“Old” Mrs. Ashby

Mrs. Ashby is Kenneth Ashby’s mother and therefore – logically – Elsie’s and Charlotte’s mother-in-law. She is a “firm-fleshed, clear-eyed” lady that never hesitates to utter her opinion in a direct way – if necessary even “with an astringent bluntness”. She is described as woman that radiates “cordiality, amusement [and] a kindly sympathy”. Mrs. Ashby has really accepted Charlotte right from the beginning. The two women have a noticeably good relationship, which in human history has never been a given between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. One may speculate that their relationship is so good because Mrs. Ashby noticed that Charlotte does her Kenneth a world of good and that he thrives in Charlotte's presence. It seems as if Charlotte considers her mother-in-law almost as a friend. After the quarrel with Kenneth, Charlotte’s first impulse is to call Mrs. Ashby in order to calm the waves. Also, when Kenneth does not come home, she first calls and then goes to Mrs. Ashby, not only because Kenneth could be there but also because Charlotte feels that there is “something warm and substantial in the mere fact of Mr. Ashby’s nearness”.

Charlotte is therefore alarmed when she notices that Mrs. Ashby’s lineaments deflate as she reads the mysterious letter – she has never seen it before in Mrs. Ashby. Although Mrs. Ashby tries to conceal that she realized the writing on the letter is Elsie’s, it occurs to Charlotte quite quickly – she gains final certainty when Mrs. Ashby looks at the wall where the portrait of Elsie hangs. Without Mrs. Ashby, Charlotte would probably never know that it is in fact Elsie is in fact the sender of the grey letters.

Key phrases:

- She is Kenneth Ashby’s mother

- She is a very straightforward person who never hesitates to say the unvarnished truth

- She has had rapport with her daughter-in-law Charlotte right from the start

- She is the one who clearly recognizes that the handwriting of the grey letters is Elsie’s although she refuses to believe it and at first tries to conceal it from Charlotte