The Argosy, Vol. 37

The White Witch, Chapter XIII: "At Sir William Hunt's" (May 1884)

This serialized melodrama follows Godfrey Mayne's growing suspicions regarding Mary Dixon and her mother, Mrs. Mayne. The chapter opens with Godfrey puzzled by Mary's inexplicable terror and the Mayne family's mysterious avoidance of Sir William Hunt. When a dinner invitation arrives, Mrs. Mayne feigns illness from distant thunder to avoid attending, preventing Mary from going as well. At Goule Park, Sir William reveals to the assembled gentlemen that in Rome two and a half years prior, a mother and daughter—possibly adventuresses—with a singularly beautiful voice lured his son William to his death through cards, wiles, and music. The revelation devastates Godfrey, who suddenly understands the dark connection between Mary and Sir William. Returning home, Godfrey struggles with horrifying doubt about Mary's involvement in this tragedy, tormented by conflicting impulses toward her and terrible suspicion.