The Woman in White: Hartright 1-3

Summary

Storytime for Grownups: The Woman in White – Hartright 1-3 Summary

Release Date: May 22, 2025

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Introduction

In the heartfelt final episode of Storytime for Grownups, host Faith Moore wraps up the enchanting journey through Wilkie Collins' classic novel, The Woman in White. This episode, titled "The Woman in White: Hartright 1-3," not only concludes the narrative but also delves deep into character analyses, listener reflections, and sets the stage for upcoming content. Faith invites listeners to savor the culmination of this literary adventure, much like one would enjoy the last sip of a comforting cup of tea.

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Reflecting on the Journey

Faith Moore opens the episode with a nostalgic reflection on the experience of exploring The Woman in White. Accompanied by the voice of Walter Hartright, portrayed by Moore, they express gratitude and bittersweet emotions over the conclusion of the book.

Walter Hartright: [00:44] “What an amazing journey this has been... I knew it was my second favorite book of all time after Jane Eyre.”

This sentiment captures the deep connection both host and listeners have formed with the story and its characters over the past several months.

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Character Analysis: Count Fosco

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting the intricate villain, Count Fosco. Through detailed discussion, Walter Hartright and Faith Moore explore the depths of Fosco's character, highlighting his manipulative tactics and inherent disdain for those he deems unworthy.

Notable Quotes:

• Marian Halcombe: [11:04] “I might have done. How comparatively innocent, how indirectly virtuous I appeared in what I really did.”

  Faith reflects on this with disdain, “What kind of standard of behavior is that?”

• Listener Michelle Donahue: [11:38] “I don't think I've ever met a character I dislike as much as Fosco.”

These discussions reveal Fosco's moral bankruptcy and his justification for heinous actions under the guise of virtue and necessity. His amorous obsession with Marian Halcombe is identified as his sole weakness, providing a glimmer of humanity in an otherwise despicable character.

Walter Hartright: [12:27] “He's a bad guy. We love to hate him.”

Faith and Walter commend Collins for crafting such a compelling antagonist, whose actions elicit strong emotional responses from the audience, enhancing the narrative's tension and depth.

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Listener Feedback and Community Engagement

Faith and Walter incorporate listener feedback, sharing insightful and passionate responses about Count Fosco and other characters. This segment underscores the podcast's interactive nature and the community's engagement with the material.

Listener Comments:

• Laura's Perspective: [10:59] “...judge me by what I might have done... outrageous.”

  Faith critiques, “What a pompous, self-assured narcissist.”

• Michelle Donahue: [11:38] “…he thinks he's above the fray.”

These reflections from listeners highlight the strong impressions left by the characters and the ethical dilemmas presented within the story.

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Final Narrative Read: Hartright's Conclusion

The episode transitions seamlessly into the dramatic reading of the final chapters (Hartright 1-3) of The Woman in White. Faith Moore enlivens the conclusion with expressive narration, capturing the climax where Walter Hartright exposes Count Fosco's deceit and orchestrates the revelation of Laura Fairlie's true identity.

Highlighted Moments:

• Walter's Revelation: [31:14] “The labor of many months is over. Marion was the good angel of our lives.”

• Final Confrontation: [42:15] “So say it out loud. It's really Laura.”

The narration vividly portrays the triumph of good over evil, the undoing of Fosco's machinations, and the establishment of rightful identities and relationships. The emotional crescendo culminates with the safe return to London and the birth of a new generation, symbolizing hope and renewal.

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Conclusion and Future Plans

As the book concludes, Faith and Walter express their gratitude to the listeners for accompanying them on this literary voyage. They emphasize that while this story has ended, the community's journey continues with exciting new content on the horizon.

Faith Moore: [63:27] “Join me on Monday, May 26 as we wrap up this book and then come into the summer with me and...”

Upcoming Summer Session:

• Focus: Fairy Tales
• Format: Weekly episodes starting June 2
• Features: Story readings, literary discussions, and interviews exploring the foundational role of fairy tales in literature.

Faith encourages listeners to stay connected through the podcast's online community, participate in upcoming conversations, and support the independent production by subscribing and leaving positive reviews.

Key Takeaways:

• The finale of The Woman in White celebrates the resolution of complex plotlines and character arcs.
• Count Fosco's demise serves as a pivotal moment reinforcing moral justice.
• The community's engagement underscores the enduring impact of classic literature when explored collaboratively.

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Final Thoughts

Storytime for Grownups successfully concludes its exploration of The Woman in White, offering listeners a satisfying end to a beloved classic while enticing them with future literary adventures. Faith Moore's blend of narration, discussion, and community interaction provides a rich and immersive experience, making classic literature accessible and enjoyable for grown-up audiences.

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Thank you for joining us on this incredible storytime journey. Stay tuned for more literary explorations and enriching discussions in our upcoming episodes.

Transcript

[Faith Moore]

Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grown Ups. I'm Faith Moore and this season we're reading the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along. It's like an audiobook with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair and settle in. It's story time. Well, you guys, here we are.

[Walter Hartright]

We've made it to the final episode of the Woman in White.

[Faith Moore]

Oh, you guys.

[Walter Hartright]

What an amazing journey this has been. I truly had no idea what was going to happen when I decided to share this book with you all. I even had a different book in mind. I was thinking, nobody has ever heard of this book. No one's going to want to come on this ride with me. Everyone's going to think like Woman in White. I've never even heard of that. Wilkie Collins. I've never heard of him. I wasn't sure if anyone was going to stick around, but I knew that this book was so great at. I knew it was my second favorite book of all time after Jane Eyre. I wanted so badly to share it with you all and I just thought.

[Faith Moore]

Well, let's give it a try.

[Walter Hartright]

And you guys did not disappoint.

[Faith Moore]

You have been here in all the best ways.

[Walter Hartright]

I am so grateful. I'm so grateful to you.

[Faith Moore]

This has been such a wonderful, magical.

[Walter Hartright]

Experience getting to share this book with you. And I'm sad, sad that it's over. I. I wish we could stay and walk around in this world some more and be with these characters some more. But I'm also just so grateful and happy that we got to have this experience together. And now this book and these characters.

[Faith Moore]

Are a part of all of our lives.

[Walter Hartright]

We get to keep them. We get to keep this experience and remember it and recommend this book to other people and talk about it with people who've read it before. We can go back and read it again. I do very often go back and read this book again, again. And I will do that in the future. And you can too. And so I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being a part of Storytime for Grown Ups. Thank you for always exceeding my expectations.

[Faith Moore]

Thank you for all of your emails, all of your comments, all of the.

[Walter Hartright]

Things that you've done to support this show along the way. Thank you for being a part of this. This show is nothing without you. And every time we get to a book, I'm just I'm just blown away. I can't believe I get to do this. I can't believe you're all out there listening. I cannot believe the community that we have built together. So thank you for being here and for being a part of this and for sharing this book together with me and with all of us. And thank you, Wilkie Collins, for writing this book, and Laura and Walter and.

[Faith Moore]

Marian for being our friends all of this time that we've been reading.

[Walter Hartright]

We've started this book way back in January, and now it's the end of May. So these people have been with us for a long time. And I know they're not real, and I know it's strange to thank them, but they're real to us, right? They've been real to us all of this time. And so thank you. Thank you and goodbye.

[Faith Moore]

But not goodbye quite yet.

