Robert Elwell’s visitor-form (Wharton)

Overview

Robert Elwell first enters Mary Boyne’s experience as an unidentified man approaching Lyng, the old Dorsetshire house she shares with her husband Ned. From the roof, she sees a slight, greyish figure in loose clothes; Ned hurries down, but the stranger is no longer there. A later visitor meets Mary in the garden. He is youngish and slightly built, wears a soft felt hat with a broad brim, and speaks with a faintly American intonation. His face is shaded and serious rather than visibly monstrous. Mary tells him that Ned is working and suggests a later call. A caller subsequently enters the library and leaves the house with Ned, who never returns. The kitchen-maid witnesses their departure but cannot supply a name.

Only afterward does the lawyer Parvis explain Elwell’s connection with the Boynes’ prosperity. According to his account, Ned profited in the Blue Star enterprise at Elwell’s expense; Elwell’s unsuccessful legal challenge and financial losses preceded a self-inflicted injury from which he eventually died. A newspaper portrait lets Mary identify the visitor as Elwell, who had died the day before Ned disappeared. She also links the first approach to the earlier attempt on his life, concluding that he had initially been unable to reach them. The ending gives Mary this horrifying interpretation, not an account of where Ned went or what became of him. It fulfils the house’s opening warning that a ghost is recognized only long afterward, without making Elwell a visible corpse or a generic description of every ghost at an English house.

First appearances & development

Edith Wharton’s authored English literary fiction, consulted in Tales of Men and Ghosts with its retained London 1910 title. This is not a collected community tradition or evidence of an actual haunting.

Canon & continuity

The complete selected narrative and ending were read with the collection title and contents. The retained title supplies London and 1910 but no publisher name; no physical copy, original magazine issue or independent print collation was consulted.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Tales of Men and Ghosts — Afterward

   Edith Wharton · 1910

   Retained title: London, 1910. Publisher not stated on this transcription’s title.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary historical literary fictionAfterward — complete original-English narrative and dated collection titleResearch access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

Robert Elwell’s visitor-form (Wharton) — independent literary illustration with reconstructed unspecified details.