Initials Only guide

Summary

Characters

• GeorgeHelperFrom Chapter 1
• EdithAlso ChallonerSuitorFrom Chapter 1
• MosesAlso ChallonerGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• SlaterGatekeeperFrom Chapter 1
• ClausenOtherFrom Chapter 3
• OrlandoAlso Brotherson, DunnVillainFrom Chapter 3
• OswaldAlso BrothersonSuitorFrom Chapter 3
• Mrs. George AndersonHelperFrom Chapter 3
• HeathGatekeeperFrom Chapter 3
• GryceHelperFrom Chapter 4
• SweetwaterLeadFrom Chapter 4
• Miss ClarkeOtherFrom Chapter 4
• Mrs. Horace Watkins of NashvilleGuardianFrom Chapter 5
• Miss WatkinsChildFrom Chapter 5
• Celeste LedruOtherFrom Chapter 19
• DorisAlso ScottHelperFrom Chapter 22
• Dr. FentonHelperFrom Chapter 25

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• George wants to follow or stop the man whose furtive hand-washing arouses his and his wife's suspicion, but lacks an excuse to intervene.

  • George gives the investigators the man's description and suspicious conduct; Slater recognizes him, creating a route to identifying and investigating him.
  • The stranger is provisionally identified as Brotherson, his movements and background are investigated, and the Andersons record their impressions. Slater subsequently claims he is cleared, but neither Anderson's abandonment of the pursuit is established.
  • George actively joins the pursuit, but cannot identify the speaker by voice or shadow, excludes the man seen at the upper window, and loses the opportunity for identification when the desired speaker escapes.

• George and his wife investigate the disturbance at the Clermont and seek the circumstances of Edith's death; their inquiries culminate in learning that she died from a weapon injury.

  • They learn the medical findings, the absence of witnesses, the continuing uncertainty and the father's belief that Edith was killed by mistake. Their testimony supplies a lead that Slater recognizes.
  • The Andersons learn the provisional shooting theory and its proposed line of attack, followed by the doctors' finding that no bullet was found. The circumstances of Edith's death remain unsettled.
  • The Andersons learn more about the witnesses and the continuing investigation, remain subject to police summons, and receive an account of Gryce's conclusion.
  • George identifies the man seen outside the Clermont and learns that his signed letters were found among Edith's papers.

• George and his wife withhold their encounter with the suspicious man; George promises silence and later prevents his wife from mentioning him in company.

  • Their initial withholding gives way to an arranged interview, where George discloses their encounter and the man's description.

• George and his wife have promised Adela to arrive at the house before nine, a commitment that competes with their continued investigation.

  • They remain at the hotel, and George telephones Adela to arrange matters at home, superseding their promised visit.

• George proposes leaving and postponing further action, while his wife insists on learning about Edith's death immediately.

  • George adopts a course of waiting and listening at the hotel, while Laura chooses to remain; their arrangements remove the immediate dispute over leaving.

• George proposes using the rear entrance to obtain information from Slater, and his wife agrees; they reach Slater and gain access to the hotel and further information.

  • Their approach through Slater has secured information and continued access, culminating in his arranging and introducing their evidence interview.

• Hammond insists that Edith's body remain near where she fell until the coroner arrives.

• George forms a firm purpose that his wife recognizes in his expression, although its content remains undisclosed.

• The doctors plan to probe Edith's fatal wound to determine its nature, since they cannot yet establish whether it was caused by a gunshot.

  • The doctors' examination produces a finding of no bullet, but the events do not establish the wound's actual cause or conclusively exclude a gunshot.
  • The medical examination finds no bullet and establishes a stab wound ending at the heart.

• Mrs. Anderson feels troubled about implicating a potentially innocent man as the inquiry identifies him and reconstructs his movements.

• George and Mrs. Anderson resolve to preserve their fresh impressions of the stranger in separate written accounts and carry out the plan; George seals his account.

• Slater asks both Andersons to keep silent while informing them that no bullet was found and claiming that Brotherson is cleared.

• Laura's suicide explanation meets George's objection that no weapon was found; the account of Gryce's conclusion later gives her grounds to prevail.

  • The inspector and district attorney accept suicide after Brotherson's explanations, strengthening Laura's interpretation without settling her disagreement with George.

• George and Laura must remain available for a police summons, extending their involvement in the inquiry.

• Gryce takes up the investigation to explain Edith's fatal stabbing and the disappearance of the weapon.

  • Gryce traces the reported pickup to Caroline and recovers a possible weapon, but finds no decisive connection to Edith's death. The stabbing and the blade's apparent cleanliness remain unexplained.
  • Moses's recognition links the cutter to Edith, and his disclosure introduces a previously unknown romance and an earlier quarrel into the investigation. Gryce reports the discovery to his superiors.
  • The maid's evidence places the cutter with Edith at the mezzanine, and the correspondent's letter introduces a possible threat. Heath hypothesizes that seeing Brotherson prompted suicide; Sweetwater infers that Brotherson witnessed the death and understood himself to have caused it. These remain hypotheses.
  • The investigation connects the hand-washing man with Edith's correspondent and secures his commitment to appear before the police.
  • Heath's examination establishes Orlando's admitted threatening note and proximity to Edith shortly before her death, while obtaining his explanations of her gesture and his subsequent pantomime; the fatal injury and missing weapon remain unexplained.
  • Gryce renounces further detective work for the Department, interrupting his pursuit of Edith's killer and the missing weapon.
  • Sweetwater supplies a possible connection to another death, and Gryce commits to pursuing it; neither Edith's fatal injury nor the missing weapon is explained.
  • Gryce receives confidential evidence of Edith's admiration for O. B. and commits further effort to finding another explanation for her death.
  • Orlando's confession to Challoner identifies Edith's killer and explains the missing weapon through an ice projectile; Gryce has not yet received this account.
  • Orlando's confession establishes responsibility for Edith's killing, and Sweetwater supplies an explanation of the method that Challoner recognizes as accurate.

