The Woman in White

Walter Hartright tried to help a distressed woman find her way into London, but the incident has left him with nagging doubts.

1873

Introduction

Walter Hartright has gone for a walk, daydreaming about his promised new job as drawing master to the Fairlie family in Limmeridge, Cumberland. His reverie was broken by a young woman in evident distress asking the way into London, whom he saw off in a cab; but her restless manner, her peculiar questions, and the astounding coincidence that she had once lived in Limmeridge, have all left him uneasy.

AT one moment, I found myself doubting the reality of my own adventure; at another, I was perplexed and distressed by an uneasy sense of having done wrong —, which yet left me confusedly ignorant of how I could have done right. I hardly knew where I was going, or what I meant to do next; I was conscious of nothing but the confusion of my own thoughts, when I was abruptly recalled to myself — awakened I might almost say - by the sound of rapidly approaching wheels close behind me.

I was on the dark side of the road, in the thick shadow of some garden trees, when I stopped to look round. On the opposite, and lighter side of the way, a short distance below me, a policeman was strolling along in the direction of the Regent’s Park.

The carriage passed me — an open chaise driven by two men.

‘Stop!’ cried one. ‘There’s a policeman. Let’s ask him.’

Précis
Walter Hartright is in some inner turmoil. He has helped a stranger, an evidently distressed woman, find her way to London but the encounter has left him wondering if he should have handled things differently. As he is debating, he sees a carriage stop, and hears the two men driving it hail a policeman.
Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

A woman accosted Walter Hartright. She asked the way to London. He found a cab for her.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IOblige. IIStop. IIITell.