The Reaping

The Reaping by Mary Imlay Taylor

Set in Washington, D.C. during a congressional session, the narrative centers on William Fox, a brilliant but careless congressman regarded as a potential future president. Admired for his eloquence and feared for his biting wit, Fox moves through political and social circles with the confident ease of a man long accustomed to the world's admiration. Fox is entangled in a long-standing emotional attachment to Margaret White, a woman he loved in his youth who chose instead to marry Wicklow White, a wealthy but coarse man now appointed Secretary of the Navy. Margaret is beautiful, reckless, and profoundly unhappy, trapped in a loveless and humiliating marriage. She dances provocatively at social gatherings, trades savage witticisms with enemies, and performs acts of deliberate provocation against her husband's political ambitions. Beneath her defiant gaiety, she is consumed by misery and clings to the belief that Fox still loves her, that his continued presence in her life confirms an unspoken devotion. Fox's cousin, Robert Allestree, is a portrait painter of genuine talent. He is deeply and quietly in love with Rose Temple, the daughter of Judge Temple, a man of stern Presbyterian morality. Rose is young, spiritually radiant, and possessed of an extraordinary singing voice. Allestree paints her portrait with the reverence of a man who understands he is depicting something beyond his power to fully capture. When Fox accompanies Allestree and encounters Rose, a mutual attraction develops between them, one full of intellectual sparring, moral challenge, and deepening emotional warmth. Rose admires Fox's genius while reproaching him for his party allegiances and his willingness to compromise his convictions. Fox finds in her a purity and directness entirely unlike the worldly sophistication he has long inhabited. Mrs. Allestree, Robert's mother, is a shrewd and observant older woman who perceives the danger Fox poses to her son's happiness. She hopes that Fox's ties to Margaret will keep him occupied and that Rose will eventually turn to Robert. Her plan is undermined by Fox's growing fascination with Rose and by Margaret's increasingly desperate need to be free. Lily Osborne, a beautiful divorcée of questionable reputation and suspected foreign entanglements, is involved with Secretary White, further degrading Margaret's domestic situation and offering Margaret additional grievances to nurse. White's public infatuation with Mrs. Osborne and his crude treatment of Margaret at home erode whatever remains of their marriage. Margaret eventually confesses her love to Fox in a scene of raw emotional collapse, revealing that she intends to seek a divorce and implying that she expects him to marry her once she is free. Fox, hearing this confession, undergoes a painful crisis. He recognizes that his careless visits to her house, his acceptance of her hospitality, and his failure to clearly disengage from her have created a moral obligation he cannot in good conscience ignore. He accepts the situation with bitter reluctance, concluding that whatever role he has played in Margaret's suffering binds him to stand by her when the scandal erupts. This silent decision poisons his remaining encounters with Rose. She reads the change in him clearly, though without full understanding of its cause. Gertrude English, Margaret's secretary and a candid, warm-hearted young woman of limited means, unwittingly informs Rose of Margaret's divorce plans and of the expectation that Fox will marry her afterward. The effect on Rose is devastating, though she conceals it with the fierce pride inherited from her father. Judge Temple, meanwhile, faces financial ruin through unwise investments and misplaced trust. Rose is unaware of the extent of his troubles but senses his preoccupation. The portrait Allestree painted of Rose becomes a point of delicate negotiation when the judge attempts to pay for it, and Mrs. Allestree intervenes to prevent what would wound her son. Margaret departs for Omaha to obtain her divorce, leaving behind her children without apparent distress. Mrs. Allestree visits her before her departure in an act of genuine affection and futile moral appeal, finding Margaret resolved, burning with the desire for freedom, and beyond persuasion. Rose is left confronting the wreckage of her first love with no recourse but endurance. She refuses to judge Fox openly, struggles with her desire to excuse him, and finds that her father's severe moral framework offers clarity but not comfort. She has learned grief and self-concealment in rapid succession. Allestree, confessing his love directly, receives a gentle but unambiguous refusal, leaving him with little hope. The central irony of the narrative is that each principal character pursues happiness and achieves its opposite. Fox, acting from a reluctant sense of honor, sacrifices the love that might have redeemed him. Margaret, in her passionate drive to be free, moves toward a union that Fox has already surrendered to out of duty rather than love. Rose reaps grief from an attachment she neither sought nor could prevent. And Allestree, the steadiest and most devoted of them all, is left to watch from the margins of a drama in which his faithfulness counts for nothing.

By Mary Imlay Taylor · First published 2008 · Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Young Adult Fiction · 29 chapters · 79,844 words

First lines

"WILLIAM FOX? He's the most brilliant man they've got, but a two-edged sword; they're all afraid of him!"

The speaker had just left the swinging doors at the foot of the staircase from the Rotunda, under the old Library rooms in the west front of the Capitol, and his companion, who was also a member, was working himself slowly into his greatcoat.

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Genres

Tags

historical fiction · romance · adventure · drama · historical romance · social conflict · political intrigue · family relationships · love and sacrifice · duty and honor · class differences · war and conflict

Contents

More by Mary Imlay Taylor