"Count Fosco meets Laura at the London railway station." — John McLenan's uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-eighth weekly number of Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" in <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (2 June 1860)

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Count Fosco meets Laura at the London railway station.

John McLenan

2 June 1860

10.7 cm high by 5.9 cm wide (4 by 2 ¼ inchess), vignetted.

Uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-eighth weekly number of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (2 June 1860), 341; p. 178 in the 1861 volume.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

McLenan flags Laura's arrival at the Southwest Railway Station as significant ‐ and indeed it is, for Anne Catherick's death certificate as "Lady Glyde" is dated the day before. Once Hartright can document the actual date of Fosco's meeting Laura at the station, the whole inheritance scheme dissolves.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Count Fosco meets Laura at the London railway station. — staff artist John McLenan's headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for the twenty-eighth weekly part of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 2 June 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, "Epoch 3: Part II, "Hartright's Narrative, I," p. 325; p. 172 in the 1861 volume. ["The Third Epoch of the Story" opens here.]

Passage Illustrated: A Suave Greeting at the Railway Carriage

Lady Glyde’s recollection of the events which followed her departure from Blackwater Park began with her arrival at the London terminus of the South Western Railway. She had omitted to make a memorandum beforehand of the day on which she took the journey. All hope of fixing that important date by any evidence of hers, or of Mrs. Michelson’s, must be given up for lost.

On the arrival of the train at the platform Lady Glyde found Count Fosco waiting for her. He was at the carriage door as soon as the porter could open it. The train was unusually crowded, and there was great confusion in getting the luggage. Some person whom Count Fosco brought with him procured the luggage which belonged to Lady Glyde. It was marked with her name. She drove away alone with the Count in a vehicle which she did not particularly notice at the time. [Part 28. Third Epoch. Part II. "Hartright's Narrative, I," p. 341; p. 176 in the 1861 volume.

Commentary: Timing is Everything

If Fosco's plan is to pass off dead Anne Catherick as dead Laura, he must persuade Laura to leave Blackwater Park. Cunningly, he and Mrs. Rubelle spirit Marian, suffering from Typhus fever, to the old wing of the house, then Fosco convinces Laura that Marian has taken the train south, with Limmeridge as her eventual destination. The scheme nearly works, but unfortunately Anne dies of heart-failure just a little too early. Fosco's meticulous planning is eventually undone when Walter finds a dated record of the carriage hire.

Related Material

McLenan's regular, full-scale illustration for the twenty-eighth weekly number in serial: "Mr. Fairlie declared in the most positive terms that he did not recognize the woman" for 2 June 1860
Fred Walker's poster: The Woman in White for the Olympic's October 1871 adaptation

Bibliography

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. New York: Harper & Bros., 1860.

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by John McLenan. Vols. III-IV (16 November 1859 through 8 September 1860).

Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Ed. Maria K. Bachman and Don Richard Cox. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and F. A. Fraser. Toronto: Broadview, 2006.

Peters, Catherine. "Chapter Twelve: The Woman in White (1859-1860)." The King of the Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. London: Minerva Press, 1992. 205-25.

Vann, J. Don. "The Woman in White in All the Year Round, 26 November 1859 — 25 August 1860." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. 44-46.

Created 25 July 2024