The Woman in White

It is the last day of July, and Walter’s financial situation is poor. Walter has been dividing his time between his chambers in town and his mother’s cottage in Hampstead, where his sister also lives. His father is deceased.

When Walter arrives at his mother’s house, his friend Professor Pesca opens the door. Pesca is an Italian who had to leave his country for unspecified political reasons. Walter once saved Pesca from drowning, which has earned him Pesca’s lifelong gratitude. It is Walter’s friendship with Pesca that indirectly leads to the novel’s events.

Pesca excitedly reveals to Walter and his family that he has recommended Walter for a position as a drawing master teaching two young women. He gives Walter the particulars: The employer is Frederick Fairlie, and the job is for four months at Limmeridge House in Cumberland. Walter feels a vague foreboding, but his mother and sister convince him to apply. The next morning, Walter sends his testimonials. He receives a positive answer and plans to leave London.

The night before his departure, Walter walks back to London from Hampstead (at the time a suburb of the city), where he has said goodbye to his family. It is late at night, and he is occupied with thoughts of what awaits him in his new job in Cumberland when someone touches his shoulder. He turns to see a woman dressed all in white who asks him if they are on the road to London. Startled, he is slow to answer but eventually responds in the affirmative and apologizes for his hesitation. Worrying that he might suspect her of wrongdoing she insists that she is innocent but “unfortunate” and hid when she heard him coming. She asks him to help her find a carriage. He promises to help her. As he accompanies her, they talk. Walter discovers two important facts about her: She is afraid of a particular but unnamed baronet, and she went to school in Limmeridge.

When they reach London, Walter places the woman in a cab. As he continues walking, another carriage passes, and he hears the men inside asking a police officer if he has seen a woman in white, who has just escaped from the psychiatric hospital that employs them.

That night Walter is troubled by the memory of his encounter, worrying about whether he has freed the woman in white from unjust imprisonment or left a vulnerable young woman helpless in London. He departs for Limmeridge by train the next day but is delayed and arrives late at night. The family has gone to bed, so Walter goes to sleep without meeting anyone except servants.

At breakfast, Walter meets a woman who introduces herself as Marian Halcombe, one of Walter’s new students. She tells him that her sister won’t join them because she has a headache and that her uncle, Mr. Fairlie, is an “invalid” who rarely leaves his room.

During this first conversation, Walter tells Marian about his meeting with the woman in white and says that she mentioned the village of Limmeridge and Marian’s mother, to whom the woman expressed gratitude. Marian confirms that her mother founded the village school and says she would like to solve the mystery and will consult old family letters for clues. While they are talking, Mr. Fairlie sends a note summoning Walter to speak with him.

Walter is taken to Mr. Fairlie’s room, which has few sources of light but many works of art. Mr. Fairlie has a nervous temperament and can’t stand loud noises or bright lights. He asks Walter to assess the value of some watercolors but is distracted and impatient when Walter tries to answer. He also professes himself too weak to discuss the details of Walter’s job with him. As he leaves, Walter resolves to avoid his employer as much as possible.

At lunch, Walter meets Mrs. Vesey, Laura’s former governess, with whom she remains close. Marian and Walter then walk in the gardens, and she explains that she has been searching (so far unsuccessfully) her mother’s letters for clues regarding the woman in white.

Marian and Walter eventually come to a summer house, where Walter sees Laura for the first time. He considers her beautiful but is troubled because something about her seems familiar. He continues to puzzle over this throughout the afternoon.

After dinner, Laura plays the piano while Marian reads Mrs. Fairlie’s letters, searching for clues about the woman in white. She finds a letter discussing a new student named Anne Catherick. Mrs. Fairlie notes that Anne is slow to grasp ideas but also slow to relinquish them; for instance, she told the child that white clothing suited her complexion, and Anne vowed to always dress in white to show her gratitude to her benefactress. The letter also describes a strong resemblance between Anne and Laura, Mrs. Fairlie’s daughter. Walter realizes that this is the reason Laura, who is currently wearing white, seems familiar to him.

Marian does not discover any additional information about Anne. Time passes, and Walter falls in love with Laura, though he knows that their differing social positions would make any relationship problematic. Nevertheless, he eventually realizes that she has fallen in love with him too, though she seems unhappy.

At breakfast one morning, Marian tells Laura that Mr. Fairlie has ordered one of Limmeridge’s rooms prepared. Laura appears upset. Marian and Walter go into the garden to speak privately, but a boy interrupts, delivering a letter for Laura from someone he describes as an old woman. Marian sends the boy to the house with it. She then tells Walter she knows of his feelings for Laura; however, Laura has a fiancé, so Walter must leave. Marian explains that Laura promised her father that she would marry the man she is engaged to and that it is Laura’s future husband who will visit soon.

