The Remembered Visit - Michael Mantler

The summer she was eleven, Drusilla went abroad with her parents

There she climbed endless flights of stairs

She tried to make out the subjects of vast dark paintings

Sometimes she was made ill by curious dishes

She was called upon to admire views

When the weather was bad, she leafed through incomprehensible magazines

One morning her parents, for some reason or other, went on an excursion without

her

After luncheon an acquaintance of the family, Miss Skrim-Pshaw, took Drusilla

to pay a call

They walked to an inn called Le Crapaud Bleu

They were shown into a garden where the topiary was being neglected

Drusilla was told she was going to meet a wonderful old man who had been or

done something lofty and cultured in the dim past

Eventually Mr Crague appeared

He kissed Miss Skrim-Pshaw's hand, and she presented Drusilla to him

After they had sat down, Drusilla saw that Mr Crague wore no socks

He and Miss Skrim-Pshaw mentioned a great many people who had done things in

their conversation

Tea was brought;

it was nearly colourless, and there was a plate of

crystallized ginger

Mr Crague asked Drusilla if she liked paper

He said he would have liked to show her his albums filled with beautiful pieces

of it, but they were upstairs in his room

Drusilla promised when she got home to send him some insides of envelopes she

had saved

Miss Skrim-Pshaw said it was time they made their adieux

On the way back a few drops of rain fell.

Somehow Drusilla was hungrier than

she had been before tea

Days went by

Weeks went by

Months went by

Years went by.

Drusilla was still inclined to be forgetful

One day something reminded her of her promise to Mr Crague

She began to hunt for the envelope-linings in her room

On a sheet of newspaper at the bottom of a drawer she read that Mr Crague had

died the autumn after she had been abroad

When she found the pretty pieces of paper, she felt very sad and deglectful

The wind came and took them through an open window;

she watched them blow away