• Gryce takes Sweetwater as an investigative assistant and undertakes to teach him detective work.

  • Sweetwater gathers and reports observations, follows Gryce's directions and helps arrange the interview. Gryce demonstrates caution about acting on embarrassment alone and requires corroboration of the suspected woman's identity.
  • Sweetwater proposes checking the red cloak for concealed blood, receives the assignment and reports its failure; Gryce then directs him toward showing the cutter to Edith's maid.
  • Sweetwater brings Gryce a parallel unsolved stabbing and shares the discovery connecting Orlando's room to it, continuing their investigative collaboration.
  • Gryce renews Sweetwater's enthusiasm and affirms their investigative partnership through a joint commitment.

• Gryce chooses Sweetwater to guide his inspection of the desk and the place where Edith fell.

• Gryce proposes interviewing everyone who approached Edith during the ten minutes before the murder alarm, especially Miss Clarke, to discover who removed the weapon.

  • Unproductive questioning leads to a public appeal, an eyewitness account and interviews with the Watkinses that identify who picked up the paper-cutter. The proposed interviews with everyone who approached Edith, especially Miss Clarke, are not established as complete.

• Gryce extends the search for whoever picked something up from the lobby floor through bulletins, newspapers and other means; the hotel bulletin produces McElroy's eyewitness account.

• The investigation interferes with the Watkinses' planned departure and Caroline's social expectations; Mrs. Watkins cancels their departure and warns that inaccurate answers could delay Caroline's coming-out party.

• Mrs. Watkins conceals Caroline's taking of the paper-cutter and, as Gryce concludes, her habitual compulsion to take things. She discloses the find and permits examination, but Caroline still fears wider exposure; Gryce offers conditional discretion.

• Gryce seeks to establish whether Caroline's paper-cutter caused Edith's death and where any blood was removed; examination yields no decisive link, leaving him disappointed but the question unsettled.

  • The search at the precise location and the cloak inquiry yield no useful blood evidence. Moses nevertheless recognizes the cutter as one he often saw in Edith's hand, strengthening its connection to her without establishing that it caused her death or where blood was removed.
  • The maid reports seeing Edith leave the elevator carrying the book with the cutter in it, strengthening the connection between Edith and the suspected weapon without establishing that it caused the wound or explaining the absence of blood.
  • Orlando identifies an ice projectile as the fatal weapon, excluding Caroline's paper-cutter.

• Edith maintained an apparently mutual romance with a correspondent unknown to Moses and her maid. The surviving letters include an expression of displeasure a month ago, while her final letter was affectionate and encouraging; the correspondent's identity remains unknown.

  • The concealed correspondent is identified by the name Brotherson, which Sweetwater connects with the man under investigation. His letter treats Edith's disapproval as an intolerable rebuff and promises a delayed, pointed answer that Sweetwater interprets as a threat; the identity connection remains to be verified.
  • Letters found among Edith's papers identify Orlando Brotherson as her correspondent, although the circumstances of their relationship remain to be explained.
  • Orlando acknowledges a private acquaintance, letters and authorship of the angry note, then recounts his rejected proposal in Moses's hearing. His account of writing without permitting replies does not establish that he was the correspondent in Edith's apparently mutual romance.
  • Letters establish Edith's love for Brotherson, while her friend's account of the initials B and O and her praise of O. B. reaches Moses and then Gryce.
  • Previously hidden unsent letters become available to the investigation, potentially supplying further evidence about Edith's private attachment.
  • The letters disclose a mutually acknowledged attachment, an agreement to wait in silence for paternal approval, and Edith's private preservation of her love. She identifies her beloved as a man first seen in church who later rescued her on Greylock; his identity remains unnamed.
  • Orlando denies being the intended recipient. An allusion and unanimous handwriting findings establish a second letter writer using O. B.; Gryce identifies him as Edith's favoured correspondent, but his identity remains unknown.
  • Sweetwater identifies Oswald Brotherson as the second O. B. and concludes that Edith's love and affectionate correspondence concerned him rather than Orlando.

• Moses seeks to preserve the privacy of Edith's letters and intimate affairs. Gryce undertakes to help where possible, while explaining that the inspector or coroner must be informed and will probably request the letters.

  • An intimate letter is used in official questioning, and Orlando recounts his private dealings with Edith before Heath, Sweetwater and Moses, frustrating Moses's effort to preserve her privacy.
  • Moses entrusts the letters to Gryce under restrictions on their use, securing qualified protection for Edith's privacy while permitting investigation.
  • Sweetwater deliberately uses the private letters in his investigation, Orlando reads them, and the first letter becomes public through newspaper publication, defeating privacy for that letter.
  • Moses has supplied Edith's letters to the police, preventing him from keeping her correspondence private.

• Sweetwater undertakes to find Brotherson and establish whether he was the man seen washing his hands in snow.

  • Sweetwater follows a lead to the Brotherhood speaker, but the speaker escapes before George can establish whether he is the hand-washing man. Sweetwater proposes another attempt, leaving Brotherson's identification unsettled.
  • Sweetwater locates Brotherson, and George positively identifies him as the man seen outside the Clermont.

• George accompanies Sweetwater on a night search, serving as the eyewitness who can identify the suspected man despite changes in dress or occupation.

  • George continues as Sweetwater's identifying witness and ultimately gives the agreed recognition signal.

• Sweetwater and George seek access to the Brotherhood meeting, then adopt concealed observation from a rear shed so George can identify the wanted speaker when he leaves.

• Sweetwater intends to report the suspicious arrangements around the meeting place to his chief.

