The Lesson of the Master by Henry James (Illustrated)

By Henry James

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Lesson of the Master’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Henry James’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of James includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

eBook features:
* The complete unabridged text of ‘The Lesson of the Master’
* Beautifully illustrated with images related to James’s works
* Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook
* Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786569851

Henry James

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and non-fiction. He spent most of his life in Europe, and much of his work regards the interactions and complexities between American and European characters. Among his works in this vein are The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), and The Ambassadors (1903). Through his influence, James ushered in the era of American realism in literature. In his lifetime he wrote 12 plays, 112 short stories, 20 novels, and many travel and critical works. He was nominated three times for the Noble Prize in Literature.

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The Complete Works of

HENRY JAMES

VOLUME 27 OF 65

The Lesson of the Master

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2016

Version 10

COPYRIGHT

‘The Lesson of the Master’

Henry James: Parts Edition (in 65 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 985 1

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

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www.delphiclassics.com

Henry James: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 27 of the Delphi Classics edition of Henry James in 65 Parts. It features the unabridged text of The Lesson of the Master from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Henry James, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Henry James or the Complete Works of Henry James in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

HENRY JAMES

IN 65 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Novels

1, Watch and Ward

2, Roderick Hudson

3, The American

4, The Europeans

5, Confidence

6, Washington Square

7, The Portrait of a Lady

8, The Bostonians

9, The Princess Casamassima

10, The Reverberator

11, The Tragic Muse

12, The Other House

13, The Spoils of Poynton

14, What Maisie Knew

15, The Awkward Age

16, The Sacred Fount

17, The Wings of the Dove

18, The Ambassadors

19, The Golden Bowl

20, The Outcry

21, The Whole Family

22, The Ivory Tower

23, The Sense of the Past

The Novellas

24, Daisy Miller

25, The Aspern Papers

26, A London Life

27, The Lesson of the Master

28, The Turn of the Screw

29, In the Cage

30, The Beast in the Jungle

The Tales

31, The Complete Tales

The Plays

32, Pyramus and Thisbe

33, Still Waters

34, A Change of Heart

35, Daisy Miller

36, Tenants

37, Disengaged

38, The Album

39, The Reprobate

40, Guy Domville

41, Summersoft

42, The High Bid

43, The Outcry

The Travel Writing

44, Transatlantic Sketches

45, Portraits of Places

46, A Little Tour in France

47, English Hours

48, The American Scene

49, Italian Hours

The Non-Fiction

50, French Novelists and Poets

51, Hawthorne

52, Partial Portraits

53, Essays in London and Elsewhere

54, Picture and Text

55, William Wetmore Story and His Friends

56, Views and Reviews

57, Notes on Novelists

58, Within the Rim and Other Essays

59, Notes and Reviews

60, The Art of the Novel

The Letters

61, The Letters of Henry James

The Autobiographies

62, A Small Boy and Others

63, Notes of a Son and Brother

64, The Middle Years

The Criticism

65, The Criticism

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The Lesson of the Master

CONTENTS

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

I

He had been told the ladies were at church, but this was corrected by what he saw from the top of the steps — they descended from a great height in two arms, with a circular sweep of the most charming effect — at the threshold of the door which, from the long bright gallery, overlooked the immense lawn.  Three gentlemen, on the grass, at a distance, sat under the great trees, while the fourth figure showed a crimson dress that told as a bit of colour amid the fresh rich green.  The servant had so far accompanied Paul Overt as to introduce him to this view, after asking him if he wished first to go to his room.  The young man declined that privilege, conscious of no disrepair from so short and easy a journey and always liking to take at once a general perceptive possession of a new scene.  He stood there a little with his eyes on the group and on the admirable picture, the wide grounds of an old country-house near London — that only made it better — on a splendid Sunday in June.  "But that lady, who’s she?" he said to the servant before the man left him.

I think she’s Mrs. St. George, sir.

Mrs. St. George, the wife of the distinguished—  Then Paul Overt checked himself, doubting if a footman would know.

Yes, sir — probably, sir, said his guide, who appeared to wish to intimate that a person staying at Summersoft would naturally be, if only by alliance, distinguished.  His tone, however, made poor Overt himself feel for the moment scantly so.

And the gentlemen? Overt went on.

Well, sir, one of them’s General Fancourt.

Ah yes, I know; thank you.  General Fancourt was distinguished, there was no doubt of that, for something he had done, or perhaps even hadn’t done — the young man couldn’t remember which — some years before in India.  The servant went away, leaving the glass doors open into the gallery, and Paul Overt remained at the head of the wide double staircase, saying to himself that the place was sweet and promised a pleasant visit, while he leaned on the balustrade of fine old ironwork which, like all the other details, was of the same period as the house.  It all went together and spoke in one voice — a rich English voice of the early part of the eighteenth century.  It might have been church-time on a summer’s day in the reign of Queen Anne; the stillness was too perfect to be modern, the nearness counted so as distance, and there was something so fresh and sound in the originality of the large smooth house, the expanse of beautiful brickwork that showed for pink rather than red and that had been kept clear of messy creepers by the law under which a woman with a rare complexion disdains a veil.  When Paul Overt became aware that the people under the trees had noticed him he turned back through the open doors into the great gallery which was the pride of the place.  It marched across from end to end and seemed — with its bright colours, its high panelled windows, its faded flowered chintzes, its quickly-recognised portraits and pictures, the blue-and-white china of its cabinets and the attenuated festoons and rosettes of its ceiling — a cheerful upholstered avenue into the other century.

Our friend was slightly nervous; that went with his character as a student of fine prose, went with the artist’s general disposition to vibrate; and there was a particular thrill in the idea that Henry St. George might be a member of the party.  For the young aspirant he had remained a high literary figure, in spite of the lower range of production to which he had fallen after his first three great successes, the comparative absence of quality in his later work.  There had been moments when Paul Overt almost shed tears for this; but now that he was near him — he had never met him — he was conscious only of the fine original source and of his own immense debt.  After he had taken a turn or two up and down the gallery he came out again and descended the steps.  He was but slenderly supplied with a certain social boldness — it was really a weakness in him — so that, conscious of a want of acquaintance with the four persons in the distance, he gave way to motions recommended by their not