Another brilliant writer from the nineteen thirties. Almost any of her short stories would have done, but this one is particularly and resonantly poignant, full of misunderstandings, fears, circumstantial misconnections, in fact all the ingredients of comedy except a happy ending.
First published in Five for Silverm Jonathan Cape, 1932
This is the story of a sturdy young teacher, Brenda, en route to northern England to visit her sister. It’s a duty call; there’s no relish, and we sense that she’s fed up and stuck. On the train she meets five jolly publicans returning from a convention. The quieter one, a widower, engages her in conversation, and before the journey’s end, proposes. What she does, and why, is one of the deep pleasures of this brief tale. I see that Persephone has put out a new edition of Whitaker’s stories (which I must buy).
Widely anthologised. I read it in her collection entitled The Crystal Fountain, Carcanet Press, 1984.
A Personal Anthology 