Woman in White Part 2: Fiesole

OK, I'm about halfway through The Woman in White. Just a couple of quick reactions before I go further:

• Count Fosco! What a character! The mice! But most shockingly, the postscript to Marian's journal. TERRIFYING. "I condole with her on the inevitable failure of every plan that she has formed for her sister's benefit. At the same time, I entreat her to believe that the information which I have derived from her Diary will in no respect help me to contribute to that failure. It simply confirms the plan of conduct which I had previously arranged." IMAGINE finding that written at the end of your diary. Who knows if Marian ever will! I am spooked.
• Also scary: Sir Perceval finding the note in the sand, digging up the piece of paper, reading it, putting it back, and writing the note back in the sand on top of it. Spooked again! (or rather, spooked before.)
• So rough to be girls on their own with no support. Why do girls always end up in situations where they have no masculine support? The sisters are doing it for themselves, but there's not that much they can do! Very "Bluebeard." Sister Ann, Sister Ann, is our useless uncle coming?
• The useless uncle's narrative! I am in heaven. Laura (real Laura, not Laura Fairlie) must super love this terrible uncle. Here are some gems just from the first page or so: "The last annoyance that has assailed me is the annoyance of being called upon to write this Narrative"; "I will endeavor to remember what I can (under protest) and to write what I can (also under protest), and what I can't remember and can't write, Louis must remember and write for me. He is an ass, and I am an invalid, and we are likely to make all sorts of mistakes between us. How humiliating!"; "I have asked Louis. He is not quite such an ass as I have hitherto supposed."; "I was resigned to see the Young Person, but I was NOT resigned to let the Young Person's shoes upset me"; "Why have we no variety in our breed of Young Persons?" I wonder if he is secretly the Scarlet Pimpernel, and will swing in between the flower pots on the flat roof of the verandah at Blackwater or whatever and scoop up feverish Marian and terrified Laura and on his way scoop up crazy Anne Catherick and take them all safely to London! Probably not. Anyway, I like how Wilkie Collins gets you all upset about the thrilling suspenseful terrible situations he creates, and then there is this comic relief built into the narrative, which doesn't make it less terrifying, but is a kind of relief. Like the Fosca stuff in the diary was terrifying, but also kind of funny. And this uncle stuff is so delightful, and isn't misogynist and sad and pathetic like the hilarious bluestocking tract-leaving lady in The Moonstone.
• SPOILERS PART 2: Okay, so I think the part I marked in the last entry as potentially spoilery is wrong, because it doesn't seem like Sir Perceval (is HE the Scarlet Pimpernel? Maybe he's pretending to be a financially-embarrassed, consumptive, murderous baronet in order to smuggle, um, victims of the 1848 revolutions out of France) had any grand plan for switching Laura for Anne or vice versa. He just wants to keep Anne in the asylum, and make sure his SECRET stays safe with Anne & her (evil?) (poor old?) mom. It doesn't even seem like he's been planning to kill his wife the whole time, which I had been pretty sure of from the beginning; in the secret conversation he has with Fosca on the terrace, Fosca's all insinuating all this King John/Throw Momma from the Train "I'm not going to come out and say this" murder stuff, and Perceval is like, "Gross, you have a motive to murder her too." Which is a weird reaction, so maybe he HAS been planning to murder her and he wants to point out that the Count has a motive too. But he definitely doesn't seem to be as crafty as the Count, and doesn't really seem to plan that far ahead; he reacts rather than acts, I guess? Anne Catheric finds out his Secret, so he puts her in an asylum. He incurs too many debts, so he tries to get his wife to sign away her fortune. People thwart him, so he throws a chair. Anyway, what is the Secret? I hope it's something awesome and convoluted that explains Anne's resemblance to Laura, the dry hacking cough, Anne's mental problems, and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe the scar on his hand, and his baldness. If it's just something dumb like Anne is the Baronet's daughter, I will be unimpressed.
• Also all the bad guys in Collins are bad because they are in debt, and they all try to get out of it by marrying rich ladies. Reasonable enough, I guess. Also gambling & keeping fancy women & being irresponsible with other people's money are totally gateway drugs to theft and fraud and MURDER. Maybe. Nobody's been murdered yet, except the dog. Addendum: I want the Secret to explain the murder of the dog. Also, I would like all the murder foreshadowing to come to nothing, and for all the bad people to be punished and all the good people to be happy and get married! Actually that might have happened in the Moonstone. Oh the mom died. Sorry, Lady ____ from the Moonstone!
• Oh yeah the title of this post: I read some thrilling sections of this novel in the lovely Tuscan town of Fiesole, while strolling around in its archeological excavations: a Roman theater, an Etruscan/Roman temple, some Roman baths, some lovely views of Florence. It was a thrilling & romantic place to be reading lots of thrilling stuff about heroines skulking around the edges of the lake and the boathouse and leaving messages in the sand. Also being in Italy is of course helping me to understand Count Fosco, as well as comical Professor Pesca from the beginning. Everyone here is so gracious to ladies and loves sugar water and also pretending to be English and also wearing embroidered blouses. NOT.