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Hartright and Laura.
John McLenan
30 June 1860
11.3 cm high by 8.9 cm wide (4 ¼ by 3 ½ inches), vignetted, p. 405; p. 200 in the 1861 volume.
Thirty-second regular illustration for Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel (1860).
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Hartright and Laura — staff artist John McLenan's thirty-second composite woodblock engraving for Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White: A Novel, Instalment 32, published on 30 June 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Vol. IV, "The Second Epoch; "The Narrative of Walter Hartright, Resumed. VII," p. 405; p. 200 in the 1861 volume. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
I sat down in the vacant chair — gently unclasped the poor, worn, restless fingers, and took both her hands in mine.
“What are you thinking of, Laura? Tell me, my darling — try and tell me what it is.”
She struggled with herself, and raised her eyes to mine. “I can’t feel happy,” she said, “I can’t help thinking ——” She stopped, bent forward a little, and laid her head on my shoulder, with a terrible mute helplessness that struck me to the heart.
“Try to tell me,” I repeated gently; “try to tell me why you are not happy.”
“I am so useless — I am such a burden on both of you,” she answered, with a weary, hopeless sigh. “You work and get money, Walter, and Marian helps you. Why is there nothing I can do? You will end in liking Marian better than you like me — you will, because I am so helpless! Oh, don’t, don’t, don’t treat me like a child!” [Part 32: "Hartright's Narrative, VII," p. 380; p. 199 in the 1861 volume.]
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 (26 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 and F. A. Fraser. Toronto: Broadview, 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. 205-25.
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. 44-46.
Created 29 July 2024