"Margaret Porcher blocks Marian's Way" — John McLenan's uncaptioned headnote vignette for the nineteenth weekly number of Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" — <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (31 March 1860)

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Margaret Porcher blocks Marian's Way

John McLenan

31 March 1860

10.6 cm high by 5.6 cm wide (4 by 2 ¼ inchess), vignetted.

Uncaptioned headnote vignette for the nineteenth weekly number of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (31 March 1860), 196; p. 123 in the 1861 volume.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The illustration intensifies the sense of mystery surrounding Glyde's plans for dealing with his mounting debts, now that he has excused Laura from signing the parchment. Some sort of incident has transpired out-of-doors between the couple, prompting Glyde to give the maid, Fanny, her notice. And why has Glyde forbidden to communicate with her mistress? Marian intends to confront Glyde at the curtain.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Margaret Porcher blocks Marian's Way. — staff artist John McLenan's headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for the nineteenth weekly part of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 31 March 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, "The Second Epoch. Miss Halcombe's Narrative Continued, July 5th," p. 181; "Four o'clock," p. 123 in the 1861 volume.

A Mystery: Why Should a Mere Servant Block Marian's Access to Laura's Room?

The door which led to Laura's room was the door of an ante-chamber, opening on to the passage. When I tried it, it was bolted on the inside.

I knocked, and the door was opened by the same heavy, overgrown housemaid whose lumpish insensibility had tried my patience so severely on the day when I found the wounded dog.

I had, since that time, discovered that her name was Margaret Porcher, and that she was the most awkward, slatternly, and obstinate servant in the house.

On opening the door she instantly stepped out to the threshold, and stood grinning at me in stolid silence.

“Why do you stand there?” I said. “Don’t you see that I want to come in?”

“Ah, but you mustn’t come in,” was the answer, with another and a broader grin still.

“How dare you talk to me in that way? Stand back instantly!”

She stretched out a great red hand and arm on each side of her, so as to bar the doorway, and slowly nodded her addle head at me.

“Master's orders,” she said; and nodded again ["The Second Epoch. The Story continued by Marian Halcombe," Blackwater Park, Hampshire. July 5th," p. 196; p. 123 in the 1861 volume.]

Related Material

McLenan's regular, full-scale illustration for the nineteenth weekly number in serial: "I saw on one thorny branch some fragments of fringe from a woman's shawl" for 31 March 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. 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.

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Created 12 July 2024