Just then a maid arrives and takes Marian aside. After speaking to the maid, Marian explains that the mysterious letter has distressed Laura. They go back to the house together, and as they walk, Marian tells Walter about Laura’s betrothed, a man from Hampshire named Sir Percival Glyde. Remembering the woman in white’s words, Walter asks if Sir Percival is a baronet, and Marian confirms that this is Sir Percival’s Glyde’s title.

Marian visits Walter as he is setting his things in order. She tells him that the letter was an attempt to dissuade Laura from marrying Sir Percival and seeks Walter’s advice about whether she should try to discover who wrote it or wait to consult her uncle’s lawyer. She shows Walter the letter, which recounts a dream in which Laura is marrying an unnamed man who matches the description of Sir Percival. A devil stands behind him, laughing, while an angel cries near Laura. Rays of light eventually separate the couple.

Marian doesn’t know of any rumors about Sir Percival that would justify the letter’s description of him as heartless, but she and Walter go to the village to investigate further.

After many fruitless inquiries about who might have written the letter, Walter and Marian visit the village school, where a boy is being punished because he claims to have seen a ghost. Marian questions the boy, who insists that he saw a white apparition last night in a graveyard near the school. He says it was the ghost of Mrs. Fairlie. Walter asks to visit Mrs. Fairlie’s grave, where the ghost allegedly appeared. At Marian’s probing, Walter reveals that he believes that the ghost might be Anne Catherick. Marian leads Walter to the churchyard before returning to Laura.

Left alone, Walter notices that someone has begun to clean the gravestone but has not finished. Puzzled, Walter decides to return to the churchyard at sunset to see if the person who cleaned Mrs. Fairlie’s grave will return to finish their work.

As he waits in the churchyard that evening, Walter hears a woman reassuring someone that no one observed her dropping off a letter. Two women then approach Mrs. Fairlie’s grave. One is wearing a white dress under a blue cloak. Her companion, who Walter now sees is elderly, leaves, and the woman he assumes is Anne begins wiping the headstone with a handkerchief. Walter approaches her cautiously. She remembers him from when he helped her on her way to London, and he gains her trust by revealing that he did not speak to the hospital employees who were searching for her. He asks if she found the friend she was going to London to meet, and she affirms that she did: The woman’s name is Mrs. Clements, and she accompanied Anne to a place called Todd’s Corner in Limmeridge two days earlier.

Anne asks about Laura, and Walter reveals that he knows Anne wrote the letter that Laura received. Anne becomes very distressed. The mention of Sir Percival Glyde causes a further change in Anne, who now appears overcome with hatred. Walter concludes that Sir Percival must be responsible for placing Anne in the psychiatric hospital. The other woman, whom Walter assumes is Mrs. Clements, rushes back when she hears Anne screaming and scolds Walter for frightening Anne. However, Anne composes herself and defends Walter, and the two women leave.

Back at Limmeridge, Walter recounts what has happened to Marian, who plans to speak to Anne before legal arrangements are made for Laura’s wedding.

The following day, Walter informs Mr. Fairlie that he has been called away and must leave his post early. He and Marian then attempt to pay a visit to Anne but find that Anne and Mrs. Clements have already left. Anne fainted the evening before while listening to some local gossip; she had also fainted on the night she arrived after glancing at a newspaper.

Marian and Walter visit the dairymaid who was gossiping at Todd’s Corner, and she tells them that she was sharing the news that Sir Percival Glyde was expected at Limmeridge House.

Around the time Marian and Walter return to Limmeridge, Mr. Gilmore, the Fairlies’ lawyer, arrives to complete the legal arrangements for Laura’s wedding. Marian informs him about the letter Laura received, and Gilmore subsequently speaks with Walter about his role in investigating it. Gilmore tells Walter that he plans to send a copy of the letter to Sir Percival’s solicitor for a response, which Gilmore believes will offer explanation and reassurance. Gilmore also sends a servant to search for Anne and Mrs. Clements.

That night, Walter has his last meal with the family; he will depart the next morning. The man Gilmore sent to track down Anne and Mrs. Clements returns uncertain of the women’s destination. He leaves early the next day, Laura’s agitation confirming to Walter that she reciprocates his feelings for her. Marian, meanwhile, promises to remain in communication with him.