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"There at the end, stark and grim and black, in the yellow light — there, was his dead face."
F. A. Fraser
Wood engraving by the Dalziel Brothers
6 ¼ x 4 ⅛ inches (15.8 cm high by 10.5 cm wide)
Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, seventh illustration by F. A. Fraser, facing p. 408.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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“Have they found him?” “Yes.”—“Where?” “Against the door, on his face.” — “Which door?” “The door that goes into the church. His head was against it — he was down on his face.”—“Is his face burnt?” “No.” “Yes, it is.” “No, scorched, not burnt — he lay on his face, I tell you.”—“Who was he? A lord, they say.” “No, not a lord. Sir Something; Sir means Knight.” “And Baronight, too.” “No.” “Yes, it does.” — “What did he want in there?” “No good, you may depend on it.” — “Did he do it on purpose?” — “Burn himself on purpose!” — “I don’t mean himself, I mean the vestry.” — “Is he dreadful to look at?” “Dreadful!” —“Not about the face, though?” “No, no, not so much about the face. Don’t anybody know him?” “There’s a man says he does.” — “Who?” “A servant, they say. But he’s struck stupid-like, and the police don’t believe him.” — “Don’t anybody else know who it is?” “Hush ——!”
The loud, clear voice of a man in authority silenced the low hum of talking all round me in an instant.
“Where is the gentleman who tried to save him?” said the voice.
“Here, sir — here he is!” Dozens of eager faces pressed about me — dozens of eager arms parted the crowd. The man in authority came up to me with a lantern in his hand.
“This way, sir, if you please,” he said quietly.
I was unable to speak to him, I was unable to resist him when he took my arm. I tried to say that I had never seen the dead man in his lifetime — that there was no hope of identifying him by means of a stranger like me. But the words failed on my lips. I was faint, and silent, and helpless.
“Do you know him, sir?”
I was standing inside a circle of men. Three of them opposite to me were holding lanterns low down to the ground. Their eyes, and the eyes of all the rest, were fixed silently and expectantly on my face. I knew what was at my feet—I knew why they were holding the lanterns so low to the ground.
“Can you identify him, sir?”
My eyes dropped slowly. At first I saw nothing under them but a coarse canvas cloth. The dripping of the rain on it was audible in the dreadful silence. I looked up, along the cloth, and there at the end, stark and grim and black, in the yellow light — there was his dead face.
So, for the first and last time, I saw him. So the Visitation of God ruled it that he and I should meet. ["Hartright's Narrative, X," p. 408; pp. 218-219 in the 1861 volume.]
Fraser constructs the recognition scene so that Hartright meets Glyde for the first time in the company of the men with whom he helped to save the burning church at Old Welmingham. Glyde has met a terrible death in attempting to steal the registry page on which he had forged the official account of his parents' wedding. Otherwise, he would have no legitimate claim to his father Sir Felix's estates and fortune. Ironically, although the pair have been sworn enemies engaged in a cat-and-mouse game throughout much of the book, they meet only after Glyde has perished in his attempt to secure his identity and fortune, even as Hartright has finally solved Glyde's "Secret."
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: A Novel. Illustrated by John McLenan. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861.
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Illustrated by F. A. Fraser and Sir John Gilbert. London: Sampson Low, 1860; rpt., Chatto & Windus, 1875.
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Ed. Maria K. Bachman and Don Richard Cox. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. London: Minerva, 2006.
Created 30 July 2024