Short Fiction · Chapter
The Man, the Maid, and the Miasma explained
Mr.
What happens
Mr. Robert Ferguson is trapped in his office overnight with his former office-boy, Master Roland Bean, whom he had fired for being too saintly and reproachful. Ferguson flees to the roof to avoid Bean and encounters his former fiancée, Alice Weston, who is also trapped. Their conversation reveals the reasons for their broken engagement: Ferguson's excessive disapproval and perfectionism. After a tense exchange, Alice fetches Bean, and Ferguson retreats to his office, reflecting on his situation.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Secrets
Ferguson lies about having supper with a chorus girl named Marie Templeton, but Alice reveals she knows the woman is an elderly grandmother, exposing his bluff.
Loneliness and Connection
Both Ferguson and Alice are isolated in the building at night; their encounter reopens old wounds and a desire for connection.
Identity and Self-Improvement
Master Bean embodies the self-help ethos of 'Stepping-Stones to Success' and 'Young Man, Get Up Early,' while Ferguson struggles with his own self-image as a 'perfect' man.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Robert Ferguson
Trapped in his office overnight to avoid his former office-boy, Master Bean; encounters his ex-fiancée Alice on the roof and argues about their past.
- Master Roland Bean
The saintly, reproachful former office-boy who waits for Ferguson and inadvertently traps him in the building.
- Alice Weston
Ferguson's ex-fiancée, also trapped on the roof; she criticizes his perfectionism and fetches Bean to spite him.
Key passages
“Webster's Dictionary gives the meaning of the word 'miasma' as 'an infection floating in the air; a deadly exhalation'; and, in the opinion of Mr. Robert Ferguson, his late employer, that description, though perhaps a little too flattering, on the whole summed up Master Roland Bean pretty satisfactorily.”
According to Webster's, 'miasma' means a harmful airborne infection, and Mr. Ferguson felt that this term, if anything understated, perfectly described his former office-boy Roland Bean.
The narrator introduces Master Bean as a toxic presence through a humorous dictionary definition.
“One conscience is enough for any man. The employer of Master Bean had to cringe before two.”
Every man can handle only his own guilty conscience, but employing Master Bean meant enduring both his own and Bean's silent judgment.
Highlights the oppressive moral scrutiny Bean imposes on Ferguson.
“You were too good for anything. If only you would, just once, have done something wrong. I think I'd have—But you couldn't. You're simply perfect.”
You were impossibly virtuous; if you had ever slipped up just once, I might have felt differently—but you never did. You're flawless.
Alice explains why she broke off the engagement: Ferguson's perfectionism made their relationship unbearable.