The Face Called Forgiveness by Adeline Adams
At an artist's dinner given by sculptor Steven Grant in honor of his nephew Gerald Weldon, newly awarded the same Gold Medal for Sculpture Steven won twenty years earlier, the two men retire afterward to Steven's den. There Gerald notices a tinted plaster cast of a beautiful head, one he first saw the day before at a Museum, where he learned from several strangers—a German cabinet-maker, an Italian girl, a French painter, and an American art student—that it was called Forgiveness, each of them likening it to a different beloved image of their own tradition (the Nuremberg Virgin, the Perugia Madonna, the Virgin of the Visitation, an American type). Steven reveals he owns a copy of the same cast. Reminiscing, Gerald mentions how he could never bring himself to make a death-mask of his own father, and Steven admits he made only one death-mask in his life. He then recounts his youth: he introduced his best friend, Franklin Janvier, to Anita Vaughn, the girl he himself loved, and the two married. Steven remained close to the couple. Janvier, a doctor devoted to justice and charitable work among Black patients, employed Charles Richmond, a gifted young surgeon of mixed blood who suffered violent emotional crises ("cyclones of the soul") from the pain of not being accepted as white despite his light eyes and appearance. Anita, raised on a Louisiana plantation, could detect Richmond's mixed ancestry in subtle physical traits invisible to Northerners, and though not unkind, her manner sometimes wounded him. While Janvier was called away to his dying mother, Richmond shot himself at the Janvier house after a violent episode involving Anita, witnessed partially by the old nurse Loretta. Anita's mind gave way from the shock. Doctors hoped a coming child might restore her. Months later, both Anita and the newborn child died. Janvier summoned Steven to help make a death mask of Anita, but was called away himself to save the dying child of Steven's assistant Giuseppe, leaving Steven alone to make the mould despite his dread. Afterward, uncovering the infant's face, Steven discovered it clearly showed Black ancestry—confirming that Richmond had fathered the child, explaining Anita's madness and Richmond's suicide. Steven never told Janvier what he saw, moved by Janvier's own selfless grief and devotion to saving Giuseppe's son. Steven kept his cast of Anita's face, originally inscribed with a Fitzgerald/Omar Khayyám quatrain about mutual forgiveness, which he later filed away, deciding to let the cast's beauty speak without words. Decades later, after the Armistice, he had copies made and sent to three art schools, unaware any trace of the word "Forgiveness" remained detectable, yet visitors at the Museum still sensed and named that meaning in the face. Gerald asks whether Steven ever truly forgave; Steven deflects with a joke, then the conversation turns back to Gerald's own present happiness with his fiancée, Anita, while Steven reflects silently on the many strangers at the Museum who found in the face not death, but life.
By Adeline Adams · Genre: Literary Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Tragic Romance · 7,571 words
First lines
The little dinner was a masterpiece. From hail to farewell, there had been no falling-off in quality; the crystal chalices of liquid topaz that heralded the feast (or shall I say plainly, the cocktail-glasses? ) were not more graciously cut than the quips of the final speech of congratulation. Guests, viands, vintages, and starry flowers had been chosen by the law of hospitality wedded to the spirit of beauty. The purse they had between them was not unduly large, but it had been joyously and wisely spent.
What this Textopian page supports
The Face Called Forgiveness is listed on Textopian as a short story by Adeline Adams, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Adeline Adams
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Tragic Romance, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction
- Length: 7,571 words
- Structure: 1 section, 101 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Face Called Forgiveness by Adeline Adams
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Literary Fiction — The work is characterized by ornate, sophisticated prose; focus on psychological and thematic depth over plot mechanics; introspective narrative style examining human consciousness and moral complexity rather than external action.
- Philosophical Fiction — The entire narrative centers on abstract moral and philosophical questions about forgiveness, justice, the nature of beauty, and redemption; characters engage in deep ethical meditation about their choices and suffering.
- Tragic Romance — The core narrative is a tragic love triangle: the narrator's unrequited love for Anita, her marriage to his friend Janvier, and the catastrophic consequences including assault, suicide, mental illness, and death in childbirth.
- Historical Fiction — Set in early 20th century New York with specific period details (references to Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyám, McKim Mead and White architecture, art schools); engages with era-specific attitudes toward race, class, and social hierarchies.
Tags
forgiveness · sculpture · death mask · New York · unrequited love · racial prejudice · grief · social injustice · secrets · sacrifice · redemption · mental illness