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According to Geoffrey Walton, Taies of Men and Ghosts (1910) contains "superficial stories . . . [that] are not very interesting contributions to a genre" (99). In Edith Wharton: A Biography, R.W.B. Lewis praises "The Eyes," one of the stories in Tales of Men and Ghosts; however, he argues that "Afterward," a less well-known work included in the collection, "begins promisingly but wilts into melodrama" (296).
"Afterward" has the Gothic elements of a ghost story, but it is really a psychological study about the emotional alienation of a husband and his wife. In this article, I will examine this underlying theme to reveal the full complexity of the story. I hope to show that "Afterward" is neither superficial nor melodramatic.
"Afterward" concerns the fate of Mary and Edward Boyne, an American couple, who have purchased an estate in Dorsetshire, England, with the proceeds of Edward's sudden windfall from the Blue Star Mine. The old country house, Lyng, is said to have a ghost that one does not recognize as a supernatural spirit " 'till long, long afterward" * (Collected Short Stories 2.153).
Mary and Edward Boyne are physically close: the narrative is full of references to their embraces (see 156, 158, 162). Despite the outward camaraderie and affection of the Boynes's. relationship, Wharton hints that Ned is estranging himself from his wife. Mary, who is the center of consciousness for the third-person narration, has noticed that when her husband takes long walks in the afternoon, "he preferred to go alone" (154). She has also noticed that her husband appears to be worried, under stress, and exhausted: there are new "lines of perplexity between his eyes" (Î54; see also 157-58). She senses an "undefinable change" in her husband and concludes "that there was a secret somewhere between them" (155; the italics are Wharton's). However, Mary's delight with the old house and its mysteries distracts her from deducing the real secret.
The first time that Mary and Ned glimpse the ghost, she notices "a shadow of anxiety . . . fall across his face," and Ned rushes away from her. When she asks him who the mysterious stranger was, his answers are evasive, and he changes the subject (157). Clearly, the ghost is connected to the growing...