THE VISIT OF THE MASTER
Comment. Mr. Johnson has here produced a satirical character study, wherein Mary Haviland Norton well nigh stands in place of the story; but in playing up the visit of Hurrell Oaks he has secured narrative interest. That a mere visit should have loomed as an event, and that the loss of it should have proved so disappointing becomes the test of Miss Haviland’s character. Building a story upon so negative an incident is a feat worthy of Henry James—or Mary Haviland Norton.
Plot.
Initial Incident: Miss Haviland invites Hurrell Oaks to Newfair.
Steps toward the Dramatic Climax: It appears that the great man can stop only for an hour or so. To receive him worthily, Miss Haviland decorates her apartment in borrowed and elegant trappings; she invites a select few to meet him. George Norton, who is devoted to Miss Haviland, is not included.
Dramatic Climax: Hurrell Oaks arrives earlier than he is expected, while Miss Haviland is in her bath-tub, and since there is nobody to receive him he goes away.
Steps toward the Climax of Action: Miss Haviland rushes out to detain him as the possibility occurs to her that his knock may have heralded the famous guest. He is gone. She betrays to one of her students her bitter disappointment.
Climax of Action: As the guests arrive she tells them that Hurrell Oaks could not wait, though he and she have spent an “immemorial” hour together.
Dénouement: Two days afterward she announces her engagement to George Norton.
Presentation. The story is recounted ten years later, after a formal dinner, by the student whom Miss Haviland had helplessly, impulsively, taken into her half-confidence. Her auditor is the narrator, presumably Mr. Johnson, himself. The related story is exceptionally well told with regard to the assumed narrator; she betrays just enough of the school-girl character and manner to enliven the drama of middle age. From a stylistic point of view, the narrative testifies to the author’s craftmanship; for it is almost as if told by a young woman.
Characterization. Mary Haviland was interesting to the girl narrator because of her native ability, determination, and her acquired connoisseurship. Harmonizing her fundamental power with her culture, hitting off little discrepancies and exaggerations that the reader might see her whole—these demanded a highly conscious technique. Further, to regard her half-seriously, half-lightly, yet in the end to demand the reader’s sympathy and admiration for her, required nothing short of Meredithian genius. Finally, the bubble of fun blown out at the last: “She was no doubt in the tub,” etc., indicates an irresponsible humor which makes play of the whole situation.