[Walter Hartright]

We have a couple more chapters left to read today. And of course, not goodbye to you, not goodbye to us. That would never happen. We only are saying goodbye to this book. So what comes next? Well, in this episode, we're going to finish the book. We'll do the recap, we'll do some questions, we'll talk a bit, and then we'll read the final three chapters of the book today. And that will end the Woman in White for us. Then on Monday, so May 26, we will have one more episode. So that's where we'll do essentially the. The questions that come up after the.

[Faith Moore]

End of the book.

[Walter Hartright]

So I'll take a couple more questions, we'll talk about that, and then I'll kind of wrap it all up. I'll pull back some of the strands that we've been talking about and just kind of examine all of that, hopefully tie it all up with a bow so that we feel ready to move on. And so that'll be the 26th, and then we're going to weekly episodes. So that week, next week, there won't be a Thursday episode. We'll just go on to June 2, which is a Monday. And that will be the first episode of Summer Session. And if you missed the trailer or you missed my little conversation about it in the last episode that we had, go into your podcast feed and look at the trailer. We're talking about fairy tales. And this summer, it's going to be really fun. Once a week episodes, diving into fairy tales and the way that they are a kind of building block for all of the stories that we've read on storytime or just stories in general. We're going to have some interviews. I'm going to read some fairy tales to you. So there will be some story time over the summer and we're going to talk about these stories and what they mean to literature generally. So I hope that you will join us for that. And then of course, in August, at some point, usually mid August, I'll drop a trailer for September's book and in September away we will go with another book. So I hope you'll stick around for the summer. I know it's a different kind of format, a different kind of thing, but.

[Faith Moore]

I hope that you'll stick with us.

[Walter Hartright]

And keep writing to me and keep interacting and everything. But if that's not your thing and you're not choosing to listen to that, make sure that you're still subscribed though, because then the trailer for the new book will drop and in September those episodes will start dropping into your feed again. So we are not saying goodbye to each other. There's lots more. And of course, the tea time is coming up in our drawing room, our online community. There is a tea time on Tuesday, May 27th at 8pm Eastern. That'll be the day after we finish the episode, the last episode about this book, the conclusion episode, before we get into Summer Session. So that's going to be a really fun conversation. It's like a voice chat, kind of like a phone call with me and other storytime listeners and we're going to talk about the end of the book. We're going to talk about our feelings about Summer Session and whatever else.

[Faith Moore]

Questions if you have just questions for.

[Walter Hartright]

Me, I take questions during that time.

[Faith Moore]

So if you're not already a member.

[Walter Hartright]

You should definitely sign up if you'd like to be a part of that conversation. Or we do these conversations monthly. And also the drawing room, the withdrawing room is where we withdraw after the show and it is a very fun place to be. Lots of people are over there. They're posting every day, all the time. So if you'd like to be a.

[Faith Moore]

Part of that and or if you'd.

[Walter Hartright]

Like to be a part of the Tea Times, please scroll into the show notes, check out the link to find your way to our online community and you can learn more there. And if you're interested, you can sign up.

[Faith Moore]

And of course, as always, this is.

[Walter Hartright]

A great time as we're finishing the book, to tap the five stars, if you haven't already, and to leave a positive review wherever you're listening. This is it. We're finishing the book. So if you haven't done that already, please consider doing it. And of course, check out all the other links that are in the show notes. You might find something there that's of.

[Faith Moore]

Interest to you also.

[Walter Hartright]

All right, let's get into this episode, this final episode. We're gonna do a recap. Last time we read Fosco's narrative. Of course, this time we're reading Heart Wright's narrative. Chapters one through three. We're starting over again because we had Fosco. Now we're back to Heartright. And Heartright is going to finish the story for us. So we're doing chapters one through three. I've got some comments that we're going to talk about and then we will finish this book. And of course, always, as always, just don't forget to write to me. The book is over, but I want to hear your thoughts. I absolutely want to hear your thoughts about the end of the book. And as I say, we will have another episode. So please do keep writing in and we'll discuss the end on on Monday. But for now, here is the recap.

[Faith Moore]

All right, so where we left off, we finally got the full story of.

[Walter Hartright]

What exactly happened to Anne and to Laura. And we got it from Count Fosco. Okay? This was the narrative that he wrote.

[Faith Moore]

For Walter in exchange for Walter letting him escape the Brotherhood who want to.

[Walter Hartright]

Kill him because he turned spy. So Fosco tells us that he came.

[Faith Moore]

To England on business that he can't reveal to Walter. We know it was to head up.

[Walter Hartright]

The spy ring that was organizing because of the international Exhibition going on in London.

[Faith Moore]

So he came to England and his plan was to stay with Sir Percival at Blackwater park until he needed to.

[Walter Hartright]

Begin on his business.

[Faith Moore]

He says that the minute he got there and laid eyes on Marian, he.

[Walter Hartright]

Fell in love with her instantly.

[Faith Moore]

Fosco explains that both he and Percival.

[Walter Hartright]

Were in need of money, and Fosco.

[Faith Moore]

Hoped that they could get money by way of Laura.

[Walter Hartright]

Fosco then learned about Anne Catherick, though not about the secret, and accidentally met Mrs. Clements at the boathouse.

[Faith Moore]

Mrs. Clements trusted Fosco and allowed him to see Anne. When he saw the similarities between Anne and Laura, the plan to switch them.

[Walter Hartright]

Took shape in his mind.

[Faith Moore]

Anne was very ill, but Fosco gave her a stimulant which allowed them to.

[Walter Hartright]

Get her to London.

[Faith Moore]

Madame Fosco followed Anne to London on the pretense of bringing back a nurse.

[Walter Hartright]

For Marian, which she did in the person of Mrs. Rubell, who was actually one of Fosco's Spies.

[Faith Moore]

Fosco then went to see Mr. Fairlie and got him to write the letter inviting Marian to come to Limmeridge, which he needed to convince Laura that Marian.

[Walter Hartright]

Had in fact left without her.

[Faith Moore]

Which in turn would make Laura come alone to the Count's house on her way to Limmeridge to find Marian. They then dismissed all the servants and.

[Walter Hartright]

Fosco left for London to kidnap Anne Catherick.

[Faith Moore]

Madame Fosco took Mrs. Clements for a.

[Walter Hartright]

Ride in a cab and ditched her. And while that was happening, the Count.

[Faith Moore]

Got Anne to leave the house by.

[Walter Hartright]

Telling her that a carriage was waiting.

[Faith Moore]

Outside for her to take her to Laura.

[Walter Hartright]

Anne got in the cab and was taken to Fosco's house where she was introduced to everyone there as Lady Glyde.

[Faith Moore]

When Anne arrived and found that she was among strangers, she freaked out.

[Walter Hartright]

And eventually this caused the convulsions from her heart condition that killed her.

[Faith Moore]

This was bad for Fosco's plan because.

[Walter Hartright]

She died before Laura had left Backwater Park. Laura came the next day and Fosco.

[Faith Moore]

Sedated her and kept her sedated so that she only remembered snippets of what.

[Walter Hartright]

Happened and also had some false memories.

[Faith Moore]

Fosco had two unscrupulous medical men examine Laura, who he said was Anne, and certify that she was in fact insane. Fosco then had Laura taken back to.

[Walter Hartright]

The asylum and locked up there as Anne Anne. Fosco attended Anne's body to Limmeridge and attended the funeral there.

[Faith Moore]

He admits that the weak point in.

[Walter Hartright]

All of his plans was his love for Marian.

[Faith Moore]

He ends by answering three questions which.

