Initial letter T: as she stopped to listen, the strong beating of her heart could be counted by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Eighteenth initial-letter vignette for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, from the March 1872 number of the Cornhill Magazine, p. 348 in Vol. XXV. 7.6 cm by 5.1 cm (3 by 2 inches), framed. Part 18, Chapter LXXIX, "Pleasant Congratulations." The wood-engraver responsible for this thumbnail illustration was Joseph Swain (1820-1909), noted for his engravings of Sir John Tenniel's cartoons in Punch. [Click on the image to enlarge it; mouse over links.]
This initial vignette is based on the following passage in Ch. 83, "The Garden by Moonlight"
It was a still cold night of deep winter, a very faint crescent of a new moon was low in the sky, and a thin snowfall, slightly crisped with frost, covered the ground. Nina opened her window and looked out. All was still and quiet without — not a twig moved. She bent her ear to listen, thinking that on the frozen ground a step might perhaps be heard, and it was a relief to her anxiety when she heard nothing. The chill cold air that came in through the window warned her to muffle herself well, and she drew the hood of her scarlet cloak over her head. Strong-booted, and with warm gloves, she stood for a moment at her door to listen, and finding all quiet, she slowly descended the stairs and gained the hall. She started affrighted as she entered, thinking there was some one seated at the table, but she rallied in an instant, as she saw it was only the loose horseman’s coat or cloak of the chief constable, which, lined with red, and with the gold-laced cap beside it, made up the delusion that alarmed her.
It was not an easy task to withdraw the heavy bolts and bars that secured the massive door, and even to turn the heavy key in the lock required an effort; but she succeeded at length, and issued forth into the open.
"How I hope he has not come! how I pray he has not ventured!" said she to herself as she walked along. "Leave-takings are sad things, and why incur one so full of peril and misery too? When I wrote to him, of course I knew nothing of his danger, and it is exactly his danger will make him come!" She knew of others to whom such reasonings would not have applied, and a scornful shake of the head showed that she would not think of them at such a moment. The sound of her own footsteps on the crisp ground made her once or twice believe she heard some one coming, and as she stopped to listen, the strong beating of her heart could be counted. It was not fear — at least not fear in the sense of a personal danger — it was that high tension which great anxiety lends to the nerves, exalting vitality to a state in which a sensation is as powerful as a material influence. [Cornhill, Vol. XXV, 372]
Commentary: Nina's Final Appearances and Considerable Suspense about her Marriage
Right: The title-page for Volume XXV of the Cornhill Magazine (January-June, 1872).
Luke Fildes has given us twelve representations of the sophisticated, self-aware Kearney cousin, Nina Kostalergi: she has already appeared in eight of the full-page engravings, beginning with "One more sitting I must have, sir, for the hair" (November 1870), and concluding with "I declare you have left a tear upon my cheek," said Kate" (March 1872), often depicted with Cecil Whalpole. Nina, in every way a foil to Kate, appears as a blonde in a total of nine full-page engravings (for instalments 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 16, 17, and 18) and three vignettes: this, and the initial-letter thumbnails for instalments 5 and 12. In other words, Lever divides his attention between three principal female characters: staid Kate Kearney and her artistic continental cousin, the more exotic Nina Kostalergi, and the politically connected Lady Maude, fiancée of Cecil Whalpole, and therefore until recently Nina's rival.
The main illustration for the final number, "I declare you have left a tear upon my cheek," said Kate, seems to resolve the principal issue of the novel, the marriages of the heroines. However, there is one thread that Lever must yet resolve: the fate of the Fenians' Head-centre, Daniel Donogan, who clearly holds some romantic attraction for Nina Kostalergi and may yet confound her plans to marry the British ambassador to Guatemala, Cecil Walpole. In the vignette, Nina goes to meet the rebel in the bog as he has arranged by a note unwittingly delivered by Joe Atlee upon his arrival at Kilgobbin, which happened to coincide with Walpole's departure for London. Daniel Donogan will have his chance at the last instalment opens because Nina has arranged to meet him in the lower garden of the Castle at 9:00 P. M. on Saturday, when she plans to let him know that the rumours about her marrying Gorman O'Shea are spurious.
As she keeps an eye on her watch and sees the time of her appointment close, she learns from Captain Curtis that the authorities are closing in on Donogan, who intends to address a meeting in the bog. This garden scene completely alters our expectations as she throws over Walpole, and determines to accept Donogan's proposal. "He clasped her in his arms as he spoke, and drawing her head towards his, kissed her cheek rapturously." And she agrees to accompany him in exile, to America. This proposal and planned flight immediately precede the scene in the parlour depicted in the final full-page illustration.
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.]
Bibliography
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. The Cornhill Magazine. With 18 full-page illustrations and 18 initial-letter vignettes by S. Luke Fildes. Volumes XXII-XXV. October 1870-March 1872.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin: A Tale of Ireland in Our Own Time. With 18 Illustrations by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, 3 vols; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I-III. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1873, in a single volume. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter XVI, "Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell and Russell, 1939; rpt. 1969. Pp. 277-296.
Sutherland, John A. "Lord Kilgobbin." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 382.
Created 9 June 2023 Updated 8 July 2023