). While doing so, she notices that David is low in his spirits. She tries to cheer him up, going so far as to guess correctly the cause of his low spirits. When David asks how she could have ever known, Mrs. Crupp replies that experience had taught her when a gentleman under goes a radical mood swing that it invariably involves a young lady. David reminds himself to be more circumspect in the future with regard secrets.