The Solitary House (With Bonus Novels Bleak House and the Woman in White)
Page 212
The body was identified, the day after I had seen it, by means of an anonymous letter addressed to his wife. He was buried, by Madame Fosco, in the cemetery of Père la Chaise. Fresh funeral wreaths continue, to this day, to be hung on the ornamental bronze-railings round the tomb, by the Countess’s own hand. She lives, in the strictest retirement, at Versailles. Not long since, she published a Biography of her decreased husband. The work throws no light whatever on the name that was really his own, or on the secret history of his life: it is almost entirely devoted to the praise of his domestic virtues, the assertion of his rare abilities, and the enumeration of the honours conferred on him. The circumstances attending his death are very briefly noticed; and are summed up, on the last page, in this sentence:—“His life was one long assertion of the rights of the aristocracy, and the sacred principles of Order—and he died a Martyr to his cause.”
III
The summer and autumn passed, after my return from Paris, and brought no changes with them which need be noticed here. We lived so simply and quietly, that the income which I was now steadily earning sufficed for all our wants.
In the February of the new year, our first child was born—a son. My mother and sister and Mrs. Vesey, were our guests at the little christening party; and Mrs. Clements was present, to assist my wife, on the same occasion. Marian was our boy’s godmother; and Pesca and Mr. Gilmore (the latter acting by proxy) were his godfathers. I may add here, that, when Mr. Gilmore returned to us, a year later, he assisted the design of these pages, at my request, by writing the Narrative which appears early in the story under his name, and which, though the first in order of precedence, was thus, in order of time, the last that I received.
The only event in our lives which now remains to be recorded, occurred when our little Walter was six months old.
At that time, I was sent to Ireland, to make sketches for certain forthcoming illustrations in the newspaper to which I was attached. I was away for nearly a fortnight, corresponding regularly with my wife and Marian, except during the last three days of my absence, when my movements were too uncertain to enable me to receive letters. I performed the latter part of my journey back, at night; and when I reached home in the morning, to my utter astonishment, there was no one to receive me. Laura and Marian and the child had left the house on the day before my return.
A note from my wife, which was given to me by the servant, only increased my surprise, by informing me that they had gone to Limmeridge House. Marian had prohibited any attempt at written explanations—I was entreated to follow them the moment I came back—complete enlightenment awaited me on my arrival in Cumberland—and I was forbidden to feel the slightest anxiety, in the mean time. There the note ended.
It was still early enough to catch the morning train. I reached Limmeridge House the same afternoon.
My wife and Marian were both up-stairs. They had established themselves (by way of completing my amazement) in the little room which had once been assigned to me for a studio, when I was employed on Mr. Fairlie’s drawings. On the very chair which I used to occupy when I was at work, Marian was sitting now, with the child industriously sucking his coral upon her lap—while Laura was standing by the well-remembered drawing-table which I had so often used, with the little album that I had filled for her, in past times, open under her hand.
“What in the name of heaven has brought you here?” I asked. “Does Mr. Fairlie know——?”
Marian suspended the question on my lips, by telling me that Mr. Fairlie was dead. He had been struck by paralysis, and had never rallied after the shock. Mr. Kyrle had informed them of his death, and had advised them to proceed immediately to Limmeridge House.
Some dim perception of a great change dawned on my mind. Laura spoke before I had quite realised it. She stole close to me, to enjoy the surprise which was still expressed in my face.
“My darling Walter,” she said, “must we really account for our boldness in coming here? I am afraid, love, I can only explain it by breaking through our rule, and referring to the past.”
“There is not the least necessity for doing anything of the kind,” said Marian. “We can be just as explicit, and much more interesting, by referring to the future.” She rose; and held up the child, kicking and crowing in her arms. “Do you know who this is, Walter?” she asked, with bright tears of happiness gathering in her eyes.
“Even my bewilderment has its limits,” I replied. “I think I can still answer for knowing my own child.”
“Child!” she exclaimed, with all her easy gaiety of old times. “Do you talk in that familiar manner of one of the landed gentry of England? Are you aware, when I present this august baby to your notice, in whose presence you stand? Evidently not! Let me make two eminent personages known to one another: Mr. Walter Hartright—the Heir of Limmeridge.”
