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"There, crouched up in the farthest corner," etc.
John McLenan
11 February 1860
11.3 cm high by 8.8 cm wide (4 ⅜ by 3 ½ inches), framed, p. 53 (p. 86 in the 1861 volume).
Twelfth regular illustration for Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (1860).
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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"There, crouched up in the farthest corner," etc. — The twelfth instalment's regular composite woodblock engraving for Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, Instalment 12, published on 11 February 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. IV, "The Second Epoch": "The Story continued by Marian Halcombe, in Extracts from her Diary," p. 53; "9th," p. 86 in the 1861 volume. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
On approaching the shed I found that it had once been a boat-house, and that an attempt had apparently been made to convert it afterwards into a sort of rude arbour, by placing inside it a firwood seat, a few stools, and a table. I entered the place, and sat down for a little while to rest and get my breath again.
I had not been in the boat-house more than a minute when it struck me that the sound of my own quick breathing was very strangely echoed by something beneath me. I listened intently for a moment, and heard a low, thick, sobbing breath that seemed to come from the ground under the seat which I was occupying. My nerves are not easily shaken by trifles, but on this occasion I started to my feet in a fright — called out — received no answer — summoned back my recreant courage, and looked under the seat.
There, crouched up in the farthest corner, lay the forlorn cause of my terror, in the shape of a poor little dog—a black and white spaniel. The creature moaned feebly when I looked at it and called to it, but never stirred. I moved away the seat and looked closer. The poor little dog’s eyes were glazing fast, and there were spots of blood on its glossy white side. The misery of a weak, helpless, dumb creature is surely one of the saddest of all the mournful sights which this world can show. I lifted the poor dog in my arms as gently as I could, and contrived a sort of make-shift hammock for him to lie in, by gathering up the front of my dress all round him. In this way I took the creature, as painlessly as possible, and as fast as possible, back to the house. ["The Second Epoch": "The Story continued by Marian Halcombe, in Extracts from her Diary," "28th," p. 85; p. 86 in the 1861 volume.
As the vignette has suggested, the action now shifts to the estate of Sir Percival Glyde in Hampshire, some five months after the wedding at Limmeridge Church. Marian has arrived ahead of the Glydes, who are disembarking at South Hampton and travelling overland. The illustration also flags the importance of Marian’s exploration of the estate the morning after her arrival, and of her discovery of the dog, wounded by the buckshot of the keeper, Baxter. When she has carried the wounded animal back to the house, she learns from the housekeeper that this distinctively marked spaniel belongs to Mrs. Catherick, who had visited Blackwater House just ahead of Marian’s arrival. She had come a great distance, all the way across the county, to investigate reports that her missing daughter had been seen in the vicinity of the house.
McLennan has related the two illustrations by placing the wooded shore of the lake as the vista outside the window of the boathouse, upper centre. Thus, he repeats the headnote vignette within the larger illustration, emphasizing Marian’s isolation. The artist provides subtle visual continuity by synthesizing the first illustration (the small-scale headnote vignette) with the second, full-size plate for the twelfth weekly number.
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861 (first printing, 15 August 1860; reissued in single-column format in 1902, 548 pages).
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. London: Minerva, 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. Pp. 205-225.
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. Pp. 44-46.
Created 7 July 2024