Article #330-1 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from Where There's a Will, by Mary Roberts Rinehart

And all that winter, with the papers full of rumors that Miss
Patty Jennings was going to marry a prince, we'd followed it by the
spring-house fire, the old doctor and I, getting angry at the Austrian
emperor for opposing it when we knew how much too good Miss Patty was
for any foreigner, and then getting nervous and fussed when we read that
the prince's mother was in favor of the match and it might go through.
Miss Patty and her father came every winter to Hope Springs and I
couldn't have been more anxious about it if she had been my own sister.

Well, as I say, it all began the very day the old doctor died. He
stamped out to the spring-house with the morning paper about nine
o'clock, and the wedding seemed to be all off. The paper said the
emperor had definitely refused his consent and had sent the prince, who
was his cousin, for a Japanese cruise, while the Jennings family was
going to Mexico in their private car. The old doctor was indignant, and
I remember how he tramped up and down the spring-house, muttering that
the girl had had a lucky escape, and what did the emperor expect if
beauty and youth and wealth weren't enough. But he calmed down, and soon
he was reading that the papers were predicting an early spring, and he
said we'd better begin to increase our sulphur percentage in the water.

I hadn't noticed anything strange in his manner, although we'd all
noticed how feeble he was growing, but when he got up to go back to
the sanatorium and I reached him his cane, it seemed to me he avoided
looking at me. He went to the door and then turned and spoke to me over
his shoulder.

Explanation

This excerpt from Where There’s a Will (1912) by Mary Roberts Rinehart—a prolific American author known for blending mystery, romance, and social commentary—offers a rich snapshot of small-town gossip, class dynamics, and the emotional undercurrents of a seemingly mundane moment. Below is a detailed breakdown of the passage, focusing on its narrative perspective, themes, literary devices, and significance, with an emphasis on the text itself.

Context of the Excerpt

Where There’s a Will is a novel centered on inheritance, deception, and the intertwined lives of characters in a health resort town (Hope Springs). The narrator here is an unnamed employee (likely a caretaker or assistant) at a sanatorium, reflecting on the winter gossip surrounding Miss Patty Jennings, a wealthy young woman rumored to be engaged to a European prince. The excerpt opens with the death of the old doctor, a pivotal figure whose final moments are laced with unspoken tension.

Rinehart’s work often explores Gilded Age America, where old-world aristocracy clashes with new-money American elites. The excerpt captures this tension through the lens of small-town observers who are emotionally invested in the fate of a woman they’ve never met, revealing both class aspiration and nostalgic protectionism ("how much too good Miss Patty was for any foreigner").

Themes in the Excerpt

Gossip and Collective Investment in Celebrity
- The narrator and the old doctor follow Miss Patty’s romantic saga "by the spring-house fire," treating her like a local heroine despite her wealth and distance from their lives. Their reactions—anger at the Austrian emperor, nervousness about the prince’s mother—mirror the public’s parasocial relationship with the elite.
- The newspaper as a catalyst: The rumor mill is fueled by media, showing how printed words shape emotional realities (e.g., the doctor’s indignation over the emperor’s refusal).
Class and Nationalism
- The narrator’s protective stance ("too good for any foreigner") reflects American exceptionalism and a distrust of European aristocracy, a common theme in Rinehart’s era (post-WWI, with rising American global influence).
- The doctor’s outrage ("what did the emperor expect if beauty and youth and wealth weren’t enough?") underscores the commodification of women in high-society marriages, where their value is reduced to assets.
Mortality and Unspoken Bonds
- The doctor’s death is foreshadowed subtly: his feebleness, the avoided eye contact, and his abrupt shift to discussing sulphur percentages (a mundane detail that contrasts with the emotional weight of the moment).
- His final words—spoken "over his shoulder"—hint at unfinished business or guilt, suggesting a deeper connection to Miss Patty or the sanatorium’s secrets (a hallmark of Rinehart’s mysteries).
The Illusion of Control
- The characters debate the fate of a woman they don’t know, yet their lives are governed by forces beyond their control (the doctor’s impending death, the whims of emperors).
- The sudden shift to practicalities ("increase our sulphur percentage") symbolizes how life continues despite personal crises, a darkly ironic touch.

Literary Devices

First-Person Narrative Voice
- The narrator’s colloquial, gossip-laden tone ("we’d followed it by the spring-house fire") creates intimacy, as if the reader is part of the small-town chorus.
- Unreliable narration: The narrator claims to have noticed nothing strange in the doctor’s manner, yet the details they provide (avoided eye contact, abrupt topic change) suggest otherwise. This dramatic irony engages the reader in piecing together the truth.
Juxtaposition
- Grand vs. Mundane: The international scandal of Miss Patty’s engagement is discussed alongside local concerns (sulphur water, the spring-house), highlighting the disconnect between the narrator’s world and the elite’s.
- Life vs. Death: The doctor’s indignation over the wedding is immediately followed by his physical decline, linking emotional investment in others’ lives with one’s own mortality.
Symbolism
- The Spring-House Fire: A gathering place for gossip, symbolizing the warmth of collective storytelling but also the fleeting, consumable nature of rumors.
- The Cane: The doctor’s rejection of the narrator’s help (avoiding eye contact) foreshadows his impending death and the burden of secrets he carries.
Foreshadowing
- The doctor’s trampling up and down, his sudden calm, and his final, cryptic words all hint at unresolved tension, a staple of Rinehart’s suspense writing.

