"Lilian and Allen at the Monk's Well" — Frontispiece by F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde for Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story" (Boston: Gardner A. Fuller)

"Lilian and Allen at the Monk's Well"

F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde

1862

Steel engraving

10.2 cm by 8.7 cm (4 inches by 3 ¼ inches) vignetted.

Bulwer-Lytton's A Strange Story

Boston: Gardner A. Fuller.

Scanned image and text by P. 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.]

Passage Illustrated: Allen and Lilian meet romantically rather than as doctor-patient

So the straw hat and mantle were sent for. Lilian was wrapped with unnecessary care, and we all went forth into the garden. Involuntarily we took the way to the Monk’s Well, and at every step Lilian seemed to revive under the bracing air and temperate sun. We paused by the well.

“You do not feel fatigued, Miss Ashleigh?”

“No.”

“But your face seems changed. It is grown sadder.”

“Not sadder.”

“Sadder than when I first saw it, — saw it when you were seated here!” I said this in a whisper. I felt her hand tremble as it lay on my arm.

“You saw me seated here!”

“Yes. I will tell you how some day.”

Lilian lifted her eyes to mine, and there was in them that same surprise which I had noticed on my first visit, — a surprise that perplexed me, blended with no displeasure, but yet with a something of vague alarm. [Chapter XIV, page 51]

Commentary: Dr. Allen Fenwick Rejects Dr. Jones's Diagnosis of Consumption

In John McLennan's uncaptioned headnote vignette, on the first page of fifth instalment (Chapters 13-15) in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, as well as in the main illustration for the 7 September 1861 (fifth) number, "Lillian was wrapped with unnecessary care," etc., Allen Fenwick has now taken charge of Lilian's case, which he is convinced is not consumption. However, he struggles to remain objective about the case as he has already fallen in love with her before taking her for some fresh air at the Monk's Well. This is in the garden of the Ashleighs' estate and its mansion, Abbots' House, on the heights of L— (which is apparently Liverpool).

Bibliography

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly V, 10 August — 8 March 1862.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde. Boston: Gardner A. Fuller, 1862.

Bulwer Lytton, Edward (Lord Lytton). A Strange Story. The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Vol. VII. New York: P. F. Collier, n. d. Pp. 7-242.

Created 24 July 2026