VI: The Suicides explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• The Urban Mystery

  The chapter centers on a series of baffling suicides in London's West End, with no apparent motive or explanation, embodying the theme of the city as a labyrinth of hidden horrors.

• Corruption and Evil

  The suicides are linked to Mrs. Beaumont and possibly Helen Vaughan, suggesting a corrupting influence that drives prosperous men to self-destruction, hinting at an underlying evil.

• Supernatural and the Divine

  Austin's description of Mrs. Beaumont's face as evoking a 'dim far-off memory' like a dream, and the inexplicable nature of the suicides, suggests a supernatural or otherworldly force at work.

Characters to notice

• Mr. Villiers

  Villiers is deeply shaken by the suicide of his friend Herries and remains obsessed with tracing Helen Vaughan. He listens to Austin's account of Mrs. Beaumont and the suicides, showing a growing unease.

• Austin

  Austin reports the string of suicides to Villiers, linking them to Mrs. Beaumont's dinner parties. He describes a strange, dreamlike familiarity with Mrs. Beaumont's face and expresses horror at the inexplicable deaths.

• Lord Argentine

  Lord Argentine is the first of the suicide victims detailed in the chapter. A once-poor man who inherited a title and fortune, he was found hanged in his bedroom after dining with a lady (later implied to be Mrs. Beaumont).

• Mr. Sidney Crashaw

  Mr. Sidney Crashaw is the latest suicide victim, found hanging from a tree in his garden. His death follows the same pattern as the others, with no apparent motive.

• Mrs. Beaumont

  Mrs. Beaumont is mentioned as a successful society woman who hosted Lord Argentine on the night before his death. Austin finds her face strangely familiar yet unsettling, and her house in Ashley Street is linked to the suicides.

• Helen Vaughan

  Helen Vaughan is the former Mrs. Herbert, whose whereabouts Villiers has been unable to trace. She is suspected of having gone abroad, and her possible connection to the suicides looms in the background.

Key passages

• “any buried scandal or hidden skeleton would have been brought to light in such a case as this; but nothing of the sort has taken place. As for the theory of mania, that is very well, of course, for the coroner’s jury, but everybody knows that it’s all nonsense. Suicidal mania is not smallpox.”

  Austin argues that if there were any secret scandal, it would have been uncovered, but nothing was found. He dismisses the official explanation of suicidal mania as absurd, comparing it to a contagious disease.

  Austin expresses frustration at the lack of explanation for the suicides, rejecting the coroner's verdict and hinting at a deeper, hidden cause.

• “I had a curious feeling that that very expression was in some way or other familiar to me. ... The only sensation I can compare it to, is that odd feeling one sometimes has in a dream, when fantastic cities and wondrous lands and phantom personages appear familiar and accustomed.”

  Austin describes an eerie sense of déjà vu when looking at Mrs. Beaumont's face, comparing it to the strange familiarity one experiences in dreams.

  This passage underscores the uncanny and possibly supernatural nature of Mrs. Beaumont, linking her to the mysterious events.

• “Another gentleman has fallen a victim to the terrible epidemic of suicide which for the last month has prevailed in the West End. Mr. Sidney Crashaw, of Stoke House, Fulham, and King’s Pomeroy, Devon, was found, after a prolonged search, hanging from the branch of a tree in his garden at one o’clock today.”

  A newspaper report announces the latest suicide in a series of West End deaths, describing how Mr. Sidney Crashaw was found hanging from a tree in his garden.

  The chapter uses this news report to escalate the sense of an ongoing, inexplicable epidemic of suicides among the upper class.