to note here that the Hebrew word ‘eythan, or ethan, means permanent, or enduring; there are several Old Testament Ethans.

12 (p. 87-93) They had reached the top of School House Hill.... There was a last instant when the air shot past him like millions of fiery wires; and then the elm: In the novel, the name of the sledding hill—School House Hill—is symbolic. The sledding accident described here may be traced to a real-life event: In March 1904, five teenagers from Lenox High School had been involved in a disastrous sledding accident in which their sled crashed into a lamppost at the bottom of the hill. One of the teenagers died; three suffered serious injuries and, in one case, permanent lameness.

“The Pretext”

1 (p. 101) The Pretext: “The Pretext” appeared in Scribner’s Magazine (August 1908) before being collected in The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories (1908). Note 10 below gives more about the genesis of the story (the information is provided later to avoid giving away key elements of the plot).

2 (p. 103) every old-fashioned house in Wentworth: The old-fashioned houses, the area’s venerable and inward-turning traditions, and self-conscious “tone” of this college setting seem to suggest a town like Amherst or Williamstown, Massachusetts.

3 (p. 107) to be accused of looking “New Yorky!”: Wharton here has some good fun by contrasting conservative New England tastes in demeanor and dress with those of the New Yorker, Miss Brant. The contrasting values of the two areas are suggested by the title of a chapter in Wharton’s autobiography, A Backward Glance, “New York and the Mount,” in which she noted: “It was not until I went to Boston on my marriage that I found myself in a community of wealthy and sedentary people seemingly too lacking in intellectual curiosity to have any desire to see the world. I have always been perplexed by the incuriosity of New England with regard to the rest of the world” (pp. 61-62).

4 (p. 108) In a world without traditions ... such little expiring centres of prejudice and precedent make an irresistible appeal to those instincts for which a democracy has neglected to provide: Although Wharton pokes gentle fun at tradition-bound Wentworth, she notes in A Backward Glance that the values and precedents of her parents’ generation—education, good manners, integrity in private and business affairs—faced challenges in the more open, democratic society that her generation confronted. In parts of “The Pretext,” Mrs. Ransom seems to reflect Wharton’s views.

5 (p. 111) Some one in the family had “asked for the Chiltern Hundreds”: “Hundred” was a term used to describe a division of an English county, in this case of the Chiltern Hills, a large chalk escarpment in southern England, most prominent in the county of Buckinghamshire. Because members of Parliament were not allowed to resign their seat, those wishing to resign applied for one of several paid positions under the British Crown that would disqual ifv them from serving. Two such positions were Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Burnham and of the Manor of Northstead.

6 (p. 111) Elder Brother of the Trinity House: Trinity House (formed as the Trinity House Corporation in 1514) performs several functions: It is the general light-house authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands, and Gibraltar; a deep-sea pilotage authority; and a charitable organization for the safety, welfare, and training of mariners. The Corporation is led by a Court of Elder Brethren under the Master (the duke of Edinburgh).

7 (p. 111) some one was in command at Devonport: Devonport, in southwestern England, was the dockyard for the Royal Navy; its origins date back to 1691. In outlining the political, military, naval, and educational connections of the Dawnish family, Wharton emphasizes the young man’s social pedigree, carrying a host of associations that contrast with “the Ransom situation at Wentworth,” which was as “featureless as the top-shelf of a dark closet” (pp. 110-111).

8 (p. 114) the Library cupola assumed a Bramantesque grace: Donato Bramante (1444-1514) was an influential Italian architect and painter whose buildings in Rome are considered the most characteristic examples of High Renaissance architectural style. His early work was picturesque and decorative; his later work had Gothic touches.

9 (p. 126) “The longitudinal arches of Lincoln have an approximately elliptical form”: The Lincoln Cathedral, in Lincolnshire, England, was built in 1092 and, after a damaging fire and then an earthquake, reconstructed beginning in 1192. Rebuilt in the Gothic style, the cathedral, with its pointed arches and ribbed