[Walter Hartright]

He thinks Walter will have. One, that he controls Madame Fosco with the sheer force of his personality. Two, that if Anne hadn't died when.

[Faith Moore]

She did, he would have killed her and considered it a mercy. And three, that he doesn't feel guilty.

[Walter Hartright]

Because when he could have killed Laura.

[Faith Moore]

As well, he didn't.

[Walter Hartright]

And he ends his narrative there. Alright, I've got two comments this time. The first one is from Laura and.

[Faith Moore]

Laura begins with a quote and then.

[Walter Hartright]

She goes on to her comment. The quote is, judge me by what.

[Faith Moore]

I might have done. How comparatively innocent, how indirectly virtuous I.

[Walter Hartright]

Appear in what I really did.

[Faith Moore]

I am at a loss for words. What I did wasn't half so bad.

[Walter Hartright]

As what I could have done.

[Faith Moore]

Outrageous.

[Walter Hartright]

What kind of standard of behavior is that? Hell of a way to rationalize one's actions. By the way, if Anne didn't die of natural causes, I would have Killed her anyway, just in case you weren't sure.

[Faith Moore]

What a pompous, self assured narcissist.

[Walter Hartright]

And the second one comes from Michelle Donahue. Michelle writes, I don't think I've ever.

[Faith Moore]

Met a character I dislike as much as Fosco.

[Walter Hartright]

He thinks he's above the fray.

[Faith Moore]

It's infuriating. As long as Fosco has reasoned it to be okay, therefore it's okay. I could have killed her, but I didn't. See, that makes me a good, upstanding, moral person.

[Walter Hartright]

And let's not overlook his drooling over Marian. Completely inappropriate.

[Faith Moore]

I know it's not nice to hope.

[Walter Hartright]

That he gets obliterated, but I hope he gets obliterated. Okay, well, I actually think that it's totally fine to hope that Count Fosco gets obliterated. He's our villain and we want to.

[Faith Moore]

See him taken down.

[Walter Hartright]

This is not a real person. I mean, he feels real, right? I'll grant you that. He leaps right off the page. But he's not actually real. So we don't have to find, like the good in him or something, the way that we might try to do if he was actually in our lives.

[Faith Moore]

He's a bad guy. We love to hate him.

[Walter Hartright]

That's the fun of it all. And he's such a good bad guy, such a wonderful villain. And I think that's what this Fosco chapter is really all about. I mean, yes, we get some additional details about exactly how Anne and Laura were switched and everything, but really, I think what this chapter is there for is to show us, like, the mind of Count Fosco, right?

[Faith Moore]

To let us into the world of.

[Walter Hartright]

This really wonderful literary villain. And yes, we're icked out by him and angry with him and insulted by him and frustrated by him and all of this. But that's part of the brilliance of it all. We're reacting to him as if he were real.

[Faith Moore]

And in the same way that we're.

[Walter Hartright]

Gonna have to say goodbye to Walter.

[Faith Moore]

And Laura and Marian, we're saying goodbye.

[Walter Hartright]

To the Count too. Because without the Count, this story wouldn't have been a story at all.

[Faith Moore]

He holds a place in this story, too.

[Walter Hartright]

An important place.

[Faith Moore]

He's the villain.

[Walter Hartright]

And boy, is he villainous.

[Faith Moore]

Right?

[Walter Hartright]

I mean, that's what this chapter we read last time is all about. That's what it's there to tell us. And I think the key detail from this chapter is, as Laura and Michelle both point out in their letters, the key detail here is about Anne's death. And how it happened because we learned.

[Faith Moore]

Finally that Anne did die of natural causes. It was her heart disease that killed her.

[Walter Hartright]

And in fact, this was a weak point in the whole thing. She was supposed to die the next day, but she died a day early while Laura was still at Blackwater park, which is how Walter is now able to prove that Laura is Laura. So Anne wasn't murdered, although I think we could kind of argue that she actually was since she was put in this situation, which caused her to freak out, which caused her heart to give out. But whatever, we'll just say she wasn't murdered. Murdered. But if she hadn't died on her own, Fosco would have killed her. And this is awful, but.

[Faith Moore]

So Fosco, right, he essentially tells us.

[Walter Hartright]

That killing Anne would have been a mercy. Okay, here's what he says. He says I should, in that case.

[Faith Moore]

Have assisted worn out nature in finding permanent repose. I should have opened the doors of.

[Walter Hartright]

The prison of life and have extended to the captive incurably afflicted in mind and body both a happy release.

[Faith Moore]

Okay, so he's saying, and this is.

[Walter Hartright]

Important, I think he's saying that Anne probably wanted to die anyway. That he would have been like, doing.

[Faith Moore]

Her a service by killing her if.

[Walter Hartright]

He had been the one to do it. And his reasoning here is that Anne.

[Faith Moore]

Suffered from mental illness.

[Walter Hartright]

So obviously, according to Fosco, she wouldn't want to live. Right? And she was suffering physically as well. So according to Fosco, much better to die than to live with a physical affliction. So essentially, according to Fosco's reasoning, because Anne wasn't of perfectly sound mind and because she wasn't of perfectly sound body, she didn't deserve to live.

[Faith Moore]

She was beneath us.

[Walter Hartright]

She was unimportant, not worthy of notice. And in fact, if she had been able to articulate her own wishes, she probably would have said like, yeah, just kill me. Right? See, that's Fosco. Okay? This person is beneath me.

[Faith Moore]

She's poor, she's mentally ill, she's sick.

[Walter Hartright]

It's fine, just kill her. She probably would have wanted it anyway. I mean, ugh, right? It's awful, but there it is.

[Faith Moore]

That's Fosco's worldview.

[Walter Hartright]

And then we add to this what.

[Faith Moore]

He tells us about why he didn't just kill Laura too.

[Walter Hartright]

Okay, here's what he says.

[Faith Moore]

And this includes the quote that Laura.

[Walter Hartright]

Gave us in her letter, but it's a little before that as well. He says, with my vast resources in chemistry, I might have Taken Lady Glyde's life at immense personal sacrifice. I followed the dictates of my own.

[Faith Moore]

Ingenuity, my own humanity, my own caution.

[Walter Hartright]

And took her identity instead. Judge me by what I might have done, how comparatively innocent, how indirectly virtuous I appear in what I really did. Okay, it's maddening, right? It's like stipulating that he had to do something. He had to commit some sort of crime. So we should applaud him for simply taking Laura's identity, since he could have killed her. But of course, he. He didn't have to commit any kind of crime at all. So taking her identity is also really bad.

[Faith Moore]

But here again, we're coming up against.

[Walter Hartright]

The Count's sort of disregard for people he doesn't care about. Or we might even say his disregard for people in general. People who aren't him. Right.

[Faith Moore]

And Fosco doesn't like Laura. Right?

[Walter Hartright]

He sees her as annoying and in the way and sort of irrelevant. Okay, here's what he says about her.

[Faith Moore]

She and I had no affinities of sympathy.

[Walter Hartright]

She had committed the unpardonable outrage on my sensibilities of calling me a spy.

[Faith Moore]

She was a stumbling block in my way and in Percival's. But for all that, my magnanimity forbade.

[Walter Hartright]

Me to put her in danger of infection with my own hand. Okay, so he's talking about letting her come into the room with Marian when Marian was sick. But the point is that Laura offended him. He sees her as weak.

[Faith Moore]

She's annoying. He doesn't like her.

[Walter Hartright]

So to him, she is expendable too.

[Faith Moore]

He could have killed her too, and he wouldn't have cared.

