Passage Illustrated: Norwood solves Kate's mystery

Norwood walked noiselessly to the door of the salon and peeped in. Lady Hester, the Prince, and Jekyl were in earnest conversation in one quarter; while Kate sat apart, apparently engaged with her embroidery-frame, but in reality too deeply sunk in thought to notice the bright tints before her. Norwood entered listlessly, and strolling across the room, took a place beside her. She moved slightly as he drew forward his chair, and, then, as she drew back her flounce, Norwood saw that it was of deep black lace. He coolly took out his pocket-book wherein he had deposited the torn fragment, and, regarding it with attention, saw that it perfectly corresponded with the dress. So leisurely and with such circumspection did he proceed that several minutes elapsed before he looked up.

“You are meditative, my Lord, to-night,” said Kate, at last, making an effort to relieve an awkward situation; “what are you thinking of, pray?”

“Admiring your dress, Miss Dalton, which strikes me as singularly beautiful and becoming.”

“Great praise this, from such an acknowledged judge as Lord Norwood,” said she, smiling.

“I prefer it to antique lace, which in general is too heavy and cumbrous for my taste; I like these fine and delicate tissues, so frail and gossamer-like, not but their frailty, like all other frailty, incurs occasionally a heavy penalty; as here, for instance, you see this has been torn.”

“So it has,” said Kate, with confusion, “and I never noticed it. What a quick eye you must have, my Lord!”

“And a sharp ear, too, Miss Dalton,” said he, significantly; “in fact, I am one of those people whose every-day faculties do duty for what in others goes by the name of cleverness. It 's a great pity,” said he, looking down at the dress; “you see, Miss Dalton, what a false step can do.” [Chapter XXXVII, "Proposals," 321]

Commentary

Nina, Kate's Spanish maid, has dared to challenge Kate about having gone out in the morning in the carriage, but returned on foot. Walking in the main piazza unattended had brought upon her the unwanted attentions of the French count, Guilmard. That George had physically chastised the Frenchman for his rudeness in turn led to a challenge to meet upon the field of honour the following morning. In other words, Kate's mysterious behaviour has had serious consequences. Moreover, in this chapter, set that evening in Lady Hester's drawing-room, Kate has attracted the romantic attentions of the self-centred Russian nobleman, the fabulously wealthy Prince Midchekoff, who (thanks to the sychophantal Albert Jekyl's insinuations) is aware that he has rivals in George Onslow and Viscount Norwood.

The enigmatic Jekyl, who hopes to broker a marriage between Kate and the Russian, has not found out why Kate did not return in the carriage from her shopping trip, despite Norwood's interrogation. Moreover, Jekyl pretends not to know about the secret corridor that connects George's room with Kate's, until Norwood compels him to admit that he knows that Kate's door is always locked from within, and that the door has no keyhole. Norwood, unlike the Russian, is only interested in Kate if she is an heiress. Thus, the chapter title "Proposals" pertains to the prospect of Kate's receiving three offers of marriage.

Rejecting for the moment Norwood's bribe to advance his marital proposal, Jekyl quits the discussion and the room. Norwood now sees Lady Hester, the Russian, and Jekyl in earnest conversation in the adjoining salon, while Kate is sitting quite apart from the trio, engaged in embroidery. Entering, Norwood notices that Kate's flounce on her dress is of the same deep black lace of which he has picked up a fragment. Norwood now confronts her about the accident that has befallen her dress, offering his hand in marriage. At this critical juncture, Lady Hester (still seated in the background in Phiz's elegant illustration of the salon in the Italian palace) interrupts the intense dialogue.

Bibliography

Browne, John Buchanan. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's, 1978.

Downey, Edmund. Charles Lever: His Life in Letters. 2 vols. London: William Blackwood, 1906.

Fitzpatrick, W. J. The Life of Charles Lever. London: Downey, 1901.

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Lever, Charles. The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life. Illustrated by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1852, rpt. 1872.

_______. The Daltons and A Day's Ride. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). Vol VI of Lever's Works. New York: P. F. Collier, 1882. [This large-format American edition reproduces only six of the original forthy-eight Phiz illustrations.]

Lever, Charles James. The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life. Vol. 1. http://www.gutenberg.org//files/32061/32061-h/32061-h.htm

Skinner, Anne Maria. Charles Lever and Ireland. University of Liverpool. PhD dissertation. May 2019.

Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell & Russell, 1939, rpt. 1969.

_______. "The Domestic Scene." The English Novel: A Panorama. Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin and Riverside, 1960.

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Last modified 16 May 2022