The Garies and Their Friends

Miss Ada Bell greets Clarence at the train station in Sudbury. He is unwell. They go to her house. He tells Miss Bell that he doesn’t see his sister, Emily, very often because he has to pretend to be a white man. Then, he tells Miss Bell that he is engaged to a Miss “Birdie” Bates but that he has not yet had the courage to tell his fiancée that he is half Black for fear of rejection. He also reports that his sister is engaged to a Black man. Miss Bell advises Clarence to tell Birdie his secret before the marriage.

Two days later, Clarence goes to see Birdie in New York. He is on the verge of telling her about his parentage when she reads him a story from the New Orleans Watchman about a white man who married a woman who is one-fourth Black and was therefore ostracized. Birdie wonders aloud, “How could he love her? […] Love a coloured woman!” (331). Hearing this, Clarence does not tell her his secret and leaves abruptly.

At Mr. Walters’s home, Esther, now Esther Walters, is caring for her two daughters. Emily Garie comes in and shows Esther a letter she has written to her brother, Clarence, in which she expresses how sorry she is for his rejection of her. Charlie comes in. Emily, Charlie, and Esther discuss when Emily and Charlie will be married. Two weeks later, the Ellis and Walters family, joined by Kinch, have dinner and discuss the wedding plans. Kinch will be the best man and Caddy the bridesmaid. It comes out at the dinner that Kinch is engaged to Caddy Ellis. Over the years, Kinch has become very comfortably wealthy after the sale of his father’s property.

Birdie and Clarence make wedding preparations. One day, Clarence, Birdie, and Birdie’s bridesmaid Miss Ellstowe are spending time together when the arrival of a visitor, Mr. George Stevens, Jr., is announced. George immediately recognizes Clarence. Clarence faints and bleeds from the mouth. The doctor is called, and he diagnoses Clarence with the rupture of “a minor blood-vessel.” Clarence is taken back to his hotel. When Miss Ellstowe and George are alone, George tells Miss Ellstowe that Clarence is Black. He then informs Mr. Bates of the secret, and Mr. Bates is incensed. George and Mr. Bates go to Clarence’s hotel and tell Clarence that he is never to see Birdie ever again. Clarence is devastated and spends the night reading Birdie’s letters.

Some time later, George goes to his father’s apartment in New York around midnight. He is very drunk. He tells Mr. Stevens and Lizzy that he had seen Clarence at the hotel bar and told Clarence’s friends that Clarence is Black.

The next day, Lizzy goes to McCloskey’s home in Philadelphia. A woman there tells her that McCloskey is sick in the hospital with typhus and may soon die. She says that in his feverish state, “he used to rave a great deal about two orphans and a will” (362). Lizzie goes to the hospital to see McCloskey, but it is after visiting hours and she cannot. The next morning, she goes to the hospital and learns that McCloskey died after talking to a minister and a magistrate. She realizes that McCloskey must have made a deathbed confession to his role in Mr. Garie’s murder. She hastens home to her father, but it is too late. She finds him dead on the sidewalk, having jumped off the balcony after a detective attempted to serve him an arrest warrant.

The evening that Lizzie goes to Philadelphia is the same night Emily and Charlie get married at Mr. Walters’s house. Caddy is vigilant about the preparations. Kinch is vigilant about his outfit. Emily and Charlie are married, and there is a wedding feast. During the celebration, a servant arrives with a message for Father Banks that there is a man in the hospital who wishes to make a deathbed confession. Mr. Balch, the lawyer, is also pressed to go.

Father Banks and Mr. Balch take McCloskey’s confession about Mr. Garie’s murder. McCloskey also gives them Mr. Garie’s missing will. Mr. Balch then informs the police, and a warrant is issued for Mr. Stevens’s arrest.

Mr. Balch ensures that Clarence and Emily get their rightful inheritance. Clarence, however, is very desperate and lonely after his white friends reject him for being Black. He is also very sick. He goes abroad for his health, but it does not help. Eventually, he writes to Emily and asks if he can stay with her to die. Charlie meets Clarence in New York. They stay at a friend of Charlie’s house for a few days until Clarence has enough strength to go to Philadelphia. While there, Clarence insists on going to the Bates residence so that he can get a final glimpse of Birdie, which he finally does.

They arrive in Philadelphia, and Clarence’s prognosis is not good. Clarence writes to Birdie to let her know that he is dying. When Birdie receives the letter, she immediately sets off to see him after admonishing her father for breaking up their engagement. Emily welcomes Birdie and Mr. Bates at her home, but when they go into Clarence’s room to inform him of his visitors, they find that he is already dead.

Miss Ada Bell, the schoolteacher, continues to be welcoming of Black students at her school. Mr. Walters and Emily have another child, a son, who they name Charlie. Kinch and Caddy are married and have a daughter. Charlie and Emily spend some time traveling Europe and then settle in Philadelphia, where they live the rest of their days with Charlie’s parents.