Other servants (All Souls')

The other servants at Whitegates, the cook, the gardener and the chauffeur, never appear directly in the story. The cook, of course, works in the kitchen, and is also responsible for lighting the fire in the early morning. When Sara Clayburn is investigating on what is going on during the mysterious thirty-six hours, she discovers that “[…] no smoke came from the chimney.”[1] This increases her feeling that something must be wrong because it conveys that the cook did not have time to light the fire and/or is not present. The chauffeur and the gardener live in the garage. When Sara Clayburn wonders where all the servants are, she considers that either the chauffeur or the gardener “[…] had been suddenly taken ill […][2] as a possible reason. Furthermore, the chauffeur is also responsible for the central heating. When Sara discovers that the pipes are cold she is alarmed and concludes that all the servants are involved in the mysterious events. According to the narrator’s suggestion, the other servants could have attended a coven at the midnight hour with Agnes, Prince, Mary and the strange woman.

In conclusion, the other servants are insignificant characters whose purpose is to suggest, by their absence, that something is terribly wrong at Whitegates. This also has the purpose of conveying how much Sara depends on them. Moreover, the other servants help to maintain the fiction of Whitegates being an authentic mansion.

[1] Edith Wharton, “All Souls’,” in: The Demanding Dead – More Stories of Terror and the Supernatural, ed. Peter Haining (London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2007), 192.

[2] Ibid., 193.