"Uncaptioned: Count Fosco points to blood on the floor pf the boathouse" — Headnote vignette by John McLenan for Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White" in <span class="book">Harper's Weekly</span> (25 February 1860)

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Count Fosco points to blood on the floor of the boathouse.

John McLenan

25 February 1860

9.2 cm high by 5.4 cm wide (3 &frac;58 by 2 ⅛ inches), framed, p. 117; p. 99 in the 1861 volume edition.

Headnote vignette for the fourteenth part of Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (1860).

In visiting the boat-house on their walk to the lake, Fosco notices the blood on the floor, and points it out to Glyde. Marian resolves the mystery by mentioning the death of Mrs. Catherick's spaniel there. The news that Mrs. Catherick has visited the house unaccountably upsets Glyde.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Count Fosco points to blood on the floor of the boathouse. — staff artist John McLenan's uncaptioned headnote vignette for the fourteenth serial number of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, published on 25 February 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. IV, "The Second Epoch": "The Narrative of Marian Halcombe, Taken from Her Diary," p. 99 in the 1861 volume and p. 117 the serial number. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage: Tell-tale Blood Reveals Mrs. Catherick's Recent Visit

“Percival!” he said, in a whisper. “Percival! come here.”

Sir Percival had paid no attention to any of us for the last ten minutes. He had been entirely absorbed in writing figures on the sand, and then rubbing them out again with the point of his stick.

“What’s the matter now?” he asked, lounging carelessly into the boat-house.

“Do you see nothing there?” said the Count, catching him nervously by the collar with one hand, and pointing with the other to the place near which he had found the mouse.

“I see plenty of dry sand,” answered Sir Percival, “and a spot of dirt in the middle of it.”

“Not dirt,” whispered the Count, fastening the other hand suddenly on Sir Percival’s collar, and shaking it in his agitation. “Blood.”

Laura was near enough to hear the last word, softly as he whispered it. She turned to me with a look of terror.

“Nonsense, my dear,” I said. “There is no need to be alarmed. It is only the blood of a poor little stray dog.”

Everybody was astonished, and everybody’s eyes were fixed on me inquiringly. ["The Story continued by Marian Halcombe, in Extracts from her Diary, July 3," p. 117; p. 99 in the 1861 volume edition]

Comment

McLenan has economically set the scene by using the rustic furniture from the boathouse upon which Marian sat in the main illustration for the February 11th number, "There, crouched up in the farthest corner," etc.. Glyde, dressed like a gentleman in clothes more suited to London, contrasts with the Count, casually dressed in straw hat and Italian cottons.

Related Material

McLenan's full-size plate for the fourteenth number "Figaro Quá! Figaro Lá!" for the 25 February 1860 number
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., 1861 (first printing, 15 August 1860; reissued in single-column format in 1902, 548 pages).

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. London: Minerva, 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 10 July 2024