So she spoke. In writing those last words, I have written all. The pen falters in my hand; the long, happy labour of many months is over! Marian was the good angel of our lives—let Marian end our Story.
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FOR THESE BANTAM CLASSICS
BEOWULF AND OTHER ENGLISH POEMS, 978-0-553-21347-8
THE BHAGAVAD-GITA: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL IN TIME OF WAR, 978-0-553-21365-2
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES, 978-0-553-21482-6
THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, 978-0-553-21340-9
FOUR GREAT AMERICAN CLASSICS (THE SCARLET LETTER; THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE; BILLY BUDD, SAILOR), 978-0-553-21362-1
GREEK DRAMA, 978-0-553-21221-1
JO’S BOYS, Louisa May Alcott, 978-0-553-21449-9
LITTLE WOMEN, Louisa May Alcott, 978-0-553-21275-4
WINESBURG, OHIO, Sherwood Anderson, 978-0-553-21439-0
THE COMPLETE PLAYS, Aristophanes, 978-0-553-21343-0
EMMA, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21273-0
MANSFIELD PARK, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21276-1
NORTHANGER ABBEY, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21197-9
PERSUASION, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21137-5
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21310-2
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21334-8
PETER PAN, J. M. Barrie, 978-0-553-21178-8
BRADBURY CLASSIC STORIES, Ray Bradbury, 978-0-553-28637-3
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Ray Bradbury, 978-0-553-27822-4
JANE EYRE, Charlotte Brontë, 978-0-553-21140-5
VILLETTE, Charlotte Brontë, 978-0-553-21243-3
WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Emily Brontë, 978-0-553-21258-7
THE SECRET GARDEN, Frances Hodgson Burnett, 978-0-553-21201-3
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, Lewis Carroll, 978-0-553-21345-4
MY ÁNTONIA, Willa Cather, 978-0-553-21418-5
O PIONEERS!, Willa Cather, 978-0-553-21358-4
THE CANTERBURY TALES, Geoffrey Chaucer, 978-0-553-21082-8
STORIES, Anton Chekhov, 978-0-553-38100-9
THE AWAKENING, Kate Chopin, 978-0-553-21330-0
THE WOMAN IN WHITE, Wilkie Collins, 978-0-553-21263-1
HEART OF DARKNESS and THE SECRET SHARER, Joseph Conrad, 978-0-553-21214-3
LORD JIM, Joseph Conrad, 978-0-553-21361-4
THE DEERSLAYER, James Fenimore Cooper, 978-0-553-21085-9
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, James Fenimore Cooper, 978-0-553-21329-4
MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Stephen Crane, 978-0-553-21355-3
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, Stephen Crane, 978-0-553-21011-8
THE INFERNO, Dante, 978-0-553-21339-3
PARADISO, Dante, 978-0-553-21204-4
PURGATORIO, Dante, 978-0-553-21344-7
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Darwin, 978-0-553-21463-5
MOLL FLANDERS, Daniel Defoe, 978-0-553-21328-7
ROBINSON CRUSOE, Daniel Defoe, 978-0-553-21373-7
BLEAK HOUSE, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21223-5
DAVID COPPERFIELD, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21189-4
GREAT EXPECTATIONS, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21342-3
HARD TIMES, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21016-3
OLIVER TWIST, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21102-3
THE PICKWICK PAPERS, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21123-8
A TALE OF TWO CITIES, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21176-4
THREE SOLDIERS, John Dos Passos, 978-0-553-21456-7
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21216-7
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21175-7
THE ETERNAL HUSBAND AND OTHER STORIES, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21444-4
THE IDIOT, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21352-2
NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21144-3
SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL I, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 978-0-553-21241-9
SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL II, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 978-0-553-21242-6
SISTER CARRIE, Theodore Dreiser, 978-0-553-21374-4
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK, W. E. B. Du Bois, 978-0-553-21336-2
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, Alexandre Dumas, 978-0-553-21350-8
THE THREE MUSKETEERS, Alexandre Dumas, 978-0-553-21337-9
MIDDLEMARCH, George Eliot, 978-0-553-21180-1
SILAS MARNER, George Eliot, 978-0-553-21229-7
SELECTED ESSAYS, LECTURES, AND POEMS, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 978-0-553-21388-1
