HEIRESS OF ALL THE AGES
235
is perfectly in line with the indicated function of the heiress as the
prime consumer of the resources, material and spiritual, of both
the Old and the New World. And though it is not within the power
of even this superior brand of experience to exempt one from suf–
fering, still the risk is well worth taking so long as "the mixture is
of the finest and subtlest."
But in Mary the ferment of experience is as yet more poten–
tial than actual. At this stage James is already sure of his heroine's
integrity and liveliness of imagination, knowing that in this fine
flower of a provincial culture he had gotten hold of an historical
prodigy admirably suited to his purpose as a novelist. He is still
doubtful, however, of her future, uncertain as to the exact condi–
tions of her entry into the "great world" and of the mutual effect
thus created. Dal.sy Miller and Bessie Alden represent his further
experiments with her character. Daisy's social adventures make
for a superb recreation of manners and tones and contrasts and
similitudes. Spontaneity is her principal quality-a quality re–
tained by the heiress through all her mutations and invariably
rendered as beautifully illustrative of the vigor and innocence of
the national spirit. But Daisy is altogether the small-town, the
average American girl; and by virtue of this fact she lays bare
the lowly origin of the heiress in the undifferentiated mass of the
new-world democracy.
Winterboume~
Daisy's admirer and critic,
observes that "she and her mamma have not yet risen to the stage–
what shall I call it?-of culture, at which the idea of catching a
count or a
marchesse
begins." Bessie, on the other hand, seizes
upon this conception only to rise above it. This "Bostonian nymph
who rejects an English duke" combines the primal sincerity of
her forebears with a Jamesian sensitivity to the "momentos and
reverberations of greatness" in the life of ancient aristocracies–
and this amalgam of values proves to be beyond the comprehen–
sion of Lord Lambeth's simple matter-of-fact mind. Bessie's be–
havior was resented, of course, by English readers, just as Daisy's
was resented by American readers. But the so-challenged author,
far from being flustered by the protests that reached him, took it
all in with gloating satisfaction, delighted by the contrast, with
its "dramas upon dramas ... and innumerable points of view,"
thus brought to light. He felt that the emotion of the public vindi–
cated his faith in the theme of the "international situation."
