Publisher's Synopsis
The Path of Duty first appeared in magazine form in The English Illustrated Magazine in December 1884, which had been established the year previously by Macmillan to create a publication with high production values and illustrations appealing to the artistic market. The story was later reprinted in a three volume collection of James's stories in 1885. This story is a variation on the theme of fear of marriage or burden of inheritance - both of which are very deeply buried seams in the sub-stratum of homo-eroticism which runs through much of James's work.
