Dorcas

Dorcas is one of three women in Jubal Harshaw’s household, alongside Anne and Miriam. She moves through the story as a practical, trusted presence: tending to people in moments of distress, helping sustain the household’s daily life, and taking part in the water-sharing community that grows around Valentine Michael Smith. By the closing pages, her pregnancy and decision to name her child Dennis place her among the household’s new generation.

Identity and Place in the Household

Anne is blonde, Miriam red-headed, and Dorcas dark-haired; their coloring is described as natural. Their figures range from plump to slender, and their ages span fifteen years, though their relative ages are not readily apparent. They have surnames, but the household rarely uses them. A rumor says that one of the three may be Harshaw’s granddaughter, but no one agrees which one, leaving Dorcas’s precise family connection unresolved rather than confirmed.

The three women are not presented as interchangeable in every circumstance. Dorcas is repeatedly named as the person who can be called on for particular tasks, while her needlework, caretaking, and participation in household ceremonies give her a recognizable place in its shared routines. The informality of the home is reflected in the way its occupants move between domestic work, companionship, and ritual without drawing a firm boundary between them.

Care and Household Work

When Jill collapses, Harshaw directs Dorcas and Miriam to look after her, give her a drink, and wash her face. The brief instruction establishes Dorcas as someone trusted with immediate, intimate care. Later, when Harshaw hears signs of a medical emergency involving a heartbeat, he sends her to the clinic for a specified drawer from the locked cooler and a syringe. Her role in these scenes is not ceremonial: she is relied on to respond quickly and follow practical instructions.

At another point, Dorcas sits in a large chair doing needlepoint. When Jill enters, Dorcas acknowledges her with a friendly nod and returns to her work, behaving as though Jill already belongs in the household. She also acts as an everyday attendant: she jumps up to answer a call, and Harshaw later asks her to bring Ben Caxton warm milk when he is ill. These details give her presence a steady domestic rhythm amid the household’s more dramatic encounters.

That service is reciprocal rather than strictly deferential. When the women decide to carry Harshaw out, he protests that they should not do so at mealtime, but Anne takes his feet while Miriam and Dorcas each take an arm, and the three carry him away. The comic reversal shows them acting together and confidently, even when their employer objects. Harshaw’s authority coexists with a household intimacy in which its members can take charge of him.

Community and Relationships

Dorcas shares in the household’s response to Jill’s distress and in its familiar teasing, while Jill explicitly objects when others pick on Dorcas. Jill says she would have become hysterical herself if Dorcas had not done so first, a moment that presents Dorcas as both vulnerable to teasing and someone whose emotional response can offer companionship. Later, Jill asks Dorcas to fetch Ben a glass of warm milk, extending the same practical care across the household’s circle of friends.

Dorcas is also present as Valentine Michael Smith’s community takes shape. She participates in the household that receives him and in the network of shared water and kinship. At one ceremony, she is among those to whom a glass is passed after a blessing; at another stage, the Innermost Temple is described as the place where new brothers are received into the Nest. Its central pool and invitation to share water make clear that the household’s intimacy has become an organized spiritual practice as well as a domestic custom.

The ritual’s importance is shown through the way it changes relationships. Jill explains to Patricia Paiwonski that sharing water signifies enduring trust and partnership, and Patricia accepts. Dorcas’s place in this wider community is not defined by a separate doctrinal statement, but by her continued presence among its participants and by the household’s treatment of her as one of its members. The story’s water-sharing practice thus surrounds her with bonds that exceed ordinary employment or hospitality.

Change, Pregnancy, and Ending

The household’s roles shift as Smith becomes more active. After he wakes, the women give Harshaw excellent service as well as attending to Smith; Harshaw privately recognizes that they might just as readily have supported Smith. His observation underscores that their loyalty is not simply a fixed obligation to their employer. Their care and allegiance belong to a community whose center has moved, at least in part, toward Smith.

Later, Harshaw says that two of his secretaries are pregnant and one is getting married. He is refreshing his knowledge of obstetrics because the two expect to give birth at home, a prospect he expects to disrupt his working habits. When Ben suggests that Dorcas had been especially attentive, Harshaw confirms that she had gone to conspicuous lengths. The exchange links Dorcas’s pregnancy to the household’s affection and teasing, while also making clear that Harshaw anticipates a practical responsibility: births at home will require preparation and change the daily routine.

At the end, Dorcas says she has decided to name her baby Dennis. Harshaw agrees that the choice is appropriate, while privately allowing for uncertainty about the child’s paternity. The narrative does not resolve that uncertainty. Instead, the name and the coming birth close Dorcas’s thread with a new life entering the household, while Harshaw turns back to work on a stereoplay about Smith. Dorcas’s ending is therefore domestic but not incidental: the household’s future continues through pregnancy, care, and the uncertain yet accepted bonds among its members.