The secret woman

In Short

This play is a stark, atmospheric drama set in the rugged landscape of the Dartmoors. It centers on the Redvers family, whose domestic harmony is destroyed when the patriarch’s secret double life is unmasked. As the mother, Ann, confronts her husband, the resulting explosion of truth ripples through their sons and the surrounding community. It has endured as a haunting study of how rigid moral codes collide with human desire, and how the weight of a single secret can dismantle the lives of the innocent and guilty alike.

The Story

The story opens at Harter Farm, where the atmosphere is defined by the contrast between the industrious, high-minded Ann Redvers and her husband, Anthony, a man whose gentle, whistling demeanor masks a profound duality. Ann, recently returned from nursing her mother, discovers through chance that Anthony has been keeping a "secret woman"—Salome Westaway—in the nearby woods. The revelation is shattering; for Ann, who views her marriage as a sacred, singular bond, Anthony’s admission that he loves both women equally is an unforgivable blasphemy.

The confrontation is swift and lethal. When Ann confronts Anthony with his betrayal, he attempts to explain his capacity for dual love, but she rejects his plea as the talk of a "lewd, pitiless wretch." In a moment of high-strung emotion, Ann’s condemnation leads Anthony to lose his footing on the farm’s rocky terrain, and he falls to his death. Her sons, Jesse and Michael, witness the immediate aftermath. Though they are initially horrified, they rally around their mother to protect her from the law, framing the event as an accident.

A year passes, and the farm is a shell of its former self. The burden of the lie eats at the family. Jesse, the sensitive, bookish son, is increasingly alienated from his mother, while Michael remains fiercely protective of the secret. Salome Westaway, the woman Anthony loved, observes the family’s decay from the periphery. She eventually forces the issue, acting as the catalyst for Ann’s surrender to the authorities. Salome, weary of the "dust and ashes" that remain of her life, exposes the truth to the police, effectively ending the charade. Ann is arrested, finding a strange, spiritual liberation in the face of her impending judgment. The play concludes in the wake of this final revelation; the community returns to its mundane concerns, and the survivors are left to reconcile the memory of a man who brought both light and destruction into their lives.

How It Unfolds

The pastoral silence is broken The play introduces the industrious rhythm of Harter Farm, where Anthony Redvers’s cheerful whistling hides the mounting tension between his wife, Ann, and the outside world. Beneath the surface, the debts of neighboring families and the simmering frustrations of the sons hint at the instability of their domestic order.

The secret is unmasked Ann returns from Exeter to find that her husband’s claims of market trips were lies, exposing his hidden affection for Salome Westaway. This discovery destroys Ann’s worldview, leading to a direct, fatal confrontation where Anthony’s attempt to justify his divided heart ends in his sudden death.

The vow of silence In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the brothers Michael and Jesse are forced to choose between the truth and their mother’s freedom. They agree to suppress the circumstances of their father's fall, trapping themselves in a year of corrosive, silent guilt.

The truth is forced out As the farm languishes in a dark, joyless state, Salome emerges as the unwilling hand of justice, finally driving the police to the farm. Ann welcomes her arrest as a form of penance, while her family is left to grapple with the permanent shattering of their lives.

The People

Ann Redvers is the moral center of the play, a woman whose strict, religious upbringing makes her unable to reconcile her husband's duality with her own definition of love. She evolves from a proud, stern matriarch into a broken figure who finds peace only when she finally accepts public punishment. Anthony Redvers, the catalyst of the tragedy, is an expansive, generous man who refuses to view his love for two women as a sin; he remains true to his nature until his death. Michael Redvers is his mother's fierce defender, willing to commit his own sins to keep her secret, while his brother, Jesse, represents the fragile conscience of the family, torn between his love for his mother and his horror at their shared lie. Salome Westaway, the "secret woman," is the most complex figure—a woman who loved Anthony for his humanity and is left to navigate the wreckage of his family’s moral collapse with a weary, clear-eyed cynicism.

In Its Own Voice

"The days of peace are over."

Joshua Bloom, the farmhand, senses the impending collapse of the household long before the truth comes to light.

"A woman like Ann Redvers do gall the common sort a bit."

Sarah Tapp captures the town's perception of Ann, whose rigid "fineness" sets her apart from the more pragmatic, struggling neighbors.

"I’ve growed so old to-day—’tis so far to look back."

Ann expresses the crushing weight of her discovery, marking the exact moment her previous life ceases to exist.

What It's Really About

The central tension lies in the conflict between the "holy" and the "human." The play asks if love is a singular, absolute force that demands total loyalty, or if it can be a fluid, expansive emotion that exists outside of moral categories. It suggests that when personal, private truths are forced to conform to a rigid, binary system of right and wrong, the result is not justice, but a catastrophic loss of life and spirit. The argument is that the desire to hide a "human" failing—the duality of desire—creates a far more destructive "sin" than the original act itself, eventually forcing even the most righteous to destroy themselves to achieve clarity.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate the dense, atmospheric prose of early 20th-century drama will find a rewarding, if somber, experience here. The play is deeply rooted in the Dartmoor landscape, and the dialogue is thick with local dialect that gives the characters a visceral, grounded quality. It is a slow-burn tragedy; the intensity of the emotions—guilt, pride, and the desperate need for absolution—makes the reading feel incredibly heavy and intimate.

The primary difficulty for a modern reader is the play's slow, methodical pace and the reliance on period-specific social codes, which can make the characters’ actions seem overly dramatic or rigid. However, the play avoids simplistic villains; the tragedy is that everyone involved—from the mourning wife to the "other woman"—is acting out of a deeply held, personal sense of duty or truth. What stays with you is the haunting image of the farm at the end, a place where the laughter has died and the survivors must live in the shadow of a secret that was never worth keeping. It is a brutal, honest, and ultimately compassionate look at how much damage a single person’s love can do when it refuses to remain hidden.