Significance of the Passage

Microcosm of Society
- The excerpt captures how small communities project their values onto the elite, revealing aspirations, prejudices, and voyeurism. The narrator’s investment in Miss Patty’s fate reflects a desire for upward mobility and a distrust of foreign influence.
The Doctor’s Death as a Narrative Pivot
- His death isn’t just a plot device; it’s a moment of transferred anxiety. The community’s focus on Miss Patty’s marriage distracts from their own vulnerabilities (aging, irrelevance, death).
- The unspoken tension in his final moments suggests he may have known something about Miss Patty (a secret will? a hidden connection?), tying into the novel’s title (Where There’s a Will).
Gender and Agency
- Miss Patty is passive in the narrative—her fate is debated by men (the emperor, the prince’s mother, the doctor, the narrator). The excerpt critiques how women’s lives are controlled by patriarchal structures, even in gossip.
Rinehart’s Signature Style
- The blend of domestic realism (spring-house chats) with Gothic undertones (the doctor’s cryptic behavior) exemplifies Rinehart’s "had-I-but-known" technique, where characters (and readers) realize too late the significance of overlooked details.

Close Reading of Key Lines

"how much too good Miss Patty was for any foreigner"
- Nationalism + Class Snobbery: The narrator assumes American women are morally superior to European aristocrats, despite Miss Patty’s wealth (which would typically align her with the elite).
- Irony: The narrator later admits they were as anxious "as if she had been my own sister," revealing their emotional investment in a stranger’s life.
"he tramped up and down the spring-house, muttering that the girl had had a lucky escape"
- Physical agitation mirrors emotional turmoil. The doctor’s muttering suggests he’s arguing with himself, not just the emperor.
- "Lucky escape": Foreshadows that the marriage might have been a trap, or that the doctor knows more than he lets on.
"he avoided looking at me"
- A tiny, loaded detail. The avoidance suggests shame, guilt, or a desire to hide his declining health—or that he’s hiding something from the narrator.
"spoken to me over his shoulder"
- Physical distance = emotional distance. The doctor’s final words are delivered without facing the narrator, symbolizing unresolved secrets or a final act of evasion.

Why This Matters in the Novel

This excerpt likely sets up:

A mystery tied to the doctor’s death (Did he know Miss Patty? Was her family connected to the sanatorium?).
The theme of inherited secrets, as the narrator (and reader) must uncover what the doctor left unsaid.
A contrast between public spectacle (Miss Patty’s romance) and private tragedy (the doctor’s death), showing how personal lives are overshadowed by societal obsessions.

Rinehart uses this seemingly minor moment to weave together class, mortality, and the power of narrative—showing how even in a small town, lives are shaped by stories, both true and invented.

Questions

Question 1

The narrator’s assertion that Miss Patty Jennings is “too good for any foreigner” primarily serves to reveal which of the following about the community’s psychological orientation?

A. A deep-seated xenophobia rooted in political isolationism of the early 20th century.
B. An unconscious envy of European aristocracy masked as moral superiority.
C. A collective delusion that conflates wealth with virtue in the American social imagination.
D. The projection of small-town values onto an elite figure as a means of asserting cultural agency.
E. A literal belief in the inherent corruption of monarchical systems compared to democratic ones.

Question 2

The doctor’s final interaction with the narrator—speaking “over his shoulder”—is most thematically resonant with which of the following literary techniques?

A. Chekhov’s gun, as it introduces an object (the cane) that will later prove significant.
B. Stream of consciousness, capturing the fragmented thoughts of a dying man.
C. Pathetic fallacy, where the doctor’s physical decline mirrors the narrative’s emotional tone.
D. Dramatic irony, in that the narrator’s failure to recognize the gravity of the moment contrasts with the reader’s growing unease.
E. Allegory, with the doctor symbolizing the decline of old-world medical practices in the face of modernity.

Question 3

The juxtaposition of the international marriage scandal with the discussion of “sulphur percentage in the water” functions primarily to:

A. Highlight the absurdity of the narrator’s obsession with trivial details amid global events.
B. Underscore the disconnect between the grand narratives of elite lives and the mundane realities of those who observe them.
C. Foreshadow the doctor’s impending death by associating sulphur (a preservative) with his physical decline.
D. Critique the commercialization of health resorts, where even water chemistry is manipulated for profit.
E. Suggest that the narrator’s focus on practicalities is a coping mechanism for unspoken grief.

Question 4

Which of the following best describes the narrative function of the newspaper in this passage?

A. It acts as a neutral arbiter of truth, providing objective updates on Miss Patty’s situation.
B. It serves as a catalyst for the doctor’s emotional outburst, revealing his hidden biases.
C. It symbolizes the encroachment of modernity into the insulated world of Hope Springs.
D. It functions as a narrative device that both fuels and disrupts the community’s collective storytelling.
E. It represents the unreliability of media, as the doctor’s reactions suggest the reports are fabricated.

Question 5

The doctor’s avoidance of eye contact when handed the cane is most plausibly interpreted as an indication of:

A. His resentment toward the narrator for perceiving his physical frailty.
B. A superstitious belief that direct eye contact at such a moment would hasten his death.
C. His preoccupation with the sulphur levels, rendering social niceties irrelevant.
D. An unspoken burden—potentially guilt, secrecy, or the weight of knowledge he cannot share.
E. The narrator’s unreliable perception, as the doctor may not have avoided eye contact at all.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: D

Why D is most correct: The narrator’s claim that Miss Patty is “too good for any foreigner” is not merely xenophobic (A) or envious (B), nor is it a literal moral judgment (E). Instead, it reflects how the community projects its own values onto an elite figure to assert a sense of cultural agency in a world where they otherwise lack influence. This aligns with the passage’s theme of small-town observers emotionally investing in lives far removed from their own, using gossip as a means of participating in a larger narrative. The phrase is less about Miss Patty’s actual virtue (C) and more about the town’s need to position itself as morally superior to foreign aristocracy, thereby claiming a stake in her story.