Mrs. Devereaux and Charles Purty’s Landlord-and-Suitor Relationship

Mrs. William Henry Devereaux and Charles Purty’s relationship is at once a landlord-and-tenant arrangement and an extended, largely unanswered courtship. Purty owns her flat and watches for an opening to become more than her landlord; she tolerates his help when necessary but guards her independence and resists his advances. Their connection is defined by that imbalance: his patience and proximity do not make her feel cared for so much as observed and pursued.

Landlord and Tenant

Mrs. William Henry Devereaux lives in a downstairs flat on a street of old houses divided into large, high-ceilinged rental units. Purty, who lives next door, has bought most of the houses there one by one over roughly thirty years, often at low prices. The property is an extension of his scavenging and resale business, but it also places him close to the woman he hopes to court. His interest is not confined to a chance encounter: he has been her landlord throughout her years in the flat, and his attentions have become a recurring feature of her daily life.

Purty’s habits make that proximity conspicuous. He holds a yard sale every month, setting out folding metal tables and boxes of goods on his porch; he also fills his house with items gathered from garage and estate sales. He has offered Mrs. William Henry Devereaux a preview of the merchandise and the chance to choose something, but she shows little interest. His collecting and his courtship thus share a pattern of acquisition: he gathers objects patiently, while hoping that persistence will eventually make her available to him. The comparison belongs to the circumstances of their relationship, not to any claim that she is simply another possession. Her reluctance remains her own, and the narrative makes clear that he has not won her over.

A Persistent Courtship and a Guarded Response

Purty continues pursuing Mrs. William Henry Devereaux even though she is older than he is and does not welcome his attention. At seventy-three, she is several years his senior, yet he sees her as an elegant, aristocratic woman. His admiration is sincere enough for him to admit that he has romantic intentions, and he imagines that he would treat her honorably. William Henry Devereaux, Jr. recognizes the courtship and teases Purty about the difference between the gentleman he claims he would be and the motives that bring him near her.

Mrs. William Henry Devereaux’s own account of the relationship is less romantic. She complains that Purty walks past her windows and keeps track of her comings and goings, interpreting his attention not as protection but as surveillance. When her old window shades kept creeping upward, she installed new ones; the practical fix also speaks to her wish to limit his view into her home. Her suspicion that he wants to know whether she is seeing someone shows that she understands his interest as possessive, even though the text does not establish that they have a relationship beyond landlord and would-be suitor.

Her boundary-setting has a history. A few months after she moved into the flat, she returned to find Purty in the basement working on the old furnace. Afterward, she called a locksmith. When Purty later discovered that his key no longer worked, he asked what would happen if he needed to enter; she told him to knock like anyone else, and that if she was not home, he did not need to get in. The exchange turns an ordinary question of access into a clear rule: ownership of the building does not give him unrestricted entry into her private space. His role as landlord and his desire for intimacy are adjacent, but she refuses to let one become a license for the other.

Dependence, Distance, and the Son as Intermediary

Mrs. William Henry Devereaux’s resistance is not absolute separation. She no longer drives, and when William Henry Devereaux, Jr. cannot take her somewhere, she allows Purty to chauffeur her in his full-size pickup. The arrangement is practical, but she dislikes the vehicle: it is difficult for her to climb into, and its seat is lumpy with the things Purty has bought at yard sales. Even the ride makes their differences tangible. What he treats as part of his ordinary life becomes an inconvenience she must endure to get where she needs to go.

William Henry Devereaux, Jr. mediates the courtship, sometimes encouraging his mother to accept Purty and sometimes acting as the person who has to navigate the awkwardness between them. He suggests that if she had married Purty, she might have persuaded him to take her to Europe. She acknowledges that possibility, then points out the problem: she could meet someone she liked there. The exchange captures the gap between Purty’s persistence and her freedom to choose. She recognizes that she has influence over him, but does not treat that influence as a reason to return his feelings.

The son’s role also reveals the limits of what he can know. He jokes about the match and tells Purty that his mother is wary of being lured into his house; Purty admits he has other intentions but says he would be a gentleman with her. Yet William Henry Devereaux, Jr. cannot settle the matter on either person’s behalf. At home, his mother complains about Purty’s crush and asks what a man could want from a seventy-three-year-old woman. Her son suspects that she finds the attention less absurd than she says, but he does not reassure her that Purty’s desire is flattering. He shifts the conversation to the praise Purty gave her writing instead.

Persistence Without Resolution

Purty believes he can outlast Mrs. William Henry Devereaux’s reservations, construing her reluctance as a temporary obstacle. William Henry Devereaux, Jr. considers that description too mild: his mother feels aversion, not mere hesitation. The difference exposes the central uncertainty in the courtship. Purty reads continued proximity and occasional practical dependence as reasons to wait; her tightened control over access, complaints about his watchfulness, and lack of interest in his invitations indicate that his patience has not changed her position.

The relationship remains unresolved in the supplied episodes. Purty is still waiting, and Mrs. William Henry Devereaux has not agreed to marry him or to welcome his attentions. Their scenes mix comedy—the yard-sale clutter, the uncomfortable truck, and their son’s teasing—with a more serious question of privacy and consent. Purty’s gentleness and persistence do not erase the fact that she experiences his attentions as intrusive; equally, her practical acceptance of a ride does not amount to romantic acceptance. The relationship’s defining tension is the difference between being available for help and being available for courtship.