• The police raid disrupts Sweetwater's attempt to obtain an eyewitness identification; his intervention fails to prevent the desired speaker's escape.

  • The escaped speaker is encountered again, recognized by his voice, and finally identified as the wanted man.

• Sweetwater proposes another attempt with George, promising to expose him to no more than one further failure; George's agreement is not yet established.

  • George accepts the further attempt; despite initial uncertainty, it succeeds in securing identification.

• Sweetwater must bring Orlando Brotherson before the authorities concerning his signed letters among Edith's papers; Orlando agrees to appear and share his information.

  • Orlando appears before Heath, acknowledges his identity and letter, submits to questioning about Edith and his movements, and leaves after the examination.

• Orlando's sudden alarm or anger when Sweetwater raises the shade and looks toward the opposite tenement suggests an undisclosed concern; George wants its explanation.

• Sweetwater secures concealed participation in Orlando's examination, using rattling papers to prompt Heath to press particular questions.

• Orlando describes an attachment founded on his interpretation of Edith's interest and sympathy, culminating in a rejected marriage proposal and his claimed renunciation of her.

  • Edith's letters and her friend's testimony independently support an attachment to Brotherson, without settling Orlando's account of its rejection or his renunciation.
  • The discovery that Edith's affectionate letters concerned another O. B. changes the understanding of Orlando's attachment; Sweetwater provisionally concedes Orlando's apparent honesty.
  • Orlando abandons his belief that he loved Edith, recognizing wounded pride in place of love, and learns that her affectionate letters concerned Oswald.

• Sweetwater determines to discover a vulnerability or secret in Orlando despite his controlled account and explanations.

  • Sweetwater identifies Orlando as the tenant opposite the washerwoman's unexplained stabbing and tells Gryce, opening a concrete avenue into Orlando's undisclosed connections without establishing his guilt.
  • Sweetwater makes Brotherson's proximity to both deaths grounds for further scrutiny and gains Gryce's commitment to pursue the connection.
  • Sweetwater develops a concrete disguise and lodging strategy for investigating Orlando; the impending departure of people who could recognize him reduces the risk of exposure.
  • Orlando's private ease weakens Sweetwater's suspicions, and Sweetwater rejects a hoped-for sign of remorse. He nevertheless continues surveillance and secures closer access.
  • Sweetwater abandons direct probing and secures covert listening access. He hears Orlando's emotionally marked poetry recitation and renunciation of rich women, and identifies the volume as Paolo and Francesca, without establishing a decisive secret.
  • Sweetwater obtains suggestive sleeping speech and initially believes he has uncovered Orlando's secret. Orlando's cheerful whistling undermines that interpretation, leaving Sweetwater frustrated and uncertain how to proceed.
  • Sweetwater adopts a subtler approach through Edith's letters. Orlando's rejection gives way to private reading and inward turmoil, although no explanatory secret or admission has yet emerged.
  • Orlando burns the letters, and Sweetwater recognizes his disbelief in them as sincere. Sweetwater abandons his attempt to overcome that disbelief and regards Orlando as an invulnerable adversary.
  • The letter test supplies no evidence against Orlando, but Sweetwater sees the discovery of a favoured rival as a possible source of motive and continues seeking grounds to implicate him.
  • Sweetwater recognizes his personal grievances against Orlando and questions the reliability of his judgment, weakening his confidence in the pursuit of Orlando's secret.
  • Gryce's report of Orlando's increased serenity and absorption in his invention discourages Sweetwater's search for a revealing vulnerability.
  • Sweetwater renews his pursuit of Orlando's mystery and secures concealed observation during the coming disclosure.
  • Sweetwater persists at the hangar door and gains admission; Orlando's recognition of him produces visible shock.
  • Sweetwater exposes Orlando's sensitivity to his invention and to accusations about an earlier crime, then gains access to the completed machine as his collaborator.
  • Orlando discloses his concealed responsibility for both killings to Challoner, although Sweetwater is absent.
  • Sweetwater learns Orlando's confessed guilt and explains the concealed murder method.

• Moses challenges Orlando's account that Edith rejected him from class contempt, attributing her indignation instead to his conduct or presumptuous confidence.

  • Evidence of Edith's admiration complicates Moses's objection to Orlando's account. Moses tests magnetic influence as an explanation, but Gryce supplies an authority's claim that hypnosis cannot compel conduct against natural instincts.
  • Orlando abandons his explanation that Edith rejected him from class contempt and interprets her rebuke as directed at his position as Oswald's brother.

• Sweetwater seeks to explain the washerwoman's fatal stabbing in an apparently inaccessible room, a mystery he continues to pursue after the police abandon it.

  • Sweetwater brings the washerwoman's killing into a joint investigation with Gryce by connecting Brotherson to both deaths.
  • Orlando supplies an account of his movements around Mrs. Spotts's death, including his return to her doorway and subsequent search for experimental wire; the means and perpetrator remain unexplained.
  • Orlando admits killing the woman across the court to test his unusual killing method, supplying an explanation that Sweetwater has yet to receive.
  • The confession identifies the washerwoman's killer, and Sweetwater explains the method of the murders.

• The means and perpetrator of the washerwoman's killing remain unknown; Orlando occupied the opposite room, but his connection to the death is unexplained.

  • Evidence indicates that Orlando communicated with or previously knew Mrs. Spotts, and a weapon is discovered in connection with the investigation. The means and perpetrator remain unsettled.
  • Orlando identifies himself as the woman's killer and explains that her death was a test of his killing method.

• Gryce and Sweetwater commit to investigating the connection between Edith's death and the washerwoman's killing, with Brotherson near both.

  • Evidence of prior contact between Orlando and Mrs. Spotts strengthens the connection under investigation; the weapon discovery adds evidence, and Gryce agrees to accompany Sweetwater to the Superintendent.
  • Financial backing and the inspector's authorization allow Gryce's proposed extended investigation through Sweetwater to proceed.
  • The joint investigation gains an undercover approach, access to Edith's letters, a safe communication channel and confirmation of official support.
  • Sweetwater puts the investigation into practice through concealed observation of Orlando and a move into the adjoining room, without yet establishing a connection between the deaths.
  • The confession links the deaths through Orlando's experimental killing method, though neither investigator is shown learning it.
  • Orlando's confession to both killings and Sweetwater's explanation establish their connection.

• Sweetwater withholds the connection between the Spotts killing and Brotherson to avoid professional humiliation and giving Brotherson an advantage.

• Moses seeks Gryce's help to restore Edith's reputation, testing whether magnetic influence could explain her attachment; Gryce undertakes to seek another explanation for her death if possible.

  • Moses supports further inquiry with a promise to cover reasonable expenses, and Gryce secures permission to continue; Edith's reputation has not yet been restored.
  • Sweetwater presents Challoner's rejection of suicide and seeks evidence from Fenton, whose account supplies no new clue to Edith's death.
  • Moses learns of Edith's attachment to Oswald and plans to investigate with him, but Doris's promised grounds for rejecting suicide prove to be a dream that Moses judges supplies no new evidence.
  • Challoner learns that Edith was murdered and that Orlando's account of her class contempt rested on a mistake, providing grounds to restore her reputation.

• Gryce agrees to accompany Sweetwater to the Superintendent tomorrow by taxicab.

• Orlando commits to abandoning agitation speeches to protect his invention.

  • Orlando repeatedly declines invitations to speak until his invention is completed and proved, maintaining his present withdrawal while allowing for a later return.
  • Orlando's reported absorption in his invention supports his commitment to concentrate on it.

• Orlando conditionally offers to investigate the deaths and share any solution he finds.

  • Orlando declares that he will not help reopen the business Sweetwater is pursuing.

• Gryce obtains authority for an extended investigation through Sweetwater, backed by Moses's promise to fund reasonable expenses and Gryce's guarantee against Department losses.

  • Sweetwater learns that the Superintendent supports the investigation and that Moses offers qualified cooperation, although the Inspector regards Orlando's proximity to the deaths as coincidence.
  • The authorized investigation receives a new direction, supported by the Superintendent and Inspector, with Sweetwater assigned to pursue the Derby lead.
  • Challoner pays Sweetwater and ends his employment; Sweetwater leaves Derby and abandons the commissioned investigation before independently conceiving an explanation.

• Sweetwater plans to return to Hicks Street as a genuine-seeming carpenter under his mother's name, Zugg, using restored carpentry skills, a beard and actual temporary illness to deceive Orlando.

  • Sweetwater establishes himself in the tenement with his beard disguise and subsequently obtains the room next to Orlando. His belief that Orlando recognizes him leaves the disguise's success uncertain.
  • Sweetwater sustains his carpenter identity despite Orlando recalling earlier sightings, gains confidence in his altered appearance and earns recognition for his practical skill. He stops taking the mixture that produces his sickliness so he can recover his health.
  • The undercover lodging operation ends with its exposure: Orlando claims to have recognized Sweetwater immediately, confirms his eavesdropping, and receives Sweetwater's announcement that he will leave that night.

• Gryce proposes assigning an investigator Orlando does not know, but Sweetwater insists on continuing himself.

• Gryce arranges for Sweetwater to collect Edith's letters in a named package at the West Twenty-ninth Street house and use that house for safe postal and telephone contact.

• Sweetwater persists in watching Orlando overnight for revealing behavior, then uses a neighbor's insinuations as cover to obtain the front room next door to him.

  • Sweetwater turns the adjoining room into a working listening post after discovering that the intact partition yields little information. His first recorded listening session chiefly produces poetry and disappointment.
  • Orlando confronts Sweetwater and discovers his surveillance arrangement; Sweetwater announces his departure, ending the concealed watch from the adjoining room.

• Sweetwater believes Orlando has recognized him and fears a lethal reprisal, threatening the security of his concealed investigation; Orlando's withdrawal gives him temporary relief.

  • Confidence in his disguise temporarily eases Sweetwater's fear, but the exposed listening hole renews his apprehension of discovery and lethal retaliation. He enters Orlando's room and conceals the hole, gaining relief without confirming whether Orlando suspects him.
  • Sweetwater concludes that Orlando sincerely believes their conversation cannot be overheard, giving him renewed confidence in the concealment of his surveillance without establishing whether Orlando recognizes him.
  • The feared exposure becomes explicit when Orlando claims prior recognition, forcibly restrains Sweetwater, and confirms the listening hole. No lethal reprisal is established.
  • Orlando openly acknowledges Sweetwater's surveillance role, and Sweetwater's departure ends the immediate situation of concealed observation and feared reprisal.

• Sweetwater creates a listening hole concealed behind Orlando's books and intends to use it in the evenings to discover Orlando's secret. The hole works, but its concealment depends on the books remaining in place.

  • The covering book appears undisturbed, and Sweetwater uses his listening post to hear Orlando's sleeping response to the music and his reference to a promise.
  • The concealed listening access lets Sweetwater follow Celeste's visit and Orlando's subsequent handling of the letters, including his apparent preparation to burn them and his decision to read instead.
  • Orlando discovers the listening hole, Sweetwater acknowledges his spying, and his announced departure ends the covert listening arrangement.

• Under his carpenter identity, Sweetwater gains Orlando's companionship and trust through shared meals, personal confidences and practical help with his model, while concealing his investigative purpose.

  • Sweetwater continues spending long evenings with Orlando under his assumed identity, using sustained companionship to seek his secret.
  • Their apparent companionship under Sweetwater's carpenter identity ends in acknowledged surveillance. Sweetwater loses respect for Orlando's humanity while gaining admiration for him as an adversary.

