For October 20
Plot:
On his return from India in 18—, Colonel Mortimer takes a house called Brentwood for his family. Edinburgh is within reach so his daughters can have the masters and lessons they need, and his boy, Roland, whose education has been neglected, can now receive the proper education for a lad his age. On the same property stand the ruins of another house that nature is busy reclaiming.
The girls love the house, and it seems to suit his wife, too, until one day when Roland comes home from school looking peaked. His pony is in a sweat. A fever seizes Roland. In his delirium, he repeatedly cries, “Mother, let me in!”
This breaks his mother’s heart.
When his father returns from a business trip to London, the boy tells him what really bothers him. There is a suffering spirit in the ruins. Worrying over it makes him sick. He knows Father will find an answer.
Father doesn’t know jack. He’s not a ghost-buster by trade, inclination, or belief, yet he’s desperate because he’s certain his son’s life depends on putting the spirit (if such it is) to rest.
Thoughts:
This odd story drips Victorian sentimentality. Plus, it’s long. Mortimer becomes a believer after experiencing the ghost, but Dr. Simson remains a skeptic, convinced human agency is involved, and even finds evidence of one after all is said and done. The point is not whether it’s a spirit or a human. A suffering creature seeks release from its suffering. Only through this will Roland be cured, and so on. What about the poor pony?
I think the point is well taken: regardless of the source of suffering, a sensitive soul (and it’s interesting that it affects the boy more than the girls) feels it and will not be released until the other’s suffering is addressed.
Having said that, I will add that I don’t think the story has aged well and may strike many people as tedious, though it is not a bad little read.
Bio: Mrs. Margaret Oliphant’s (1828-1897) literary output totals nearly two hundred works, including novels, short fiction, and various articles. She cranked them out, in part, to pay the bills.
She lost her husband to tuberculosis (“consumption,” in the parlance of the times). Three of their six children died before reaching adulthood. Oliphant outlived even those who did. She also supported an alcoholic brother after his bankruptcy.
Her early novels included a sensation novel, Salem Chapel. Later in life, she wrote supernatural stories. Most of her work reflects her Scottish heritage, religious reverence, and the personal tragedies she suffered.
Happily, she developed a close relationship with the Blackwoods of Blackwood’s magazine, who would, at times, offer her assignments in addition to publishing her short stories and serialized novels.
The story can be read here:
The story can be listened to here: (1:56:11)
Title: “The Open Door”
Author: Mrs. Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)
First published: Blackwood’s, January 1882
Length: novelette
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 