"Mrs. Rubelle, not at Limmeridge at all, but gathering flowers at Blackwater." — John McLenan's uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-fifth weekly number of Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" in <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (12 May 1860)

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Mrs. Rubelle, not at Limmeridge at all, but gathering flowers at Blackwater

John McLenan

12 May 1860

8.8 cm high by 5.9 cm wide (3 ¾ by 2 ¼ inchess), vignetted.

Uncaptioned headnote vignette for the twenty-fifth weekly number of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (12 May 1860), 293; p. 163 in the 1861 volume.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The illustration points towards the stunning revellation at the curtain of the number: neither Mrs. Rubelle nor Marian Halcombe has left Blackwater Park; their going to Limmeridge was a ruse to get Laura to travel by rail to the Foscos' London residence in St. John's Wood.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Mrs. Rubelle, not at Limmeridge at all, but gathering flowers at Blackwater — staff artist John McLenan's headnote vignette (composite woodblock engraving) for the twenty-fifth weekly part of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 2 May 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, "The Narrative of Eliza Michelson, Housekeeper at Blackwater Park," p. 293; p. 163 in the 1861 volume.

Mrs. Rubelle inadvertantly reveals the Count's plan to spirit Laura away

As I approached she heard me, and turned round.

My blood curdled in my veins. The strange woman in the garden was Mrs. Rubelle!

I could neither move nor speak. She came up to me, as composedly as ever, with her flowers in her hand.

“What is the matter, ma’am?” she said quietly.

“You here!” I gasped out. “Not gone to London! Not gone to Cumberland!”

Mrs. Rubelle smelt at her flowers with a smile of malicious pity.

“Certainly not,” she said. “I have never left Blackwater Park.”

I summoned breath enough and courage enough for another question.

“Where is Miss Halcombe?”

Mrs. Rubelle fairly laughed at me this time, and replied in these words —

“Miss Halcombe, ma’am, has not left Blackwater Park either.”

When I heard that astounding answer, all my thoughts were startled back on the instant to my parting with Lady Glyde. I can hardly say I reproached myself, but at that moment I think I would have given many a year’s hard savings to have known four hours earlier what I knew now.

Mrs. Rubelle waited, quietly arranging her nosegay, as if she expected me to say something. [Part 25: "The Narrative of Eliza Michelson, Housekeeper at Blackwater Park," p. 293; p. 163 in the 1861 volume.]

Related Material

McLenan's regular, full-scale illustration for the twenty-fifth weekly number in serial: "I shall see you no more," she said, in a very marked manner. "This is our parting —" for 12 May 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.

Created 19 July 2024