[Walter Hartright]

So according to his worldview, since she's annoying and in the way, it's no.

[Faith Moore]

Big deal to kill her.

[Walter Hartright]

So everyone should applaud him for his magnanimity, since he kept her alive. And I actually think this personality trait of his, this. This like, total disregard for the inherent worth of other people. I think this trait has been there all along in Fosco's love of his animals. I think the fact that Fosco clearly loves animals more than people. Right? We see that in his treatment of his own pets and his feelings about leaving them behind. But also, we saw it when that pastry, remember, to the monkey outside of the shop. But then he turned away in disgust at the man who owned the monkey. So the fact that he loves animals more than people is Collins's way of.

[Faith Moore]

Showing us that Fosco has had this.

[Walter Hartright]

Total disdain for people's worth and even their Lives all along. I know that this might be slightly controversial to say because I know people in the modern day really love their. Their pets, but I really think Collins is saying that loving animals more than people is a character defect. There's something off about that.

[Faith Moore]

There's something wrong.

[Walter Hartright]

I think Collins is saying that people are the ones you're meant to connect with, to empathize with and protect and care for and all of that. Yes, you can do that with animals too. But if you do it with animals to the exclusion of people, or if you can only access those feelings of love and empathy and protectiveness and everything when you're dealing with animals, then there's a piece of you missing. And I think in this chapter we read last time, that piece of Fosco is laid bare, right? He actually doesn't care about people. He doesn't believe in their inherent worth, and he sees them as totally expendable if they get in his way. You know, a lot of you have been asking me at various times as we've gone along with why Fosco and.

[Faith Moore]

Percival didn't just kill Laura.

[Walter Hartright]

Like, why do this whole switch thing? It seems overly complicated. Why not just kill Anne and Laura both, right? Wouldn't that be easier? Wouldn't that make for fewer loose ends and less potential for getting caught? And I think that the answer here is Percival, right? This is from two chapters ago, but I think it's relevant here.

[Faith Moore]

This is Fosco speaking.

[Walter Hartright]

He says, you have not got my.

[Faith Moore]

Lamented friend to deal with now.

[Walter Hartright]

Right?

[Faith Moore]

The lamented friend is Percival. You are face to face with Fosco. If the lives of 20 Mr. Hartrights were the stepping stones to my safety, over all those stones I would go, sustained by my sublime indifference self, balanced by my impenetrable calm.

[Walter Hartright]

Okay, so Fosco would kill anyone who.

[Faith Moore]

Got in his way. He doesn't care. But Percival cared.

[Walter Hartright]

Even before Fosco, like cooked up this whole scheme, Percival had gone to enormous.

[Faith Moore]

Lengths not to kill anyone.

[Walter Hartright]

I mean, if he'd had the same opinion of people as Fosco has, he might have killed Mrs. Catherick once she found out about the forgery. He could have killed Anne once he.

[Faith Moore]

Thought she knew his secret.

[Walter Hartright]

He could have killed Laura and made it look like an accident and inherited all her money.

[Faith Moore]

He could have killed Walter when Walter.

[Walter Hartright]

Started poking around and trying to find out his secret. But none of that ever even actually occurred to him, right? Instead he did all these complicated things like bribing Mrs. Catherick and having Anne committed to the asylum and trying to get Laura to sign this document without reading it and getting Walter arrested and thrown into jail.

[Faith Moore]

For such a long time, we thought.

[Walter Hartright]

That Percival was the kind of guy that would kill his wife, but he never was. And when Fosco came up with his plan, Percival was super uneasy about it. Remember, he didn't like it at all.

[Faith Moore]

Right.

[Walter Hartright]

Do you remember how he acted at Blackwater Park? He essentially went crazy under the strain of the guilt and like, ran off into the night. And I think also that Percival, at least initially, really did kind of like Laura. You know, he may not have loved her, but I think he felt that she was like a pretty, sweet, virtuous kind of person. And yes, he was marrying her for her money, but I don't think he was like repulsed by her or anything. I think he kind of liked her.

[Faith Moore]

And my reason for this is that he got so jealous when he learned.

[Walter Hartright]

That she was in love with Walter. If he didn't care about her at all, he wouldn't have cared or I guess wouldn't have cared as much that she was in love with someone else. So I think Percival is the reason that they didn't kill Laura.

[Faith Moore]

I think Fosco could get Percival to.

[Walter Hartright]

Agree to Anne's death. Right? Anne is lower class. She's mentally ill. She was dying anyway. Percival would have seen her as lesser than. And of course we don't see Anne that way. And Percival also didn't for a long time. But I think Fosco could convince Percival that Anne's death would be okay. But I don't think that Fosco could convince Percival that Laura's death would be okay. Right? Laura is upper class. She's totally all there mentally.

[Faith Moore]

Her health is good.

[Walter Hartright]

She. She, according to Percival's worldview, is a fully fledged person in a way that according to Percival, Anne kind of wasn't. So Percival wouldn't allow for Laura's death, only Anne's.

[Faith Moore]

So Fosco arranged this whole switch situation.

[Walter Hartright]

In order to deal with Percival's slightly more developed sense of morality. Right. Fosco would have killed them both. But Percival will only agree to killing Anne. So Anne died and Laura lived. And I think that's why. But of course, the one sort of caveat to Fosco's sense that people are expendable and if they're in his way, they can just be gotten rid of. The one exception to this is Marian. Right? Marian is the one person whom the.

[Faith Moore]

Count seems to actually love to care.

[Walter Hartright]

For in the Sense of valuing her life and her existence separate from Fosco's own needs. And that why Marian is his true weakness. It's because only in her does he.

[Faith Moore]

See the fullness of another human experience and want to preserve it.

[Walter Hartright]

And it's clearly a new and like, totally revelatory thing for him. Right. He goes on and on about it.

[Faith Moore]

Right. Here are a few quotes.

[Walter Hartright]

Okay. He says, with what inconceivable rapidity I learned to adore that woman at 60. I worshipped her with the volcanic ardor of 18.

[Faith Moore]

All the gold of my rich nature was poured hopelessly at her feet. Okay, here's another one. He says, I have to assert with the whole force of my conviction that.

[Walter Hartright]

The one weak place in my scheme.

[Faith Moore]

Would never have been found out if.

[Walter Hartright]

The one weak place in my heart.

[Faith Moore]

Had not been discovered first.

[Walter Hartright]

Nothing but my fatal admiration for Marian.

[Faith Moore]

Restrained me from stepping in to my own rescue when she effected her sister's escape.

[Walter Hartright]

Okay, and here's one more. He says, behold the cause in my heart.

[Faith Moore]

Behold in the image of Marian Halcombe, the first and last weakness of Fosco's life.

[Walter Hartright]

Okay.

[Faith Moore]

The first and last weakness.

[Walter Hartright]

I would venture to say that Marian is the only person who has ever seemed real to Fosco. Like a real, living, breathing person with her own worth and her own experience. And.

[Faith Moore]

And it's totally staggering to Fosco.

[Walter Hartright]

It's completely and utterly debilitating.

[Faith Moore]

Right.

[Walter Hartright]

He's stunned by, like, the person ness of Marian. The force of the fact of her individuality. And I don't know about you, but I just kind of love this because, yeah, it's icky and everything, but if anyone could convince a guy like Fosco that people are actually people and worthy of life, of course it's Marian. Of course the force of Marian's personality could do that. She's our brilliant, brave, like, feisty, sparkling friend.

[Faith Moore]

And even though Walter held her back.

[Walter Hartright]

In the hallway and didn't let her come to the final showdown with the.

[Faith Moore]

Count, she took Fosco down just as.

[Walter Hartright]

Much as Walter did. Right. And I love her for that. Okay, but now, of course, Fosco is on the run.

[Faith Moore]

Will he get his comeuppance?

[Walter Hartright]

We don't know. And also, what is Walter now going to do with the evidence he has that Laura is Laura? How will her identity be restored? And what will it mean for our three heroes when it does? Well, there's only one way to find out. We've got to finish the book. Okay, so let's do it.

[Faith Moore]

And of course, don't forget to write.

[Walter Hartright]

To me faithkmoore.com click on contact or scroll into the show notes and find the link that's there and I'll you send see you again on Monday and we'll talk about the end and then.

[Faith Moore]

We'Ll go into the summer.

[Walter Hartright]

Thank you. Thank you to all of you for.

[Faith Moore]

Being a part of this journey.

[Walter Hartright]

Thank you for being a part of the Woman in White and for getting to know this book and these characters with me. It's been an absolute pleasure and joy. All right, let's get started with Heart Wright's narrative, Chapters one through three of the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins it's story Time.

[Faith Moore]

The Story concluded by Walter Hartright1 when I closed the last leaf of the Count's manuscript, the half hour during which I had engaged to remain at Forest Road had expired. Monsieur Rubelle looked at his watch and bowed. I rose immediately and left the agent in possession of the empty house. I never saw him again. I never heard more of him or of his wife. Out of the dark byways of villainy and deceit they had crawled across our path into the same byways. They crawled back secretly and were lost. In a quarter of an hour after leaving Forest Road, I was at home again, but few words sufficed to tell Laura and Marian how my desperate venture had ended and what the next event in our lives was likely to be. I left all the details to be described later in the day and hastened back to St. John's Wood to see the person of whom Count Fosco had ordered the fly when he went to meet Laura at the station. So this is the last piece of evidence he needs the confirmation that Laura took the cab from the station on.

[Walter Hartright]

The day after she was supposedly dead.

[Faith Moore]

The address in my possession led me to some livery stables about a quarter of a mile distant from Forest Road. The proprietor proved to be a civil and respectable man. When I explained that an important family matter obliged me to ask him to refer to his books for the purpose of ascertaining a date with which the record of his business transactions might supply me, he offered no objection to granting my request. The book was produced, and there, under the date of July 26, 1850, the order was entered in these brougham to Count Fosco. Brougham is a kind of carriage. So they sent a carriage to Count Fosco, 5 Forest Road, 2 o' clock. John Owen. I found on inquiry that the name of John Owen attached to the entry referred to the man who had been employed to drive the fly. He was then at work in the stable yard and was sent for to see me at my request. Do you remember driving a gentleman in the month of July last from no. 5 Forest Road to the Waterloo Bridge station? I asked.

[Walter Hartright]

Well, sir, said the man, I can't exactly say I do.

[Faith Moore]

Perhaps you remember the gentleman himself.

[Walter Hartright]

Can you call to mind driving a foreigner last summer?

[Faith Moore]

A tall gentleman and remarkably fat. The man's face brightened directly. I remember him, sir.

[Walter Hartright]

The fattest gentleman as ever, I see. And the heaviest customer as ever I drove. Yes, yes, I call him to mind, sir.

[Faith Moore]

We did go to the station and.

[Walter Hartright]

It was from Forest Road. There was a parrot or summat like.

[Faith Moore]

It screeching in the window.

[Walter Hartright]

The gentleman was in a mortal hurry about the ladies luggage and he gave me a handsome present for looking sharp.

[Faith Moore]

And getting the boxes. Boxes, getting the boxes. I recollected immediately that Laura's own account.

[Walter Hartright]

Of herself on her arrival in London.

[Faith Moore]

Described her luggage as being collected for her by some person whom Count Fosco brought with him to the station. This was the man. Did you see the lady? I asked. What did she look like? Was she young or old?

[Walter Hartright]

Well, sir, what with the hurry and.

[Faith Moore]

The crowd of people pushing about, I.

[Walter Hartright]

Can'T rightly say what the lady looked like.

[Faith Moore]

I can't call nothing to mind about her that I know of, except in her name. You remember her name? Yes, sir.

[Walter Hartright]

Her name was Lady Glyde.

[Faith Moore]

How do you come to remember that.

[Walter Hartright]

When you've forgotten what she looked like?

[Faith Moore]

The man smiled and shifted his feet in some little embarrassment. Why? To tell you the truth, sir, he said I hadn't been long married at that time, and my wife's name before she changed it for mine was the same as the lady's. Meaning the name of Glyde, sir? The lady mentioned it herself. Is your name on your boxes, ma' am? Says I. Yes, says she. My name's on my luggage.

[Walter Hartright]

It is Lady Glyde.

[Faith Moore]

Come, I says to myself. I've a bad head for gentlefolks names.

[Walter Hartright]

In general, but this one comes like an old friend. At any rate, I can't say nothing.

[Faith Moore]

About the time, sir. It might be nigh on a year ago or it mightn't. But I can swear to the stout.

[Walter Hartright]

Gentleman and swear to the lady's name.

[Faith Moore]

Okay, so the cab driver remembers Fosco because he's so distinctive looking. And he remembers Laura's name because it was the maiden name of his wife. There was no need that he should remember the time. The date was positively established by his master's order book. I felt at once that the means were now in my power of striking down the whole conspiracy at a blow with the irresistible weapon of plain fact. Meaning he now has evidence that Laura was not in London on the day.

[Walter Hartright]

When she was supposedly dead in a house in London.

[Faith Moore]

Without a moment's hesitation, I took the proprietor of the livery stables aside and told him what the real importance was of the evidence of his order book and the evidence of his driver. An arrangement to compensate him for the temporary loss of the man's services was easily made and a copy of the entry in the book was taken by myself and certified as true by the master's own signature. I left the livery stables. Having settled that John Owen was to hold himself at my disposal for the next three days or for a longer period if necessity required it I now had in my possession all the papers that I wanted. The district registrar's own copy of the certificate of death and Sir Percival's dated letter to the count being safe in my pocket book. With this written evidence about me and with the coachman's answers fresh in my memory I next turned my steps for the first time since the beginning of all my inquiries in the direction of Mr. Curll's office. One of my objects in paying him this second visit was necessarily to tell.

[Walter Hartright]

Him what I had done.

[Faith Moore]

The other was to warn him of my resolution to take my wife to Limmeridge the next morning and to have her publicly received and recognized in her uncle's house. I left it to Mr. Curll to decide under these circumstances and in Mr. Gilmore's absence whether he was or was not bound as the family solicitor to be present on that occasion in the family interests. I will say nothing of Mr. Curll's amazement or of the terms in which he expressed his opinion of my conduct from the first stage of the investigation to the last. It is only necessary to mention that he at once decided on accompanying us to Cumberland meaning Mr. Curl now believes them and he's complimentary of Walter for all he's done to prove Laura's identity. We started the next morning by the early train. Laura, Marian, Mr. Curl and myself in one carriage and John Owen with a clerk from Mr. Curl's office occupying places in another. On reaching the Limmeridge station we went first to the farmhouse at Todd's Corner. It was my firm determination that Laura should not enter her uncle's house till she appeared there publicly recognized as his niece. I left Marian to settle the question of accommodation with Mrs. Todd. As soon as the good woman had recovered from the bewilderment of hearing what our errand was in Cumberland and I arranged with her husband that John Owen was to be committed to the ready hospitality of the farm servants. These preliminaries completed, Mr. Curll and I set forth together for Limmeridge House. I cannot write at any length of our interview with Mr. Fairlie, for I cannot recall it to mind without feelings of impatience and contempt which make the scene, even in remembrance, only utterly repulsive to me. I prefer to record simply that I carried my point.

