Mr. Incoul’s Misadventure · Chapter
After Darkness explained
This chapter recounts the backstory of Maida Barhyte's past romance with Lenox Leigh at Mt.
What happens
This chapter recounts the backstory of Maida Barhyte's past romance with Lenox Leigh at Mt. Desert, their deepening intimacy, and the eventual cooling of their relationship due to financial constraints and societal pressures. It also details Mrs. Barhyte's tragic history and her decision to push Maida toward a position that will secure their future.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Illusion
Maida's initial romance with Lenox is portrayed as an idyllic, intoxicating love that later fades under the pressures of reality and societal expectations.
Social Class and Reputation
The narrative emphasizes the importance of family connections, financial standing, and social propriety in determining relationships and life choices.
Characters to notice
- Miss Maida Barhyte
Recalls her summer romance with Lenox Leigh at Mt. Desert, her first experience of love, and the subsequent decline of their relationship due to financial hardship and societal changes.
- Lenox Leigh
Described as a well-connected but financially constrained gentleman of leisure; his romance with Maida is detailed, as well as his scrupulousness about money and his views against marriage.
- Mrs. Barhyte
Portrayed as a hardened, bitter woman after a series of tragedies; she pressures Maida to accept a position and disowns her emotionally when Maida hesitates.
Key passages
“For the first time Miss Barhyte learned the intoxication of love. She gave her heart ungrudgingly, without calculation, without forethought, wholly, as a heart should be given and freely as had the gift been consecrated in the nave of a cathedral.”
Maida experienced love for the first time, giving herself completely and without reservation, as if her devotion were sacred.
Highlights the purity and intensity of Maida's initial love for Lenox.
“Matrimony was out of the question; his income was large enough to permit him to live without running into debt, but beyond that its flexibility did not extend, and in money matters, and in money matters alone, Lenox Leigh was the most scrupulous of men.”
Lenox could not afford marriage; his income covered his own expenses but left no room for supporting a wife, and he was extremely careful about financial matters.
Explains the practical barrier to Lenox and Maida's relationship.