Kenneth Ashby

Before Kenneth Ashby, a hard-working lawyer in New York, married Charlotte a year ago, he had been a heartbroken widower after losing his first wife Elsie three years ago.

He seemed to be quite happy with Elsie at first sight, he “never looked at another woman since he first saw Elsie”, although “Elsie Ashby absolutely dominated him”; maybe this is the predominant reason why he was “more like an unhappy lover than a comfortably content husband.” Nevertheless, friends are convinced that he would have committed suicide if had not had his “absorbing professional interests” after Elsie’s death. There are quite a few hints that he apparently fell into limbo after the bereavement - getting married to Charlotte two years after was a visible turn of fortune for him. To Charlotte, he shows a “constant devotion”, a “persistent, almost too insistent tenderness”. Kenneth allows Charlotte to change the interior design of their house in an almost submissive way when she moves in; he totally stays out it with one exception: he arranges – in Charlotte’s absence and unbeknown to her – for the portrait of his late wife Elsie to be moved out of the library, the place where the couple spends most of their quality time together, in a manner of preemptive obedience.

The overall impression of Kenneth is that he is a facile, easy to handle husband whose character is “perfectly simple and natural”. We really get the impression that he loves Charlotte and is very glad he has Charlotte at his side, fulfilling his hope that the future holds “new gifts for him”.

All the more surprising that he tries to keep the sender and the content of the letters a secret from Charlotte with might and main. The fact that he looks “years older, […] emptied of life and courage” after reading the grey letters leads to queerness on his side, i.e. he behaves as if he was far away from life and Charlotte and he begins – contradictory to his usual grateful, almost obedient behavior – to criticize Charlotte’s way of housekeeping. Furthermore, he appears “troubled and unhappy, oppressed by some grief of fear” but always recovers within hours. Despite all grief, fear and translation, Kenneth appreciates the letters because he kisses at least one of them.

When Charlotte finally confronts him, he shows neither hostility [nor] impatience” but he gives the impression that he wants “to fight out this battle alone”; at the same time it is obvious that his efforts of keeping the secret from Charlotte take a toll on him. One is drawn to the conclusion that someone or something forces him to conceal the main facts about the letters. Only after a great deal of coaxing he finally agrees exhaustedly to go on a vacation with Charlotte.

It becomes more and more clear that Kenneth is torn between two women. His first wife Elsie on the one hand, his second wife Charlotte on the other hand; evidently it is impossible to stay in between, i.e. to strike a balance. He finally decides to follow Elsie in her world, but not before he promises Charlotte to go on vacation with her and in doing so he tries to suit both women – or at least pretends to do so up to the very last moment.

Key phrases:

- He is a lawyer in New York City

- The loss of his first wife Elsie created a grave crisis for him

- Charlotte, his second wife, strongly helped him to get out of this crisis

- He seems to be devoted to Charlotte and complies with her every wish

- His character is quite simple and easy to handle for Charlotte

- His manner completely changes to the opposite when he reads the mysterious grey letters: he becomes reticent, grumbly and seems to distance himself from Charlotte

- Despite Charlotte’s tenacious questioning, he remains silent on the letters and the writer

- It becomes more and more clear that he is torn between two women and two different worlds and that he is forced to finalize a momentous decision