[Walter Hartright]

Meaning he made Mr. Fairley believe him.

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Fairley attempted to treat us on his customary plan. We passed without notice his polite insolence. At the outset of the interview we heard without sympathy the protestations with which he tried next to persuade us that the disclosure of the conspiracy had overwhelmed him. He absolutely whined and whimpered at last like a fretful child. How was he to know that his niece was alive when he was told that she was dead? He would welcome dear Laura with pleasure if we would only allow him time to recover. Did we think he looked as if he wanted hurrying into his grave? No. Then why hurry him? He reiterated these remonstrances at every available opportunity until I checked them once for all. By placing him firmly between two inevitable alternatives, I gave him his choice between doing his niece justice on my terms or facing the consequence of a public assertion of her existence in a court of law. Mr. Curll, to whom he turned for help, told him plainly that he must decide the question then and there, characteristically choosing the alternative which promised soonest to release him from all personal anxiety, he announced with a sudden outburst of energy that he was not strong enough to bear any more bullying and that we might do as we pleased. Mr. Curll and I at once went downstairs and agreed upon a form of letter which was to be sent round to the tenants who had attended the false funeral, summoning them in Mr. Fairlie's name to assemble in Limmeridge House on the next day but one. An order referring to the same date was also written, directing a statuary in Carlisle to send a man to Limmeridge Church for the purpose of erasing an inscription. Mr. Curll, who had arranged to sleep in the house, undertaking that Mr. Fairlie should hear these letters read to him and should sign them with his own hand. So they're preparing to inform everyone in and around Limmeridge House that Laura is.

[Walter Hartright]

Alive and to erase the inscription on.

[Faith Moore]

The tomb that says that she is buried there. I occupied the interval day at the farm. In writing a plain narrative of the conspiracy and in adding to it a statement of the practical contradiction which facts offered to the assertion of Laura's death. This I submitted to Mr. Curll before I read it the next day to the assembled tenants. We also arranged the form in which the evidence should be presented at the close of the reading. After these matters were settled, Mr. Curll endeavoured to turn the conversation next to Laura's affairs, knowing and desiring to know nothing of those affairs and doubting whether he would approve, as a man of business, of my conduct in relation to my wife's life interest in the legacy left to Madam Fosco. I begged Mr. Curl to excuse me if I abstained from discussing the subject. So Mr. Crowell wants to talk about Laura's money, which is basically all gone since Percival's share was taken by his creditors to pay off his debts. And Walter let Fosco have his share.

[Walter Hartright]

As part of the bargain that they struck. Mr. Crowl wants to talk about that.

[Faith Moore]

But Walter isn't interested. It was connected, as I could truly tell him, with those sorrows and troubles of the past which we never referred to among ourselves and which we instinctively shrank from discussing with others. My last labor as the evening approached was to obtain the narrative of the tombstone by taking a copy of the false inscription on the grave before it was erased. The day came. The day when Laura once more entered the familiar breakfast room at Limmeridge House. All the persons assembled rose from their seats as Marian and I led her in a perceptible shock of surprise. An audible murmur of interest ran through them at the sight of her face. Mr. Fairlie was present by my express stipulation, with Mr. Curll by his side. His valet stood behind him with a smelling bottle ready in one hand and a white handkerchief saturated with eau de cologne in the other. I opened the proceedings by publicly appealing to Mr. Fairlie to say whether I appeared there with his authority and under his expression sanction. He extended an arm on either side to Mr. Curll and to his valet was by them assisted to stand on his legs, and then expressed himself in these. Allow me to present Mr. Hartright.

[Walter Hartright]

I am as great an invalid as.

[Faith Moore]

Ever and he is so very obliging.

[Walter Hartright]

As to speak for me. The subject is dreadfully embarrassing.

[Faith Moore]

Please hear him and don't make a noise with those words. He slowly sank back again into the chair and took refuge in his scented pocket handkerchief. The disclosure of the conspiracy followed after I had offered my preliminary explanation. First of all, in the fewest and the plainest words I was there present. I informed my hearers to declare first that my wife then sitting by me was the daughter of the late Mr. Philip Fairlie. Secondly, to prove by positive facts that the funeral which they had attended in Limmeridge churchyard was the funeral of another woman. Thirdly, to give them a plain account of how it had all happened. Without further preface, I at once read the narrative of the conspiracy describing it in clear outline and dwelling only upon the pecuniary motive for it in order to avoid complicating my statement by unnecessary reference to Sir Percival's secret. So he just explained why the crime had been committed by telling them about the money situation, not Sir Percival's secret. This done, I reminded my audience of the date on the inscription in the churchyard the 25th. And confirmed its correctness by producing the certificate of death. I then read them Sir Percival's letter of the 25th announcing his wife's intended journey from Hampshire to London on the 26th. I next showed that she had taken that journey by the personal testimony of the driver of the fly. And I proved that she had performed it on the appointed day by the order book at the livery stables. Marion then added her own statement of the meeting between Laura and herself at the madhouse and of her sister's escape. After which I closed the proceedings by informing the persons present of Sir Percival's death and of my marriage. Mr. Curll rose when I resumed my seat and declared as the legal adviser of the family that my case was proved by the plainest evidence he had ever heard in his life. As he spoke those words, I put my arm round Laura and raised her so that she was plainly visible to everyone in the room. Are you all of the same opinion? I asked, advancing towards them a few.

[Walter Hartright]

Steps and pointing to my wife.

[Faith Moore]

The effect of the question was electrical. Far down at the lower end of the room one of the oldest tenants on the estate started to his feet and led the rest with him in an instant. I see the man now with his honest brown face and his iron grey hair mounted on the window seat with waving his heavy riding whip over his head and leading the cheers. There she is, alive and hearty. God bless her. Get it tongue, lads. Give it tongue meaning. Give it tongue.

[Walter Hartright]

So say it out loud. It's really Laura.

[Faith Moore]

The shout that answered him, reiterated again and again, was the sweetest music I had ever heard. The laborers in the village and the boys from the school assembled on the lawn caught up the cheering and echoed it back on us. The farmers wives clustered round Laura and struggled which should be the first to shake hands with her and to implore her with the tears pouring over their own cheeks to bear up bravely and not to cry. She was so completely overwhelmed that I was obliged to take her from them and carry her to the door. There I gave her into Marian's care. Marian, who had never failed us yet whose courageous self control did not fail us now. Left by myself at the door, I invited all the persons present, after thanking them in Laura's name and in mine, to follow me to the churchyard and see the false inscription struck off the tombstone with their own eyes. They all left the house and all joined the throng of villagers collected round the grave where the statuary's man was waiting for us in a breathless silence. The first sharp stroke of the steel sounded on the marble. Not a voice was heard, not a sound moved till those three words, Laura, Lady Glyde had vanished from sight. Then there was a great heave of relief among the crowd as if they felt that the last fetters of the conspiracy had been struck off. Laura herself and the assembly slowly withdrew. It was late in the day before the whole inscription was erased. One line only was afterwards engraved in its place. Anne Catherick, July 25, 1850. I returned to Limmeridge House early enough in the evening to take leave of Mr. Curll. He and his clerk and the driver of the Fly went back to London by the night train. On their departure an insolent message was delivered to me from Mr. Fairlie who had been carried from the room in a shattered condition. When the first outbreak of cheering answered my appeal to the tenantry, the message conveyed to us Mr. Fairlie's best congratulations and requested to know whether we contemplated stopping in the house. I sent back word that the only object for which we had entered his doors was accomplished, that I contemplated the stopping in no man's house but my own and that Mr. Fairlie need not entertain the slightest apprehension of ever seeing us or hearing from us again. We went back to our friends at the farm to rest that night and the next morning escorted to the station with the heartiest enthusiasm and good will by the whole village and by all the farmers in the neighborhood, we returned to London. As our view of the Cumberland Hills faded in the distance I thought of the first disheartening circumstances under which the long struggle that was now past and over had been pursued. It was strange to look back and to see now that the poverty which had denied us all hope of assistance had been the indirect means of our.

