| "....Perhaps it is a Philistine vulgarity to rearrange an impressionistic work of art into a chronology of events. But I mean here, like Mr. Jimmy, to make myself 'useful'[58], not beautiful -- to perform a useful task of reconstruction.
Dowell born 1868; Edward born 1870 or 1871; Leonora born 1873; Florence born 1874. (See page [10] where everyone's ages are given at their 1904 meeting in Nauheim.) 1892?: Edward Ashburnham marries Leonora Powys (see page [91]: he didn't marry before the age of 22); Edward is prepared to become a Roman Catholic, but insists that any male offspring be raised Anglican. They live at Bramshaw Teleragh happily for a few years (exactly how many seems unclear; Dowell says that Leonora "could not have been a happier girl for five or six years. For it was only at the end of that time that clouds began, as the saying is, to arise" --page [95]. The 1895 date, however, for the La Dolciquita affair, and the even earlier Kilsyte case, argue that this period of relative connubial bliss was, in fact, shorter. Dowell states on page [41] that the Kilsyte case "came at the very beginning of [Edward's] finding Leonora cold and unsympathetic."). Sometime before 1895, the Kilsyte case: Edward is tried and acquitted for kissing a servant girl on a train. 1895 (this date according to Dowell, page [44], though for some reason Elliot B. Gose claims that this event occurred in 1897): Edward meets La Dolciquita, mistress of a Russian Grand Duke, at Monte Carlo, and has a brief fling with her at Antibes; he goes badly into debt. Shortly thereafter, Leonora takes over the management of the estate. 1896: The Ashburnhams lease out Bramshaw, and go to India. (I compute this date from the fact that, according to Dowell on page [111] they spent "eight years in India," returning in 1904.) Sometime during those eight years, Edward has a love affair with Mrs. Basil; toward teh end of this period, the Ashburnhams meet the Maidans. August 4, 1899: on her birthday, Florence Hurlbird sets out with her uncle and Jimmy on a tour around the world -- "a birthday present to celebrate her coming of age." [57] August 4, 1900: Dowel later conjectures that on this date Florence begins a love affair with Jimmy in Paris ("She yielded to an action that certainly coloured her whole life. [...] She was probably offering herself a birthday present that morning" -- page [57]) and is discovered coming out of Jimmy's bedroom at five in the morning by Bagshawe. [71-72] August 4, 1901: Despite the Hurlbirds' hints that Florence is not chaste, John Dowell marries Florence; they set sail for Europe from America; Florence begins her deception of Dowell, pretending to have a "heart." 1901-1903: Florence conducts her sexual affair with Jimmy in Europe under Dowell's unsuspecting nose; in 1903 she tires of Jimmy. [65] 1904: Edward and Leonora return from India with Maisie Maidan. At Nauheim that summer, Florence witnesses Leonora boxing Maisie's ears; the Ashburnhams become acquainted with the Dowells. Thomas C. Moser and R. W. Lid both discuss Ford's confusion about the exact date of this first meeting. August 4, 1904: The "Protest" scene. On a trip to the town of M--, Florence dramatically guides Edward, Leonora, and Dowell to Luther's "protest," hinting that she and Edward are in the beginning stages of an affair. The four return to Nauheim that evening. Maisie, having overheard a conversation between Edward and Florence, writes Leonora a letter, then dies of a heart attack. 1904-1913: Unbeknownst to Dowell, Edward and Florence have an affair for nine years. For example: in September 4-21, 1904, Edward accompanies Florence and Dowell to Paris; in December 1904 Edward visits them again, and "knocked Mr. Jimmy's teeth down his throat"; in 1905, Edward visits them in Paris three times, once with Leonora; and so on. [69-70] August 4, 1913: At Nauheim, Florence overhears Edward declare his love to his ward, Nancy Rufford, then sees Bagshawe talking to Dowell; Florence commits suicide. Dowell assumes that she died of a heart attack. He expresses his intention to marry Nancy. Soon thereafter, Edward, Nancy, and Leonora return to Branshaw Teleragh (on September 1, 1913, according to page [142]), and Dowell returns to America to settle the financial problems of the Hurlbird estate. At Branshaw, Edward, Leonora, and Nancy live a hellish life together for some time. Edward decides that Nancy is to go to her father in India. He cables Dowell to come and help ease things; Dowell goes to Bramshaw and lives pleasantly with Edward, Leonora and Nancy for "ten peaceful days" (or perhaps a "fortnight." On the day of Nancy's departure, Edward and Dowell drive her to the train station. The above events at Branshaw occur during November and December, though the exact dates are unclear (see Moser and Arthur Mizener on Ford's inconsistencies here). One afternoon, some days later, a telegram arrives from Nancy, saying that she is having a "rattling good time" [162]. Edward commits suicide. One week after Edward's funeral [73], Leonora begins a long conversation with Dowell, in which she "let me into her full confidence" [74]. Dowell learns for the first time of Florence's affair with Edward [73]; he also learns for the first time that Florence committed suicide [74]. The reader is to assume that much of the details of the "Ashburnham tragedy" must, of necessity, have been revealed to Dowell during this conversation. Shortly thereafter, Dowell begins to compose The Good Soldier, and works at it for six months [120], composing all but the last two chapters. Then, Leonora and Dowell receive a letter from Colonel Rufford with the information that Nancy, having learned in Aden of Edward's suicide, has gone mad; he requests Leonora to come and see Nancy. Dowell agrees to go instead. This would be sometime in mid-1914. Eighteen months elapse, during which time Dowell has traveled through Europe, Africa and Asia; has found Nancy and has brought her back to Bramshaw Teleragh. Meanwhile Leonora has married Rodney Bayham, and is pregnant. Dowell buys Bramshaw, and lives there with a witless Nancy. Dowell now finishes writing The Good Soldier. This would be now late 1915 or early 1916 -- a curious computation, since Ford's The Good Soldier itself had already been published on March 17, 1915!" (Vincent J. Cheng, from "A Chronology of The Good Soldier," Enlish Language Notes 24 (September 1986): 91-97. Reprinted in the Norton Critical Edition of The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, edited by Martin Stannard, 1995) |