• Orlando's removal of the poetry volume exposes Sweetwater's listening hole. Sweetwater risks another visit to conceal it with an adjacent book, but remains uncertain whether his spying has been detected.

  • Sweetwater infers that the replacement covering book has remained in place and feels reassured that the hole is concealed. This settles his immediate alarm without establishing whether Orlando previously detected it.

• Sweetwater uses a music-box while Orlando sleeps to provoke unguarded speech about Edith and uncover his secret. Orlando's response initially encourages him, but his cheerful repetition of the music afterward leaves the experiment inconclusive.

  • Sweetwater accepts the music-box experiment's failure to yield the desired disclosure and turns to a different method using Edith's letters.

• Orlando's disturbed speech addresses Edith and refers to an unspecified promise. Sweetwater suspects a deadly meaning, but neither the promise's content nor its connection to Edith's death is established.

• Sweetwater arranges to use Edith's letters to provoke a revealing response from Orlando. Celeste presents them as stolen souvenirs for sale, then leaves them despite his refusal; Orlando ultimately prepares to read them privately.

  • The letter provocation ends without the hoped-for disclosure. Orlando burns the letters, and Sweetwater accepts that his disbelief is sincere and abandons the effort to persuade him.
  • Orlando reads the letters but denies that they were addressed to him and suspects police fabrication. The attempt to make him weaken fails.
  • The account establishes that Orlando read letters but dismissed them as police forgeries because their contents did not fit his experience; he now accepts Oswald as their recipient.

• Gryce requests an urgent meeting with Sweetwater at the Twenty-ninth Street house following a discovery that he says alters the situation.

  • The requested meeting takes place, and Gryce reveals the discovery of a second O. B. and gives Sweetwater a new assignment.

• Sweetwater seeks to identify and locate the other O. B., whom Edith favoured and to whom her affectionate letters were addressed.

  • Following Doris's connection to the letter leads Sweetwater to identify and locate Oswald Brotherson, the other O. B., in her house.

• Sweetwater will leave for Derby tomorrow and first seek Doris Scott, following her connection to Edith and the second O. B.

  • Sweetwater obtains Doris's address, reaches her house and questions her, discovering the second O. B.

• Edith's words about Doris suggest an additional meaning and a hope that Sweetwater has yet to explain.

  • Doris's recognition of the initials and her care of Oswald clarify her connection to Edith's correspondence, but the additional meaning and hope in Edith's words remain unexplained.
  • Doris's admiration for Edith, their correspondence and Sweetwater's recognition of Doris's attachment to Oswald add context to Edith's words about her, without establishing their full meaning.

• Sweetwater's need to question Doris conflicts with her care of Oswald and wish to end the interview; he eventually postpones further questioning, with Oswald's possible death threatening the inquiry.

  • Oswald regains consciousness and is expected to survive, reducing the threat that his death will foreclose further inquiry, though Sweetwater has not resumed questioning Doris.
  • Direct questioning of Oswald must wait indefinitely, and Fenton's account does not solve the mystery. Sweetwater pursues renewed access to Doris through Fenton.
  • Sweetwater obtains another interview, questions Doris about the romance and Oswald's knowledge, and leaves after gaining her answers.

• Doris seeks to protect the critically ill Oswald from hearing Edith's name or learning of her death, fearing the shock could kill him.

  • Fenton confirms that disclosure could endanger Oswald's life. Doris enlists his help and answers Oswald's questions without revealing Edith's death.
  • Doris fears Challoner's visit could expose Oswald to Edith's name, feels relieved when he passes without calling, and resolves to conceal his presence.
  • Doris guards access to Oswald, conceals Challoner's connection to their secret, and sustains Oswald's ignorance by writing to Edith at his dictation.
  • Doris enlists Moses to secure Orlando's silence; Orlando indicates he will avoid the subject, while disclosure remains subject to medical clearance.
  • The period of protecting Oswald from knowledge of Edith's death ends. He learns the news, briefly loses consciousness, and revives.

• Oswald's repeated calls for Edith reveal his longing for her, and Sweetwater concludes that he was the Brotherson Edith loved.

  • Fenton's account establishes that Edith was Oswald's secret fiancée; Oswald's disappointment at receiving no letter shows his continuing attachment and expectation of contact.
  • Oswald's confidences to Doris, the secret engagement and his distress over Edith's silence further establish his attachment to Edith.
  • Oswald seeks a reply from Edith and takes comfort in the apparent prospect of renewed communication.
  • Oswald returns to longing for Edith after the disturbance of his brother's visit.

• Doris seeks to conceal the letter, Oswald's attachment to Edith and the household's knowledge of Edith's death. Sweetwater promises secrecy for today and longer if possible; Oswald remains uninformed.

  • Doris has confided the secret engagement to Fenton and requested his discretion and assistance. Fenton tells Sweetwater, while Oswald remains uninformed of Edith's death.
  • Oswald still interprets Edith's silence without knowing she is dead; Sweetwater reports his continued ignorance to Gryce.
  • Doris sustains Oswald's ignorance by writing the letter he dictates to Edith. He misreads her distress and gains contentment from the prospect of communicating with her.
  • Doris actively protects the household's secret while Oswald continues to act on the belief that Edith is alive.
  • Orlando learns of Edith's attachment to Oswald and Oswald's ignorance of her death, then indicates he will preserve that ignorance during his visit.
  • Doris tells Oswald about Edith's death, the final letter, her own concealed grief, and the investigators' knowledge of his attachment.

• Sweetwater must establish whether Oswald and Orlando Brotherson are related.

  • Doris's account establishes that Orlando is Oswald's brother and that they correspond; these events do not establish that Sweetwater has learned this.
  • Orlando identifies himself to Moses as Oswald's brother, establishing the relationship, although Sweetwater is not shown learning it.

• The villagers expect Oswald and Doris to marry; Sweetwater learns of this expectation, but neither person's intentions are established.

  • Sweetwater recognizes Doris's attachment to Oswald, though mutual intentions to marry remain unestablished.
  • Orlando hears and accepts the reported romantic connection between Doris and Oswald, although neither person's intentions are established.

• Sweetwater commits to hoping for Oswald's recovery, encouraged by the villagers' devotion; Oswald regains consciousness and the doctor predicts survival.

  • Sweetwater learns that Oswald has awakened naturally and become a promising convalescent.
  • Oswald gains strength during convalescence, and the dictated letter reports his recovery.
  • Oswald's restored consciousness permits him to recognize and welcome Orlando and give instructions concerning the shed key.
  • Oswald survives another dangerous crisis, regains awareness, and recovers enough to walk without ill effects.

• Sweetwater seeks Fenton's help to secure another interview with Doris; Fenton promises to try to arrange it during his next morning visit.

  • The intended further interview with Doris takes place and yields information about Oswald and Edith.

• Sweetwater plans to gather information about the prospective manager while awaiting his interview with Doris, but access to the Works requires a permit he cannot readily obtain.

• Doris supervises delivery of boxes addressed to O. Brotherson to an isolated shed with a hinged roof; Sweetwater observes the delivery but does not discover the contents or purpose.

  • Sweetwater omits the woodland discovery from his report to Gryce. Its importance to the mystery is established, but he does not recognize it or explain the boxes' purpose.
  • The boxes are established as Orlando's, stored for him through Oswald's arrangements and Doris's supervision. Orlando receives the shed key; the contents and purpose remain undisclosed.
  • Orlando identifies the place Oswald prepared as the site of an intended invention experiment, clarifying its purpose without establishing the boxes' contents.
  • The boxes reach Orlando's shed, where he prepares to work; Sweetwater identifies the invention as a flying machine, explaining the delivery's purpose.

• Doris offers to help clear Edith's memory.

  • Doris presents her grounds for denying suicide and then identifies the arriving visitor as her dream's threatening figure, though neither establishes the murderer's identity as fact.

• Oswald directs Doris to keep his illness from Edith and plans to write to Edith himself after recovering.

  • Oswald changes his earlier instruction that Doris keep his illness from Edith: he now dictates a letter reporting his illness, recovery and appointment. Doris prepares it and promises to post it herself, but posting is not yet established.
  • Oswald has Doris write a letter to Edith at his dictation, continuing his intended correspondence without learning of her death.
  • Learning that Edith is dead makes Oswald's intended letter to her impossible.

• Sweetwater wishes to give Doris Edith's last letter but does not have it with him.

• Sweetwater plans to see Challoner despite having little comfort to offer.

  • Sweetwater meets Moses and informs him of his visit to Doris and his arrangement to watch Orlando.

• Oswald resolves to give Doris daily writing exercises, mistaking her distress over addressing the dead Edith for difficulty with writing.

• Doris settles privately on what she considers her duty concerning the letter; her intended course remains undisclosed.

• Moses intends to remain until Oswald recovers, help him bear the news of Edith's death, and seek his assistance in investigating its cause.

  • Moses helps protect Oswald until disclosure is medically permitted and expresses a prospective personal attachment to him; Oswald's assistance with the investigation remains pending.
  • Challoner nurses Oswald, offers sustaining affection, absolves him of blame, and learns his account of loving Edith; further investigative disclosure is deferred.

• Doris believes her dream identifies Edith's murderer; Moses considers it derived from known reports and fails to shake her conviction.

  • Moses becomes firmly convinced that Doris's accusation against Orlando is correct, ending their disagreement without establishing the accusation's truth.

• An unexpected visitor has the face Doris remembers from her dream; she identifies him as Edith's murderer, but his identity and any actual connection to the killing remain unestablished.

  • The visitor is identified as Orlando Brotherson, and Moses adopts Doris's conviction that he murdered Edith. His actual responsibility remains unproved.
  • Orlando's confession establishes his actual responsibility for Edith's death, confirming Doris's identification without establishing her dream as a reliable means of knowledge.

• Orlando intends to visit Oswald the next morning after returning to his hotel.

  • Orlando specifies that he will discuss his invention with Oswald while avoiding Edith's death.
  • The constrained interview establishes that Orlando's intended visit to Oswald has occurred.

• Oswald welcomes Orlando's arrival and has arranged storage for his brother's boxes, while Doris regards Orlando as Edith's murderer.

  • Doris nearly turns her account into an accusation against the concealed listener, then tells Oswald that Orlando frightened Edith. Orlando enters before she finishes.
  • Oswald hears and accepts Orlando's account of Edith seeking death, but remains anguished about responsibility and ends their discussion by requesting Doris.
  • Oswald remains unwaveringly confident in Orlando, while Doris's hostility softens into toleration and admiration.

• Orlando connects Oswald's initials with the investigation and suspects that investigators are pursuing his brother; the thought profoundly shakes him.

  • Orlando's suspicion about Oswald's connection to the inquiry becomes the confirmed discovery that Edith's letters were addressed to his brother; this does not establish Oswald as a police suspect.

• Orlando falls in love with Doris and accepts reports that she is romantically attached to Oswald, placing his new affection under the shadow of his brother's presumed claim.

  • Orlando tries to keep Doris present and later recognizes his renewed love for her as a lasting obstacle to happiness.
  • Orlando's attachment shapes his choice of flight companion and makes him respond to an interruption in the hope that Doris has come or sent for him.
  • Orlando identifies Doris as his sole love, declares himself to her and becomes confident of winning her despite her refusal.

• Orlando resolves to establish Challoner's connection with Oswald and obtains a private interview that confirms Oswald was the intended recipient of Edith's letters.

• Moses conditionally intends to give Oswald the place Edith held in his heart and life; learning this deepens Orlando's devastation.

  • Challoner's conditional hope becomes a mutual, deeply affectionate attachment.

• Doris is to tell Oswald of Edith's death when the doctor permits it, possibly in another week.

  • Doris commits to enduring the coming disclosure, conceals her anxiety from Oswald and coordinates Sweetwater's unseen attendance.
  • Doris carries out the disclosure, explaining Edith's death, the wound, and the suicide verdict.

• Orlando plans an experiment with his invention at the place Oswald has prepared and proposes discussing it during his visit.

  • Orlando receives his boxes, establishes himself in the shed and concentrates on preparing his invention; the experiment has not yet occurred.
  • Orlando withdraws to the hangar, briefly postpones work, then resumes it with renewed commitment; the experiment itself is not shown.
  • Orlando explains the air-car, seeks Oswald's confidential assistance, and commits to a Saturday-night test regardless of weather or assistance.
  • The Saturday flight acquires a committed companion, and Orlando and Sweetwater begin examining the mechanism together.
  • Orlando conducts the experiment at the prepared hangar, achieving vertical takeoff and a safe return despite the storm.

• Orlando insists on witnessing Doris's disclosure to Oswald, intends to seek the doctor's agreement, and proposes remaining unseen unless his own name is raised undesirably.

  • Doris's awareness of the concealed listener supports Orlando's attendance; he subsequently enters as her account reaches his frightening letter and visit.
  • Orlando's participation culminates in personally explaining his conduct to Oswald, then leaving after their discussion.

• Sweetwater commits to keeping the details of Orlando's flying-machine invention confidential.

  • Sweetwater renews his pledge of fidelity and assures Orlando that he has neither drawn nor disclosed the mechanism to anyone else.

• Sweetwater arranges with Doris to listen unseen during her disclosure and watch Orlando for a revealing response.

  • The planned disclosure takes place and Orlando enters, but these events do not establish what Sweetwater observes or learns.

• Oswald demands the full truth about Edith's death and Orlando's involvement so that he can avoid judging unjustly.

  • Oswald receives the history of Orlando's pursuit and threat and accepts his account of Edith's death, but still seeks to establish responsibility; Orlando's explanation is not independently established as the full truth.
  • Oswald overhears part of Orlando's confession and responds with outrage and a demand for retribution, but is not shown receiving the full account.
  • Orlando's own admission establishes his guilt for Oswald and ends Oswald's belief in his innocence.

• Oswald rejects the suicide verdict, leaving the cause of Edith's death unresolved for him.

  • Oswald accepts Orlando's account that Edith sought death, ending his rejection of suicide without independently establishing the cause of her death.

• Doris's disclosure of Orlando's courtship meets Oswald's disbelief; he subsequently acknowledges his brother's right to court Edith but learns that Orlando frightened her before visiting her.

  • Oswald hears the fuller history of Orlando's courtship and threatening letter and accepts his subsequent account, shifting his concern from disbelief to responsibility.

• Oswald seeks to determine whether Orlando's conduct or his own failings drove Edith to despair.

  • Oswald attributes Edith's alleged suicide to his own unreasonableness and pride and seeks forgiveness for accusing Orlando; this establishes his present interpretation, not the actual cause of her death.
  • Orlando's confession establishes murder rather than despair as the cause of Edith's death; Oswald hears enough to turn his anger against his brother.
  • Oswald now accepts Orlando's responsibility for Edith's death.

• Orlando urges Oswald to attribute the tragedy to chance and seek consolation in their shared work.

  • Orlando turns the proposed consolation through shared work into a concrete invitation to assist with and join the flight; Oswald understands its intended emotional purpose.
  • Orlando offers Oswald a share in his work and honours, but Oswald's unreconciled grief defeats the appeal. Orlando withdraws the offer and takes back his papers.

• Orlando recognizes his love for Doris and his remorse over Edith as lasting obstacles to happiness.

  • Public success and romantic hope fail to quiet Orlando's self-condemnation. He anticipates lifelong torment, relapses into profound despondency and experiences gaps in his recollection of his movements.
  • Orlando's recognition of his mistaken judgment leads him to confess and accept consequences instead of enjoying his success.

• Orlando resolves to overcome his disappointment through his invention and future fame.

  • The invention approaches completion, Orlando fixes an unconditional test date, and Oswald understands that achievement is meant to help Orlando forget his sorrow.
  • Enthusiasm for the invention displaces Orlando's threatening mood, and he resumes practical work with Sweetwater.
  • The successful flight establishes his invention's achievement, and he resolves to enjoy his conquest, although remembering Sweetwater qualifies his triumph.
  • The invention brings international fame, demonstrated success and financial backing, but these achievements fail to overcome Orlando's distress; he ultimately loses interest even in his machine and future.
  • Orlando explicitly rejects profiting from his success and chooses confession, further obstructing his pursuit of consolation through invention and fame.
  • Orlando regards his promising career as ruined and anticipates public dishonour when his guilt becomes known.

• Oswald seeks Challoner's reason for nursing him and learns that shared love for Edith, without blame, motivates his care.

• Challoner insists that the evidence concerning the washerwoman be withheld from Oswald for weeks to protect his recovery.

  • Orlando discusses the other killing within Oswald's hearing, defeating controlled disclosure, although the portion Oswald overhears is unspecified.

• Doris's repulsion toward Orlando gives way to toleration and admiration as she anticipates his invention's demonstration.

  • Doris wishes Orlando success, shows intense apprehension about an accident, and witnesses his achievement; her feelings do not establish romantic attachment.
  • Doris's admiration develops into ungrudging approval and readiness to trust Orlando, but her regret at admitting him and explicit refusal of courtship limit that change.

