Summary

For two hours, Basil walks around town, continually passing the Music Hall. Posters of Verena cover the outside, but there is no sign of Verena herself. He goes in and waits as the crowds fill up the immense auditorium. He goes backstage and asks that his card be sent to Verena with a request that he might see her before she begins to speak. The guard tells him that he is not allowed to let Basil in, on orders from Olive Chancellor. As he argues with the guard, Mr. Pardon comes backstage, also wanting to see Verena. He is turned away as well, as the time has now come for the program to start. Basil, hearing the organ music, tries to tell the guard that the organist is under orders to keep playing. He does not seem to quit, and Verena does not appear. Five minutes after the intended start time, the crowd becomes restless, stamping their feet and their umbrellas on the floor. Another five minutes passes. At last Verena’s father goes on stage, but the crowd does not want him, they want Verena. Mr. Tarrant announces that she will be out in a few minutes. Basil is convinced that Verena knows that he is out there and is waiting because of him. Mr. Filer, who is Olive’s agent, comes backstage to see what the delay is. He threatens to break down the door, which is locked from the inside.

In the midst of the backstage commotion, Verena opens the door and looks straight at Basil. She states that she had seen him standing at the back of the auditorium and could not go on because of nervousness due to his presence. Her father had called the police to stand guard to prevent him from entering her dressing room. Basil pleads with her to leave and to come with him. Verena wavers. Basil sees that Olive has thrown herself on Mrs. Tarrant’s lap, overcome with the emotion. Olive begs Basil not to take Verena and leave her with the shame of having to face the crowd to tell them that Verena will not be speaking. Verena throws her mother, along with Olive and the others, out of the room so that she may speak to Basil alone. Again, he begs her to come with him. Verena then gives up any pretense of holding to the views on which she was to speak that night. Covered in her hood and cloak, Verena leaves with Basil. Olive overcomes her shame and gets on stage to speak. Verena says that she is glad that it is over, but beneath her cloak she is crying. The narrator ends with the ominous statement that, with the marriage she is about to enter, they will not be the last tears she sheds.

Analysis

As a satire of the women’s rights movement, James’s focus is on the characterization of the most visible players, such as Miss Birdseye, Mrs. Farrinder, and Olive Chancellor. His presentation of their personalities is meant to show not so much the weakness of their arguments but that their arguments are second to their personalities. As with the accusation of the insincerity of modern-day celebrities and their charities, James seems to point to the reform movement as a form of entertainment, rather than intended real social change. The extremism of Olive, for example, is an aspect of her personality, laced with bitterness and loneliness for the life she felt that she was excluded from. Verena’s choice to marry is not so much a reflection of the weakness of the entire women’s movement,...