Chapter I: Front Matter

POOR MISS FINCH

by

Wilkie Collins

TO MRS. ELLIOT,

(OF THE DEANERY, BRISTOL).

WILL YOU honor me by accepting the Dedication of this book, in remembrance of an uninterrupted friendship of many years?

More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, has preceded "Poor Miss Finch." But, so far as I know, blindness in these cases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the ideal and the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to appeal to an interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really is. I have carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution of this purpose from competent authorities of all sorts. Whenever "Lucilla" acts or speaks in these pages, with reference to her blindness, she is doing or saying what persons afflicted as she is have done or said before her. Of the other features which I have added to produce and sustain interest in this central personage of my story, it does not become me to speak. It is for my readers to say if "Lucilla" has found her way to their sympathies. In this character, and more especially again in the characters of "Nugent Dubourg" and "Madame Pratolungo," I have tried to present human nature in its inherent inconsistencies and self-contradictions--in its intricate mixture of good and evil, of great and small--as I see it in the world about me. But the faculty of observing character is so rare, the curiously mistaken tendency to look for logical consistency in human motives and human actions is so general, that I may possibly find the execution of this part of my task misunderstood--sometimes even resented--in certain quarters. However, Time has stood my friend in relation to other characters of mine in other books--and who can say that Time may not help me again here? Perhaps, one of these days, I may be able to make use of some of the many interesting stories of events that have really happened, which have been placed in my hands by persons who could speak as witnesses to the truth of the narrative. Thus far, I have not ventured to disturb the repose of these manuscripts in the locked drawer allotted to them. The true incidents are so "far-fetched"; and the conduct of the real people is so "grossly improbable"!

As for the object which I have had in view in writing this story, it is, I hope, plain enough to speak for itself. I subscribe to the article of belief which declares, that the conditions of human happiness are independent of bodily affliction, and that it is even possible for bodily affliction itself to take its place among the ingredients of happiness. These are the views which "Poor Miss Finch" is intended to advocate--and this is the impression which I hope to leave on the mind of the reader when the book is closed.

W. C.

January 16th, 1872.

NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

IN expressing my acknowledgments for the favorable reception accorded to the previous editions of this story, I may take the present opportunity of adverting to one of the characters, not alluded to in the Letter of Dedication. The German oculist--"Herr Grosse"--has impressed himself so strongly as a real personage on the minds of some of my readers afflicted with blindness, or suffering from diseases of the eye, that I have received several written applications requesting me to communicate his present address to patients desirous of consulting him! Sincerely appreciating the testimony thus rendered to the truth of this little study of character, I have been obliged to acknowledge to my correspondents--and I may as well repeat it here--that Herr Grosse has no (individual) living prototype. Like the other Persons of the Drama, in this book and in the books which have preceded it, he is drawn from my general observation of humanity. I have always considered it to be a mistake in Art to limit the delineation of character in fiction to a literary portrait taken from any one "sitter." The result of this process is generally (to my mind) to produce a caricature instead of a character.

November 27th, 1872

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

FIRST Madame Pratolungo presents Herself SECOND Madame Pratolungo makes a Voyage on Land THIRD Poor Miss Finch FOURTH Twilight View of the Man FIFTH Candlelight View of the Man SIXTH A Cage of Finches SEVENTH Daylight View of the Man EIGHTH The Perjury of the Clock NINTH The Hero of the Trial TENTH First Appearance of Jicks ELEVENTH Blind Love TWELFTH Mr. Finch smells Money THIRTEENTH Second Appearance of Jicks FOURTEENTH Discoveries at Browndown FIFTEENTH Events at the Bedside SIXTEENTH First Result of the Robbery SEVENTEENTH The Doctor's Opinion EIGHTEENTH Family Troubles NINETEENTH Second Result of the Robbery TWENTIETH Good Papa again! TWENTY-FIRST Madame Pratolungo Returns to Dimchurch TWENTY-SECOND The Twin-Brother's Letter TWENTY-THIRD He sets us All Right TWENTY-FOURTH He sees Lucilla TWENTY-FIFTH Nugent puzzles Madame Pratolungo TWENTY-SIXTH He proves Equal to the Occasion TWENTY-SEVENTH He finds a Way out of it TWENTY-EIGHTH He crosses the Rubicon TWENTY-NINTH Parliamentary Summary THIRTIETH Herr Grosse THIRTY-FIRST "Who Shall Decide when Doctors disagree?" THIRTY-SECOND Alas for the Marriage! THIRTY-THIRD The Day Between THIRTY-FOURTH Nugent shows his Hand THIRTY-FIFTH Lucilla tries her Sight THIRTY-SIXTH The Brothers Meet THIRTY-SEVENTH The Brothers change Places THIRTY-EIGHTH Is there no Excuse for Him? THIRTY-NINTH She Learns to See FORTIETH Traces of Nugent FORTY-FIRST A Hard Time for Madame Pratolungo FORTY-SECOND The Story of Lucilla: told by Herself FORTY-THIRD Lucilla's Journal, continued FORTY-FOURTH Lucilla's Journal, continued FORTY-FIFTH Lucilla's Journal, concluded FORTY-SIXTH The Italian Steamer FORTY-SEVENTH On the Way to the End. First Stage FORTY-EIGHTH On the Way to the End. Second Stage FORTY-NINTH On the Way to the End. Third Stage FIFTIETH The End of the Journey EPILOGUE Madame Pratolungo's Last Words

POOR MISS FINCH