# XXVII: Cope Escapes a Snare explained — Bertram Cope’s Year

> Chapter companion for Bertram Cope’s Year by Henry Blake Fuller.

## What happens

Cope visits Hortense Dunton for a portrait sitting, intending to make it the first and last. He deflects her emotional advances and attempts to maintain a detached, friendly demeanor. Hortense, frustrated by his coldness and her unrequited feelings, lashes out, accusing him of selfishness and predicting the failure of his friendship with Arthur Lemoyne. Cope leaves with a mix of mortification, pain, and relief.

## Themes in this chapter

### Unrequited and Ambiguous Desire

Hortense's unreciprocated romantic feelings for Cope are central; Cope's cold detachment and refusal to engage emotionally highlight the theme.

### Performance and Artifice

Cope's 'factitious vivacity' and 'stilted copybook talk' during the sitting underscore his performative demeanor and emotional evasion.

### Gender Roles and Sexuality

Hortense's emotional outburst and Cope's rejection challenge traditional gender expectations; Hortense's critique of Cope's friendship with Lemoyne hints at societal attitudes toward male intimacy.

## Character check-ins

### Bertram Cope

Visits Hortense for a portrait sitting, determined to make it the only one; deflects her emotional advances with cold detachment.

### Hortense Dunton

Emotionally volatile during the sitting; confesses her unrequited feelings for Cope and angrily predicts the end of his friendship with Lemoyne.

### Arthur Lemoyne

Mentioned by Hortense as the object of a 'preposterous friendship' with Cope; she predicts Cope will tire of him.

### Amy Leffingwell

Mentioned as the bride-to-be; her wedding to George Pearson is imminent, with plans for a bridal trip and new home.

### Carolyn Thorpe

Mentioned as the bride's-maid; she is writing an epithalamium for the wedding, which Hortense ridicules.

### George F. Pearson

Mentioned as Amy's fiancé; the wedding preparations are underway.

## Key lines

> I give you an hour from my treadmill. So many books, and such dry ones!

Cope tells Hortense he can spare only an hour from his busy academic work.

_Cope uses a dismissive tone to limit the sitting's duration._

> I like you as well as another; no more, no less. I am in no position to think of love and marriage, and I have no inclination that way.

Cope declares he has no romantic interest in Hortense or anyone else.

_Cope's blunt rejection is meant to prevent further emotional entanglement._

> Your Arthur Lemoyne. That preposterous friendship cannot go on for long. You will tire of him; or more likely he will tire of you.

Hortense predicts that Cope's close friendship with Lemoyne will not last.

_Hortense's bitter remark reflects her jealousy and suspicion of Cope's bond with Lemoyne._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxvii-cope-escapes-a-snare
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters