
When a hurried telegram summons him to a dying woman’s bedside, Greville Fane finds himself torn between professional duty and personal sentiment. Arriving too late to comfort the ailing Mrs. Stormer, he is drawn into the somber household of her family, where cold politeness masks a tangled web of grief, ambition, and literary intrigue.
Inside the cramped study, he discovers the scattered remnants of Mrs. Stormer’s unpublished work—pages stained, notes half‑finished, a legacy teetering between brilliance and obscurity. The family, especially her stern sister and brooding brother, press him to “do her justice,” hinting at the value hidden in those battered manuscripts. As Greville weighs his own reservations against the promise of preserving a voice now silenced, the novel explores the uneasy balance between compassion and the commodification of art.
Language
en
Duration
~41 minutes (39K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
Jul 1, 2001
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1843–1916
A master of psychological fiction, this transatlantic novelist explored the tensions between America and Europe with unusual subtlety and depth. Best known for works like The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn of the Screw, and The Ambassadors, he helped shape the modern novel.
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