10) “The Night Call” by Henry van Dyke

Plot:

Doctor Leroy Carmichael has recently established his practice in New Jersey. The important people of town don’t quite take him seriously. One night, he receives a summons to attend a visiting “Baroness de Mortemer.” The Baron himself drives him to a house in obvious disrepair in a part of town Leroy doesn’t know.

The Baroness was once known as Jean Gordon, a local girl and an erstwhile Latin student of Leroy’s father. Leroy recalls that the elder Carmichael had fond memories of Jean, even if she didn’t finish school. She eloped…

Thoughts:

This is nice and atmospheric, with the middle of the night call to Leroy’s house, the Baron who says little about his wife’s condition, the sinister factotum who speaks only French, and the ruinous house—Jean Gordon’s legacy. The gothic air is intriguing, but I found the story ultimately unsatisfying.

The ending suggests magic in longing for home (even if one can never go back). It never ties the Baroness’ longing for home, late in life in delicate health, with Leroy, who knows her only by an inscription in a book. Certainly, she and her husband can afford better accommodations than the house they’re in now, never mind it being theirs free and clear.

The story can be read here.

Bio: Henry van Dyke (1852-1933) was an Dutch American author, poet, educator, and Presbyterian clergyman. He was a professor of English literature at Princeton from 1899 to 1923. In 1913, his friend and former classmate, Woodrow Wilson, appointed him Minister to the Netherlands and Luxemburg. He wrote about twelve books altogether, mostly on religious topics.


Title: “The Night Call”
Author: Henry van Dyke (1852-1933)
First published: The Unknown Quantity, 1912