• Orlando wants Oswald aboard the imminent test flight, but Oswald refuses because of his weakness and seeks a longer postponement; Orlando insists on testing Saturday evening.

  • Oswald proposes another postponement to obtain an experienced associate; Orlando declares he will fly alone, then decides to recruit Doris.
  • Orlando proceeds at the appointed hour despite dangerous weather; Oswald remains a spectator, and the flight returns safely.

• Oswald promises to consider accurate, compatible assistants for Orlando's test and report tomorrow.

  • Oswald seeks an acceptable assistant, but Orlando rejects every proposal and declares that he will operate the aircraft alone.
  • Orlando reports that he has found his assistant, ending the need for Oswald to supply one; Sweetwater accompanies the flight.

• Orlando requests Oswald's and Doris's attendance at the demonstration, with Doris told only shortly beforehand.

  • Oswald and Doris attend with Moses and witness the demonstration's takeoff and safe return.

• Orlando decides to recruit Doris as his flight companion despite her aversion to him.

  • Doris attends as a spectator while Sweetwater fills the companion's place on this flight.

• Orlando prohibits intrusion into the hangar with Oswald's backing, then conceals the aircraft before admitting the persistent visitor.

  • The visitor is admitted and ultimately accepted as a collaborator, after which Orlando deliberately reveals the completed air-car.

• Sweetwater seeks to help complete and fly Orlando's air-car, with constructing his own as an alternative.

  • Sweetwater serves as Orlando's assistant and participates in the successful flight.

• Sweetwater's technical knowledge and accusation provoke Orlando's armed anger; Orlando restrains himself, but Sweetwater subsequently perceives danger in his proposed flight invitation.

  • Sweetwater survives the flight and leaves his seat safely, but Orlando's recollection of him still qualifies his triumph; their underlying antagonism remains unsettled.

• Orlando accepts Sweetwater as a technical collaborator after Sweetwater demonstrates his understanding of the invention and swears fidelity; they begin working together.

  • Their technical collaboration culminates in a successful flight with Sweetwater aboard as assistant.
  • Orlando declares that he has no further use for Sweetwater, whose departure ends their technical collaboration.

• Orlando proposes taking Sweetwater on Saturday night's first flight; despite recognizing personal danger and initially refusing, Sweetwater promises to accompany him if the air-car rises.

  • Sweetwater fulfills his promise to accompany Orlando when the air-car rises and returns safely.

• Doris resolves to sustain Oswald whatever happens during Orlando's demonstration.

• Oswald suspects that Doris loves Orlando and is disturbed by the possibility.

• Orlando abandons his attempt to enlist Oswald in his work and resolves to find another collaborator.

• Orlando demands that Oswald cease all further references to Edith.

  • Oswald's discovery of Orlando's guilt and ensuing attack overturn Orlando's attempt to suppress further confrontation concerning Edith.

• Orlando seeks Doris's love and trust as support against an anticipated crisis; her refusal fails to dislodge his belief that she secretly encourages him.

• Doris refuses Orlando's courtship, while he interprets her looks as concealed encouragement and persists in expecting to win her.

• Orlando resolves to confess Edith's murder and accept the consequences rather than benefit from his invention's success, and discloses both killings to Challoner.

  • Orlando recognizes the ruin caused by his confession, anticipates public disgrace, and seeks Oswald's forgiveness to strengthen him for tomorrow; his implied intention to die leaves his acceptance of further consequences uncertain.
  • The confession reaches Sweetwater, but Orlando's disappearance and solitary flight prevent any established submission to the consequences of his crimes.

• Challoner's rejection of Orlando becomes bitter condemnation when Orlando admits killing another woman as an experiment.

• Orlando requests that he remain undisturbed until tomorrow to settle his remaining affairs; no explicit agreement is established.

  • Orlando specifies overnight letters and other unfinished business, leaves the room, and directs the gathered onlookers to disperse, though no agreement to leave him undisturbed is established.

• After overhearing part of Orlando's confession, Oswald attacks his brother and declares that he will personally exact retribution.

  • Oswald's physical struggle and renewed vow of retribution give way to despair, compassion, and forgiveness.

• Oswald forgives Orlando, and the brothers reconcile despite Oswald's knowledge of his guilt.

• Orlando announces that he will spend the night writing letters and doing other unspecified things; his subsequent invitation to Oswald implies an intention to die.

  • Orlando interprets Challoner's monitoring as a precaution against his taking his own life, then leaves and proceeds onto the country road. His departure advances his undisclosed course of action, but does not establish that he intends to die.
  • Orlando disappears with the airship and flies alone despite being unable to descend alone; his subsequent fall strengthens the implication of a fatal intention, although his death is not established.

• Oswald seeks to prevent Orlando from leaving in a state that makes him fear his brother intends to die, but collapses before he can stop him.

  • Challoner monitors Orlando, which Orlando interprets as watching on Oswald's behalf. Once Challoner is satisfied that all is well and stops his rounds, Orlando leaves, frustrating the effort to keep him from departing.
  • Oswald remains weak and learns Orlando is already airborne beyond intervention; Orlando falls, and Oswald breaks down in grief.

• Sweetwater plans to submit his explanation of the murders to Challoner and possibly test it with a chemist's help; he communicates the explanation, which Challoner recognizes as accurate.

• Sweetwater and Challoner undertake an immediate search of the hangar without witnesses to locate the missing Orlando.

Places

Broadway, Clermont, New York, Denver, Nashville, The Clarendon, Avenue A tenement, The Berkshires, Lenox, Hicks Street, Fulton Street, Fourth Avenue, Henry Street, Greylock Mountain, The Works, Scott cottage