William Henry Devereaux II Returns to Railton

William Henry Devereaux II Returns to Railton unfolds around the return of William Henry Devereaux, Sr. after a collapse and a long absence from his family. The event is less a homecoming than a collision between the father’s damaged condition, his wife’s determined plans for his recovery, and the son’s recognition that he may not be ready to face him. A U-Haul full of books, a former suitor’s resignation, and a proposed teaching appointment make the return concrete: the family is trying to rebuild a life around a man who has come back changed.

Arrival and Recognition

On his way to campus, William Henry Devereaux II takes the back route into Railton, anticipating that people may be displaying signs with his picture at the main entrance. At the intersection across from The Circle Bar and Grill, he spots a pickup towing a U-Haul and recognizes Charles Purty, dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, and a western shirt. He stays in his car and sounds the horn twice before Charles looks up. The brief moment of recognition carries an edge of threat: until he identifies the driver, Charles appears ready to fight, and his pointed boots look particularly dangerous. On a closer look, though, Charles himself seems battered, as if someone wearing similar boots has already stomped him.

The trailer gives the encounter its immediate context. It is full of William Henry Devereaux, Sr.’s books; the furniture has been put in storage, including pieces Charles considers more valuable than the books. Charles’s complaint about the move opens into an account of how he finally gave up hope of winning the older man’s wife. He had suspected for some time that his courtship was futile, but even after hearing of William Henry Devereaux, Sr.’s return he continued to hope. Seeing the couple together at last made the reality plain to him. His recognition turns the phrase he uses for them—two peas in a pod—into a quiet verdict on his own place outside their bond.

The Father’s Condition

Charles says William Henry Devereaux, Sr. was no help with the move and admits that he did not ask him to assist because the older man did not look well. What unsettles him most is the crying. William Henry Devereaux, Sr. weeps intensely, then stops and grins; Charles says his wife advised him to let the crying run its course. The abrupt change from tears to a grin is so difficult for Charles to interpret that he asks how anyone can cry like that. His account gives the returning father a presence before the son meets him directly: he is physically near, but his behavior remains strange to those around him.

William Henry Devereaux II considers that he may not be prepared for his father’s return. The literal interval since their last contact is complicated: he and his mother went to New York City a couple of months earlier after hearing of the collapse, but William Henry Devereaux, Sr. was hospitalized and heavily sedated. In a more meaningful sense, the son has not seen his father for about five years. That long separation had not seemed remarkable until Charles’s questions forced him to consider how it might look to someone who assumed father and son were estranged. The return therefore reopens a distance that the emergency visit had not repaired.

A Home and a Teaching Plan

William Henry Devereaux, Sr.’s wife explains that she believes his most recent partner, the Virginia Woolf specialist, contributed to his collapse and left him with almost no money after taking the funds from both his checking and savings accounts. She rejects the idea that a hospital stay means he has recovered. In her view, he needs ordinary life, familiar surroundings, his books, and someone with whom to discuss matters that interest him. Her account casts the trailer’s cargo as more than possessions: the books are part of the setting she believes he needs in order to regain stability.

She also intends to arrange a return to teaching at the university, beginning in the fall, with one course per semester. When her son asks where, she treats the answer as obvious: here in Railton. She plans to speak with Dickie Pope the following week and says the chancellor, an old friend of William Henry Devereaux, Sr., has promised to direct him to provide a course. His name and stature, she believes, should make the arrangement possible, though the precise designation can be settled later. The plan is practical in its proposed workload but assertive in its reliance on reputation and personal connections; William Henry Devereaux II warns her not to mention his name, and she assures him there should be no need.

The house itself gives the plan a visible setting. Its formal dining room, entered through French doors, is lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. His mother sees more than a room of books: she imagines the graduate students, visiting writers, and admiring English department colleagues who would surround her husband in the academic life she wants restored. The scene exposes the difference between that imagined community and the university’s actual lack of graduate students, visitors, and funds. Her smile, however, is one of vindication. The books and the promised course represent her faith that her husband can again occupy a place in the world that matters to him.

The Return’s Significance

The event is narrated through William Henry Devereaux II’s first-person perspective, but its turning points arrive through other people’s accounts and expectations. Charles’s story reveals the end of his long courtship; the mother’s plans reveal how she understands her husband’s needs and how firmly she expects the institution to accommodate him. Meanwhile, the son’s memory of the five-year gap makes the return personal without resolving their estrangement. The father is back in Railton, yet the relationship remains something William Henry Devereaux II must imagine himself entering again.

After the conversation at the house, William Henry Devereaux II reaches the university’s rear gate, where Railton police cars and a campus security vehicle are present. A young woman in the back of one police car seems familiar to him, perhaps from the animal-rights protesters, and may recognize him in turn. The brief, uncertain sighting does not explain the police presence, but it places the family’s attempted restoration beside the unsettled campus life to which he is returning. The homecoming thus offers no clean beginning: it brings a vulnerable father, a newly altered household, and a son still unsure how to meet either one.