Dickens conveys Louisa's inner desire to feel more than she does through the repetion of the pattern of fire, embers, and ashes. This "inner light" that Louisa connects with but can never really define seems to be an underlying force establishing that as gloomy as it seems, Louisa hasn't given up. With this in mind, does Louisa's draw towards Harthouse that drags her down Mrs. Sparsit's metaphorical staircase have any impact on her inner light? Does it grow with her attraction to Harthouse, or does he smother it like the other "fact based" men?
Harthouse is an confusing character because he is so apathetic, because even though he is of the highter class, he seems not to belong with the "fact based men" like Gradgrind and Bounderby. Yes, he adopts the fact-based system but he "may as well back them as anything else"(129) Therefore, he seems to me to be in a 3rd category by himself: there is 1.)emotion and fancy 2.) rigid fact-based structure and 3.)apathy. In regards to your question about his effect on Louisa, if she does have an "inner light", then he would have seemed to supress it at first but then I would like he would help this light to grow more by showing her exactly how not to life one's life. Overcoming him is just another challenge on the road to her development as a more adjusted woman
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