xxx xxx

Having just met Frank Clare secretly, Magdalen is astonished when Norah criticizes him as unworthy of their "kind-hearted father's intrest" and attempts to mollify her sister in the main illustration, set in the garden of Combe-Raven: “Come,” she said, “give me a kiss, Norah, and make it up.” — the accompanying headnote vignette for "The First Scene," Chapter VIII, involves Frank's attempting to make an effective appearance that evening at Combe-Raven in Wilkie Collins's No Name, first published in All the Year Round and Harper's Weekly (Vol. VI-No. 274), Number 4 (the 5 April 1862 instalment); vignette: 11.6 cm high by 5.7 cm wide, or 4 ½ inches high by 2 ¼ inches wide, vignetted; with the smaller and regular illustrations both appearing on p. 221 in the serial). The main plate, also a wood-engraving, is 11.4 cm high by 11.4 cm wide, or 4 ½ inches square, framed; top of p. 33 in volume as the tailpiece for Chapter VII. These two illustrations are positioned on different pages in the volume: p. 36 for the vignette within Chapter VIII.

Curtain Passage Realised in the Main Plate: Critical Norah, Conciliatory Magdalen

At the turn in the shrubbery path she stopped and looked back uneasily. “Oh, dear, dear!” she thought to herself, “why didn’t Frank go when I told him?” She hesitated, and went back a few steps. “There’s Norah standing on her dignity, as obstinate as ever.” She stopped again. “What had I better do? I hate quarreling: I think I’ll make up.” She ventured close to her sister and touched her on the shoulder. Norah never moved. “It’s not often she flies into a passion,” thought Magdalen, touching her again; “but when she does, what a time it lasts her! — Come!” she said, “give me a kiss, Norah, and make it up. Won’t you let me get at any part of you, my dear, but the back of your neck? Well, it’s a very nice neck — it’s better worth kissing than mine — and there the kiss is, in spite of you!”

She caught fast hold of Norah from behind, and suited the action to the word, with a total disregard of all that had just passed, which her sister was far from emulating. Hardly a minute since the warm outpouring of Norah’s heart had burst through all obstacles. Had the icy reserve frozen her up again already! It was hard to say. She never spoke; she never changed her position — she only searched hurriedly for her handkerchief. As she drew it out, there was a sound of approaching footsteps in the inner recesses of the shrubbery. A Scotch terrier scampered into view; and a cheerful voice sang the first lines of the glee in “As You Like It.” “It’s papa!” cried Magdalen. “Come, Norah — come and meet him.”

Instead of following her sister, Norah pulled down the veil of her garden hat, turned in the opposite direction, and hurried back to the house. She ran up to her own room and locked herself in. She was crying bitterly. [Chapter VII, p. 231 in serial, pp. 32-33 in volume]

Commentary: Norah's Mystifying Animosity on the Morning after the Performance

In taking on a second role owing to the sudden resignation of one of the matronly ladies in the cast who was to do the part of the maid's mistress, Magdalen had distinguished the pair by making her own older sister the model for the insipid social superior Julia. Norah was mortified. Consequently, when she spotted Magdalen and Frank in close colloquy in the garden at Combe-Raven the next morning, she was doubly non-plussed — perhaps because she is jealous of Frank's obvious attachment to her sister, who had in fact only made the 10:00 A. M. appointment in the shrubbery in order to go over Frank's lines with him.

Mclenan has made the sisters, despite their eight-year discrepancy in age, into twins: all that distinguishes them is the colour of their outfits and Magdalen's extending her arm to touch her sister, whose pose, back turned, and abstracted expression speak volumes. The sketched in shrubbery and the monumental urn (left) merely suggest rather than detail the setting, and only in scrutinizing the accompanying text (immediately preceding the image) can the reader determine that this is the garden at Combe-Raven rather than at Evergreen Lodge.

The Vignette's Complement in the Text: Frank tries to make a good impression

In the evening, Frank made his appearance, and announced that his father had mercilessly sentenced him to leave Combe-Raven by the parliamentary train the next morning. He mentioned this circumstance with an air of sentimental resignation; and listened to Mr. Vanstone’s boisterous rejoicings over his new prospects with a mild and mute surprise. His gentle melancholy of look and manner greatly assisted his personal advantages. In his own effeminate way he was more handsome than ever that evening. His soft brown eyes wandered about the room with a melting tenderness; his hair was beautifully brushed; his delicate hands hung over the arms of his chair with a languid grace. He looked like a convalescent Apollo. Never, on any previous occasion, had he practiced more successfully the social art which he habitually cultivated — the art of casting himself on society in the character of a well-bred Incubus, and conferring an obligation on his fellow-creatures by allowing them to sit under him. It was undeniably a dull evening. [Chapter VIII, p. 223 in serial, p. 36 in volume]

Commentary on the Vignette: Frank Prepares to Depart for a Position in "Trade"

In the vignette, Frank seems oblivious to the rift that he has inadvertently caused, but the placement of the vignette, especially in the serial, underscores the fact that he is unknowingly the cause. It isn't actually Frank who has offended Norah; rather, it is his reciprocating Magdalen's attentions that has done the damage. After tea, Frank rises to depart for his father's cottage, from which he will leave the following morning to take up an unknown role in a "misty commercial future, as helpless, as gentlemanlike as ever" (36). Mclenan depicts him as a beautifully dressed cipher, his expression conveying nothing of his regrets at leaving Magdalen or his apprehensions abut his future career.

Related Material

Image scans and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the images, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Blain, Virginia. “Introduction” and “Explanatory Notes” to Wilkie Collins's No Name. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.