DOI article:
James, Henry: The next time
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27805#0061
By Henry James 57
nofinced ominously weak, and it was enjoined upon him with some
sharpness that he should lend himself to no worries. It might have
struck me as on the cards that his worries would now be surmount-
able, for when he began to mend he expressed to me a conviction
almost contagious that he had never yet made so adroit a bid as
in the idea of The Hidden Heart. It is grimly droll to reflect
that this superb little composition, the shortest of his novels, but
perhaps the loveliest, was planned from the first as an “ adventure-
story” on approved lines. It was the way they all did the ad-
venture-story that he tried most dauntlessly to emulate. I wonder
how many readers ever divined to which of their bookshelves The
Hidden Heart was so exclusively addressed. High medical
advice early in the summer had been quite viciously clear as
to the inconvenience that might ensue to him should he neglect
to spend the winter in Egypt. He was not a man to neglect any-
thing ; but Egypt seemed to us all then as unattainable as a second
edition. He finished The Hidden Heart with the energy of
apprehension and desire, for if the book should happen to do what
“ books of that class,” as the publisher said, sometimes did he
might well have a fund to draw on. As soon as I read the deep
and delicate thing I knew, as I had known in each case before
exactly how well it would do. Poor Limbert, in this long business,
always figured to me an undiscourageable parent to whom only
girls kept being born. A bouncing boy, a son and heir, was
devoutly prayed for, and almanacks and old wives consulted ; but
the spell was inveterate, incurable, and The Hidden Heart proved,
so to speak, but another female child. When the winter arrived
accordingly Egypt was out of the question. Jane Highmore, to
my knowledge, wanted to lend him money, and there were even
greater devotees who did their best to induce him to lean on them.
There was so marked a “ movement ” among his friends that a
very
nofinced ominously weak, and it was enjoined upon him with some
sharpness that he should lend himself to no worries. It might have
struck me as on the cards that his worries would now be surmount-
able, for when he began to mend he expressed to me a conviction
almost contagious that he had never yet made so adroit a bid as
in the idea of The Hidden Heart. It is grimly droll to reflect
that this superb little composition, the shortest of his novels, but
perhaps the loveliest, was planned from the first as an “ adventure-
story” on approved lines. It was the way they all did the ad-
venture-story that he tried most dauntlessly to emulate. I wonder
how many readers ever divined to which of their bookshelves The
Hidden Heart was so exclusively addressed. High medical
advice early in the summer had been quite viciously clear as
to the inconvenience that might ensue to him should he neglect
to spend the winter in Egypt. He was not a man to neglect any-
thing ; but Egypt seemed to us all then as unattainable as a second
edition. He finished The Hidden Heart with the energy of
apprehension and desire, for if the book should happen to do what
“ books of that class,” as the publisher said, sometimes did he
might well have a fund to draw on. As soon as I read the deep
and delicate thing I knew, as I had known in each case before
exactly how well it would do. Poor Limbert, in this long business,
always figured to me an undiscourageable parent to whom only
girls kept being born. A bouncing boy, a son and heir, was
devoutly prayed for, and almanacks and old wives consulted ; but
the spell was inveterate, incurable, and The Hidden Heart proved,
so to speak, but another female child. When the winter arrived
accordingly Egypt was out of the question. Jane Highmore, to
my knowledge, wanted to lend him money, and there were even
greater devotees who did their best to induce him to lean on them.
There was so marked a “ movement ” among his friends that a
very