[Walter Hartright]

Success by forcing me to act for myself.

[Faith Moore]

If we had been rich enough to find legal help, what would have been the result? The gain on Mr. Curll's own showing would have been more than doubtful. The loss, judging by the plain test of events as they had really happened, certain the law would never have obtained me my interview with Mrs. Catherick. The law would never have made Pesca the means of forcing a confession from the count. 2. Two more events remain to be added to the chain before it reaches fairly. From the outset of the story to the close, while our new sense of freedom from the long oppression of the past was still strange to us. I was sent for by the friend who had given me my first employment in wood engraving to receive from him a fresh testimony of his regard for my welfare. He had been commissioned by his employers to go to Paris and to examine for them a fresh discovery in the practical application of his art, the merits of which they were anxious to ascertain. His own engagements had not allowed him.

[Walter Hartright]

Leisure time to undertake the errand and.

[Faith Moore]

He had most kindly suggested that it should be transferred to me. I could have no hesitation in thankfully accepting the offer. For if I acquitted myself of my commission as I hoped I should, the result would be a poor permanent engagement on the illustrated newspaper to which I was now only occasionally attached. Okay, so Walter's colleague recommended him for a job in Paris which, if he does it well, will give him a.

[Walter Hartright]

Full time job at a newspaper when he comes back.

[Faith Moore]

I received my instructions and packed up for the journey. The next day, on leaving Laura once more under what changed circumstances in her sister's care, a serious consideration recurred to me which had more than once crossed my wife's mind as well as my own. Already I mean the consideration of Marian's future. Had we any right to let our selfish affection accept the devotion of all that generous life? Was it not our duty, our best expression of gratitude, to forget ourselves and to think only of her meaning? Even though they want Marion to live with them forever, Wouldn't it be kinder to allow her to live. Live her own life and maybe marry? I tried to say this when we were alone for a moment before I went away, she took my hand and silenced me at the first words. After all that we three have suffered.

[Walter Hartright]

Together, she said, there can be no.

[Faith Moore]

Parting between us till the last parting of all. My heart and my happiness, Walter, are with Laura and with you. Wait a little till there are children's.

[Walter Hartright]

Voices at your fireside.

[Faith Moore]

I will teach them to speak for me in their language. And the first lesson they say to their father and mother shall be we can't spare our aunt. My journey to Paris was not undertaken alone. At the 11th hour, Pesca decided that he would accompany me. He had not recovered his customary cheerfulness since the night at the Opera, and he determined to try what a week's holiday would do to raise his spirits. I performed the errand entrusted to me and drew out the necessary report on the fourth day from our arrival in Paris. The fifth day I arranged to devote to sightseeing and amusements in Pesca's company. Our hotel had been too full to accommodate us both on the same floor. My room was on the second story and Pesca's was above me on the third. On the morning of the fifth day, I went upstairs to see if the professor was ready to go out. Just before I reached the landing, I saw his door opened from the inside. A long, delicate, nervous hand, not my friend's hand, certainly held it ajar. At the same time I heard Pesca's voice saying eagerly in low tones and in his own language, I remember the name, but I don't know the man you saw at the opera. He was so changed that I could not recognize him. I will forward the report. I can do no more. No more need be done, answered the second voice. The door opened wide and the light haired man with the scar on his cheek, the man I had seen following Count Fosco's cab a week before, came out. He bowed as I drew aside to let him pass. His face was fearfully pale and he held fast by the banisters as he descended the stairs. I pushed open the door and entered Pesca's room. He was crouched up in the strangest manner in a corner of the sofa. He seemed to shrink from me when I approached him.

[Walter Hartright]

Am I disturbing you?

[Faith Moore]

I asked. I did not know you had a friend with you till I saw him come out. No friend, answered Pasca eagerly. I see him today for the first time and the last. I am afraid he has brought you bad news. Horrible news, Walter. Let us go back to London. I don't want to stop here. I am sorry I ever came. The misfortunes of my youth are very.

[Walter Hartright]

Hard upon me, he said, turning his.

[Faith Moore]

Face to the wall. Very hard upon me. In my later time I try to forget them and they will not forget me.

[Walter Hartright]

We can't return, I'm afraid, before the afternoon I replied. Would you like to come out with.

[Faith Moore]

Me in the meantime?

[Walter Hartright]

No, my friend.

[Faith Moore]

I will wait here. But let us go back to day, Pray, let us go back. I left him with the assurance that he should leave Paris that afternoon. We had arranged the evening before to ascend the cathedral of Notre Dame with Victor Hugo's Noble Romance for our guide. There was nothing in the French capital.

[Walter Hartright]

That I was more anxious to see.

[Faith Moore]

And I departed by myself for the church. Approaching Notre Dame by the riverside, I passed on my way the terrible dead house of Paris, the morgue. A great crowd clamoured and heaved round the door. There was evidently something inside which excited the popular curiosity and fed the popular appetite for horror. I should have walked on to the church if the conversation of two men and a woman on the outskirts of the crowd had not caught my ear. They had just come out from seeing the site in the morgue, and the account they were giving of the dead body to their neighbors described it as the corpse of a man, a man of immense size with a strange mark on his left arm. The moment those words reached me, I stopped and took my place with the crowd going in. So people were allowed to visit the morgue and view the corpses as like a kind of macabre entertainment. So he's joining the crowd that's trying to get into the morgue to see this strange dead body. Some dim foreshadowing of the truth had crossed my mind when I heard Pesca's voice through the open door and when I saw the stranger's face as he passed me on the stairs of the hotel. Now the truth itself was revealed to me, revealed in the chance words that had just reached my ears. Other vengeance than mine had followed that fated man from the theatre to his own door, from his own door to his refuge in Paris. Other vengeance than mine had called him to the day of reckoning and had exacted from him the penalty of his life. The moment when I had pointed him out to Pesca at the theatre, in the hearing of that stranger by our side, who was looking for him too, was the moment that sealed his doom. I remembered the struggle in my own heart when he and I stood face to face. The struggle before I could let him escape me, and shuddered as I recalled it. So the strange man from the opera was the person from the Brotherhood who had been tasked with killing Fosco. And he's finally done it. Fosco is dead. Slowly, inch by inch, I pressed in with the crowd, moving nearer and nearer to the great glass screen that parts The. The dead from the living at the morgue. Nearer and nearer till I was close behind the front row of spectators and could look in. There he lay, unowned, unknown, exposed to the flippant curiosity of a French mob. There was the dreadful end of that long life of degraded ability and heartless crime. Hushed in the sublime repose of death. The broad, firm, massive face and head fronted us so grandly. That the chattering Frenchwomen about me lifted their hands in admiration and cried in a shrill chorus, ah, what a handsome man. The wound that had killed him had been struck with a knife or dagger exactly over his heart. No other traces of violence appeared about the body except on the left arm. And there, exactly in the place where I had seen the brand on Pesca's arm, were two deep cuts in the shape of the letter T. Which entirely obliterated the mark of the Brotherhood. So he's been marked as a traitor. His clothes hung above him showed that he had been himself conscious of his danger. They were clothes that had disguised him as a French artisan. For a few moments, but not for longer. I forced myself to see these things through the glass screen. I can write of them at no greater length, for I saw no more. The few facts in connection with his death, which I subsequently ascertained, partly from Pesca and partly from other sources, may be stated here before the subject is dismissed from these pages. His body was taken out of the Seine. So the Seine is the main river of Paris. In the disguise which I have described, nothing being found on him which revealed his name, his rank or his place of abode. The hand that struck him was never traced, and the circumstances under which he was killed were never discovered. I leave others to draw their own conclusions in reference to the secret of the assassination, as I have drawn mine when I have intimated that the foreigner with the scar was a member of the brotherhood admitted in Italy after Pesca's departure from his native country. And when I have further added that the two cuts in the form of a T on the left arm of the dead man. Signified the Italian word tradiatore. And showed that justice had been done by the Brotherhood on a traitor. I have contributed all that I know towards elucidating the mystery of Count Fosco's death. The body was identified the day after I had seen it. By means of an anonymous letter addressed to his wife. He was buried by Madame Fosco in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise. Fresh funeral wreaths continue to this day to be hung on the ornamental Bronze railings round the tomb by the Countess's own hand. She lives in the strictest retirement at Versailles. Not long since she published a biography of her deceased husband. The work throws no light whatever on the name that was really his own, or on the secret history of his life. It is almost entirely devoted to the praise of his domestic virtues, the assertion of his rare abilities, and the enumeration of the honors conferred on him. The circumstances attending his death are very briefly noticed, and are summed up on the last page in this his life was one long assertion of the rights of the aristocracy and the sacred principles of order, and he died a Martyr to his cause. 3 the Summer and autumn passed after my return from Paris and brought no changes with them which need be noticed. We lived so simply and quietly that the income which I was now steadily earning sufficed for all our wants. In the February of the new Year our first child was born, a son. My mother and sister and Mrs. Vasey were our guests at the little christening party, and Mrs. Clements was present to assist my wife on the same occasion. Marian was our boy's godmother, And Pesca and Mr. Gilmour, the latter acting by proxy, were his godfathers. I may add here that when Mr. Gilmore returned to us a year later, he assisted the design of these pages at my request, by writing the narrative which appears early in the story under his name, and which, though first in order of precedence, was thus in order of time, the last that I received, the only event in our lives which now remains to be recorded, occurred when our little Walter was six months old. Okay, so Laura and Walter's first child is also named Walter, and this last.

[Walter Hartright]

Thing he wants to tell us happened.

[Faith Moore]

When their child was six months old. @ that time I was sent to Ireland to make sketches for certain forthcoming illustrations in the newspaper to which I was attached. I was away for nearly a fortnight, corresponding regularly with my wife and Marian, except during the last three days of.

[Walter Hartright]

My absence, when my movements were too.

[Faith Moore]

Uncertain to enable me to receive letters. I performed the latter part of my.

[Walter Hartright]

Journey back at night, and when I.

[Faith Moore]

Reached home in the morning, to my utter astonishment there was no one to receive me. Laura and Marian and the child had left the house on the day before my return. A note from my wife, which was given to me by the servant, only increased my surprise by informing me that they had gone to Limmeridge House. Marian had prohibited any attempt at written explanations. I was entreated to follow them. The moment I came back, complete enlightenment awaited me on my arrival in Cumberland and I was forbidden to feel the slightest anxiety in the meantime. There the note ended. It was still early enough to catch the morning train. I reached Limmeridge House the same afternoon. My wife and Marian were both upstairs. They had established themselves by way of completing my amazement in the little room which had been once assigned to me for a studio when I was employed on Mr. Fairlie's drawings, on the very.

[Walter Hartright]

Chair which I used to occupy when I was at work.

[Faith Moore]

Marian was sitting now with the child, industriously sucking his coral upon her lap, meaning the baby's got a teething toy.

[Walter Hartright]

T'S chewing on, while Laura was standing.

[Faith Moore]

By the well remembered drawing table which I had so often used with the little album that I had filled for her in past times open under her hand. What in the name of heaven has brought you here?

[Walter Hartright]

I asked. Does Mr. Fairlie know?

[Faith Moore]

Marion suspended the question on my lips by telling me that Mr. Fairlie was dead. He had been struck by paralysis and had never rallied after the shock. Mr. Curll had informed them of his death and had advised them to proceed immediately to Limmeridge House. Some dim perception of a great change.

[Walter Hartright]

Dawned on my mind.

[Faith Moore]

Laura spoke before I had quite realized it. She stole close to me to enjoy the surprise which was still expressed in my face.

[Walter Hartright]

My darling Walter, she said, must we.

[Faith Moore]

Really account for our boldness in coming here? I am afraid, love, I can only explain it by breaking through our rule and referring to the past.

[Walter Hartright]

There is not the least necessity of doing anything of the kind, said Marian.

[Faith Moore]

We can be just as explicit and much more interesting by referring to the future. She rose and held up the child, kicking and crowing in her arms. Do you know who this is, Walter? She asked with bright tears of happiness.

[Walter Hartright]

Gathering in her eyes.

[Faith Moore]

Even my bewilderment has its limits, I replied.

[Walter Hartright]

I think I can answer for knowing my own child. Child? She exclaimed with all her easy gaiety of old times. Do you talk in that familiar manner.

[Faith Moore]

Of one of the landed gentry of England? Are you aware when I present this.

[Walter Hartright]

Illustrious baby to your notice, in whose presence you stand?

[Faith Moore]

Evidently not.

[Walter Hartright]

Let me make two eminent personages known to one another.

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Walter Hartright, the heir of Limmeridge. Okay, so all of Laura's money is gone, but her heirs, male are still entitled to the house and property of Limmeridge House on Mr. Fairlie's death. So their baby is landed gentry now because he owns Limmeridge House. So she spoke in writing those last words. I have written all the pen falters in my hand. The long, happy labor of many months is over. Marion was the good angel of our lives. Let Marian end our story.

[Walter Hartright]

Thank you so much for listening.

[Faith Moore]

This concludes our reading of the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. It has been an absolute privilege and.

[Walter Hartright]

A joy to read this book with you.

[Faith Moore]

Join me on Monday, May 26 as.

[Walter Hartright]

We wrap up this book and then come into the summer with me and.

[Faith Moore]

Join me for Summer session. We'll be talking about fairy tales in once a week episodes which will drop on Mondays. Before I go, I'd like to ask a quick favor. This is an independent podcast. It's produced, recorded and marketed by me, so I need your help. Spread the word about the show by posting about it on social media or texting a link to your friends. Subscribe, tap those five stars and leave a positive review wherever you're listening.

[Walter Hartright]

If you are able to support the.

[Faith Moore]

Show financially, there's a link in the.

[Walter Hartright]

Show notes to make a donation. I would really, really appreciate it.

[Faith Moore]

Alright everyone, story time is over. The.