TEN PLAYS BY EURIPIDES, Euripides, 978-0-553-21363-8
APRIL MORNING, Howard Fast, 978-0-553-27322-9
MADAME BOVARY, Gustave Flaubert, 978-0-553-21341-6
HOWARDS END, E. M. Forster, 978-0-553-21208-2
A ROOM WITH A VIEW, E. M. Forster, 978-0-553-21323-2
THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL, Anne Frank, 978-0-553-57712-9
ANNE FRANK’S TALES FROM THE SECRET ANNEX, Anne Frank, 978-0-553-58638-1
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHER WRITINGS, Benjamin Franklin, 978-0-553-21075-0
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER AND OTHER WRITINGS, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 978-0-553-21375-1
FAUST FIRST PART, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 978-0-553-21348-5
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Kenneth Grahame, 978-0-553-21368-3
THE COMPLETE FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, translated by Jack Zipes, 978-0-553-38216-7
ROOTS, Alex Haley, 978-0-440-17464-6
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21331-7
JUDE THE OBSCURE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21191-7
THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21024-8
THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21269-3
TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21168-9
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 978-0-553-21270-9
THE SCARLET LETTER, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 978-0-553-21009-5
THE FAIRY TALES OF HERMANN HESSE, Hermann Hesse, 978-0-553-37776-7
SIDDHARTHA, Hermann Hesse, 978-0-553-20884-9
THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER, Homer, 978-0-553-21399-7
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, Victor Hugo, 978-0-553-21370-6
FOUR GREAT PLAYS: A DOLL’S HOUSE, GHOSTS, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, and THE WILD DUCK, Henrik Ibsen, 978-0-553-21280-8
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Henry James, 978-0-553-21127-6
THE TURN OF THE SCREW AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Henry James, 978-0-553-21059-0
A COUNTRY DOCTOR, Sarah Orne Jewett, 978-0-553-21498-7
DUBLINERS, James Joyce, 978-0-553-21380-5
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, James Joyce, 978-0-553-21404-8
THE METAMORPHOSIS, Franz Kafka, 978-0-553-21369-0
THE STORY OF MY LIFE, Helen Keller, 978-0-553-21387-4
CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21190-0
THE JUNGLE BOOK, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21199-3
KIM, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21332-4
LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21262-4
SONS AND LOVERS, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21192-4
WOMEN IN LOVE, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21454-3
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Gaston Leroux, 978-0-553-21376-8
BABBITT, Sinclair Lewis, 978-0-553-21486-4
MAIN STREET, Sinclair Lewis, 978-0-553-21451-2
THE CALL OF THE WILD and WHITE FANG, Jack London, 978-0-553-21233-4
THE SEA WOLF, Jack London, 978-0-553-21225-9
TO BUILD A FIRE AND OTHER STORIES, Jack London, 978-0-553-21335-5
THE PRINCE, Niccolò Machiavelli, 978-0-553-21278-5
DEATH IN VENICE AND OTHER STORIES, Thomas Mann, 978-0-553-21333-1
THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 978-0-553-21406-2
OF HUMAN BONDAGE, W. Somerset Maugham, 978-0-553-21392-8
THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ AND OTHER STORIES, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-27254-3
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-26963-5
THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-25051-0
BILLY BUDD, SAILOR AND OTHER STORIES, Herman Melville, 978-0-553-21274-7
MOBY-DICK, Herman Melville, 978-0-553-21311-9
ON LIBERTY and UTILITARIANISM, John Stuart Mill, 978-0-553-21414-7
THE ANNOTATED MILTON, John Milton, 978-0-553-58110-2
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, 978-0-553-21402-4
COMMON SENSE, Thomas Paine, 978-0-553-21465-9
THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO, Plato, 978-0-553-21371-3
THE TELL-TALE HEART AND OTHER WRITINGS, Edgar Allan Poe, 978-0-553-21228-0
CYRANO DE BERGERAC, Edmond Rostand, 978-0-553-21360-7
IVANHOE, Sir Walter Scott, 978-0-553-21326-3
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE (29 vols.), William Shakespeare
PYGMALION and MAJOR BARBARA, George Bernard Shaw, 978-0-553-21408-6
FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley, 978-0-553-21247-1
THE JUNGLE, Upton Sinclair, 978-0-553-21245-7
THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, Adam Smith, 978-0-553-58597-1
ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 978-0-553-24777-0
THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF SOPHOCLES, Sophocles, 978-0-553-21354-6
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21277-8
KIDNAPPED, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21260-0
TREASURE ISLAND, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21249-5
DRACULA, Bram Stoker, 978-0-553-21271-6
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 978-0-553-21218-1
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS AND OTHER WRITINGS, Jonathan Swift, 978-0-553-21232-7
VANITY FAIR, William Makepeace Thackeray, 978-0-553-21462-8
WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS, Henry David Thoreau, 978-0-553-21246-4
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, Alexis de Tocqueville, 978-0-553-21464-2
ANNA KARENINA, Leo Tolstoy, 978-0-553-21346-1
THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, Leo Tolstoy, 978-0-553-21035-4
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21079-8
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21128-3
THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF MARK TWAIN, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21195-5
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21143-6
LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21349-2
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21256-3
PUDD’NHEAD WILSON, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21158-0
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21252-5
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21356-0
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21420-8
THE AENEID OF VIRGIL, Virgil, 978-0-553-21041-5
CANDIDE, Voltaire, 978-0-553-21166-5
THE INVISIBLE MAN, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21353-9
THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21432-1
THE TIME MACHINE, H. G. Wells, 978
-0-553-21351-5
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21338-6
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21450-5
THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21393-5
ETHAN FROME AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21255-6
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21320-1
SUMMER, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21422-2
LEAVES OF GRASS, Walt Whitman, 978-0-553-21116-0
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY AND OTHER WRITINGS, Oscar Wilde, 978-0-553-21254-9
THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, Johann David Wyss, 978-0-553-21403-1
EARLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CLASSICS, edited by Anthony Appiah, 978-0-553-21379-9
FIFTY GREAT SHORT STORIES, edited by Milton Crane, 978-0-553-27745-6
FIFTY GREAT AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, edited by Milton Crane, 978-0-553-27294-9
SHORT SHORTS, edited by Irving Howe, 978-0-553-27440-0
GREAT AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, edited by Wallace & Mary Stegner, 978-0-440-33060-8
AMERICAN SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES, edited by Raymond Carver & Tom Jenks, 978-0-440-20423-7
SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES, edited by Robert Penn Warren, 978-0-440-37864-8
THE VOICE THAT IS GREAT WITHIN US, edited by Hayden Carruth, 978-0-553-26263-6
THE BLACK POETS, edited by Dudley Randal, 978-0-553-27563-6
THREE CENTURIES OF AMERICAN POETRY, edited by Allen Mandelbaum, (Trade) 978-0-553-37518-3, (Hardcover) 978-0-553-10250-5
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OTHER WORKS BY WILKIE COLLINS
NOVELS
Antonina (1850)
Basil (1852)
Hide and Seek (1853)
The Dead Secret (1857)
No Name (1862)
Armadale (1866)
The Moonstone (1868)
Man and Wife (1870)
Poor Miss Finch (1872)
The Law and the Lady (1875)
The Black Robe (1881)
Heart and Science (1883)
The Legacy of Cain (1888)
STORY COLLECTIONS
After Dark (1856)
The Queen of Hearts (1859)
The Frozen Deep and Other Stories (1874)
The Haunted Hotel (1878)
Collins also wrote several plays and some nonfiction.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
Useful bibliographical guides, by Robert Ashley, for Wilkie Collins are found in Victorian Fiction: A Guide to Research, ed. Lionel Stevenson (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966) and Victorian Fiction: A Second Guide to Research, ed. George H. Ford (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1978).