He stays there for a couple weeks. Overtime, they get to know one another and the narrator is swept away by this older man. He dotes on her in a seemingly mild condescendence. Maxim proposes to her after a few short weeks by saying "I'm asking you to marry me you little fool." The narrator agrees and Maxim takes her to his estate, Manderley. The narrator soon finds out about Maxim's late wife, Rebecca. Du Maurier got the idea of Rebecca's character from her real life husband's first fiancé Jan. This reflects du Maurier's insecurities about her husband's first love. Rebecca died, yet her presence is still very much felt within the Manderley home. Mrs. Danvers is the head housekeeper of the estate. It was at Milton Hall that she conceived of Mrs Danvers. "She saw this tall, dark housekeeper woman" (House 1). She is a very frightening woman to the narrator. The narrator has support from the house overseer, Frank Crowley, and Maxim's sister, Beatrice, but other than them, she feels very intimidated. She struggles to start a new life in Manderley. The narrator feels as if Rebecca was put on a pedestal that she could never compare to. Rebecca was beautiful and in control of the entire manor. The narrator feels as if Maxim and Rebecca had a wonderful marriage that she will never amount to.
Manderley throws a ball every year and Mrs. Danvers tricks the narrator into wearing a dress that happened to be what Rebecca wore to last year's ball. Maxim despises the fact that his new wife wore the same dress as Rebecca and the narrator once again feels like Maxim will forever be in love with Rebecca and never love another woman quite like he loved his first wife. The next day the narrator was close to committing suicide when all of the sudden fireworks go off. That is a warning that a ship has run aground. When the divers swim off to the ship, they discover Rebecca's boat has been wrecked and her body is in the boat.
