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The Awakening of Helena Richie: Chester

The scene of the novel is the same samall Pennsylvania town in which Mrs. Deland had placed two previous books, Old Chester Tales and Doctor Lavendar, and it is with pleasure that we continue in this later work our acquaintance with several of the characters already introduced to us in these earlier writings.

At the opening of the story Mrs. Richie has come to Old Chester and taken up residence in the "Stuffed Animal House," so called because its former owner was a taxidermist. She is little known to the villagers, living an isolated existence and shunning any intimacy with the townfolk; nevertheless, she is universally respected. There is, to be sure, an atmosphere of mystery enshrouding this beautiful stranger who is possessed of a culture and poise that place her a stratum above the simply bred inhabitants of the sleepy little settlement, but since she goes to church, is quiet and decorous, and gives herself no airs, she furnishes no cause for criticism. Her only visitor is Mr. Lloyd Prior, known to Old Chester as her brother. As the story proceeds, however, we are made aware that Prior is not her brother, but is a Philadelphia widower with one daughter whom he idolizes, and that he and Mrs. Richie have for thirteen years been living together, awaiting the death of Frederic, Helena's husband, whose demise will leave them free to marry. Frederic has been a dissipated man who, when not himself, has been responsible for the death of the Richie baby; and he is now living a dissolute life in Paris. The tragedy of the baby's death has been the culminating factor in turning his wife's hatred and contempt for him into revulsion, and determining her to desert him and go to Prior. To her lover she gives all the affection which the loss of her child and the destruction of her hopes have turned back to her nature.

Prior, on the other hand, has loved her in the past, but now, after thirteen years of deferred happiness, his passion is burned out. He is tired of her. Alice, his daughter, is growing up, and he realizes the indiscretion of the entanglement; furthermore, his business demands his time; it is less and less convenient to come to Old Chester; and he is no longer young. He is a selfish, sensual being, with the typical masculine distaste for everything that renders him uncomfortable either in mind or in body. While he is willing, in an indolent sort of way, to continue his relation with Mrs. Richie, is even honorable enough to marry her if he must, it is obvious that he would gladly be rid of the whole affair.

But to Helena Richie this incident is not an "affair." It is her life. She loves Prior with a devotion engendered by her lonely, heart-starved existence, and she looks forward to the moment when Frederic's death shall release her from her present precarious position and allow her to confront the world with a clear name. That an ultimate marriage between them will wipe out the blot on their past she does not question. In the mean time she can only possess her soul of patience and make the best of her enforced seclusion. No one knows her secret. No one can know it. Therefore she feels quite secure--that is, as secure as is possible in the face of the ever-present danger of exposure. Into this fevered life of hers three important characters project themselves: Doctor Lavendar, the minister of Old Chester; Doctor William King, the village physician; and David, an orphan child whom the rector has befriended and for whom he is desirous of finding a home. Of all Mrs. Deland's creations, none, perhaps, is more beloved than is Doctor Lavendar. Wise, benign, humorous, yet just at all times--a man who is never to be turned aside from a principle by idle sentimentality. Doctor King is not unlike him in this unflinching fealty to duty and to honor.