About this episode
Mr Jones by Edith WhartonThis is the second Edith Wharton story we've read, the first being https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/7696635d-86ff-42d2-a2cf-317694d891d6/1747150-episode-4-bewitched-by-edith-wharton.mp3 (Bewitched which was Episode 4). Wharton was an American of course but she spent time in England and set a number of her ghost stories there. This story is the third of a series of stories where the house is a major character. In this story of course, the house is inhabited by the ghost of Mr Jones as we learn. As normal with Wharton there is incredible craft in the shaping of this story. It is at least in part a mystery story and we are familiar with the mystery ghost story where the ghost is debunked at the end, not least in Scooby Doo, but also in Wilkie Collin's The Woman in White. We have the mystery of the house with the strange old servants. We realise early on that Mrs Clemm has something to hide and her niece Georgina who is portrayed as a clumsy idiot is actually the one whose information ties up the tale.We have locked room, conniving housekeepers, blind gardeners and a historical tragedy to boot. The poor deaf and dumb Juliana, locked up in the house by the evil Mr Jones on the orders of her philandering husband is a Gothic staple and Wharton knew this of course and probably drew the character knowingly with a nod to gothic tradition. Wharton does a bit of foreshadowing that you might not get at first listen, but early on in the story when she is impressed with Bells, she muses about her ancestors who lived and died there and adds, unknowingly that to some of them, it may have been a prison! We later learn that it was indeed.Then when Lady Jane asks Mrs Clemm to take her to Mr Jones, Mrs Clemm agrees that he's not well; "He's between life and death as it were." This is in fact the literal truth but we don't understand that at this point and take from some figurative description. In fact, Mrs Clemm tells the exact truth: "He'd know you, my lady, but you wouldn't know him." "He's in no state for you to see him." Wharton must have had fun writing that.I think that the posh lady guests breaking off to crush over the Tempeltonia Recusa rare plant by the wall is probably an in joke that Wharton's friends may have recognised as a reference to their mutual acquaintances.She sees Mr Jones only once, when she enters the Blue Room to retrieve her friend's lost handbag. Her friend Stramer doesn't notice him, but Mr Jones is messing about in the citron desk where the incriminating papers are later found. We learn slowly, detail by detail that this Blue Room had been the prison of Juliana the poor shut-away wife.The first clue is the tomb of old Peregrine who died at Aleppo of the Plague and 'Also His Wife' unnamed. Things move on and we don't get another clue for a while.Then the next clue is them finding her portrait and Lady Jane mentioning that she might look so miserable because she was an inconsolable at his death. Stramer, a bright chap, says that they didn't dress like that as late as Peregrine's death so she was clearly miserable before he died.They identify the poor woman as Lady Juliana. Stramer is a font of knowledge. Not only does he know about fashion, but he remarks that they clearly used the Blue Parlour in those days, even in winter. She's leaning on the citron desk: it's here the secret of her fate is of course, though we don't know that at this point. And Stramer then mentions the family archives, which Lady Jane hasn't thought of yet. She only knows Mr Jones won't allow her access to them because the key is lost. Hmm. Convenient. Stramer says that in Mrs Clemm's Support the show Visit us here: www.ghostpod.org Buy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: https://ko-fi.com/tonywalker If you really want to help me, become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barcud Music by The Heartwood Institute: https://bit.ly/somecomeback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices