The flashback in this sinister and disturbing short story
provides many details that should make the alert reader sit up and predict a terrifying
ending for poor Mrs. Drover. Notice the almost ghostly way in which her fiance is
described in the flashback - she seems to almost doubt his
existence:
The young girl talking to the soldier in the
garden had not ever completely seen his face. It was dark; they were saying goodbye
under a tree. Now and then - for it felt, from not seeing him at this intense moment, as
though she had never seen him at all - she verified his presence for these few moments
longer by putting out a hand, which he each time pressed, without very much kindness,
and painfully, on to one of the breast buttons of his
uniform.
Note how the younger
Mrs. Drover seems to need to check that he is still there, he is so ethereal and
shadow-like. Also note how the man responds to these "checks" and his lack of empathy
and the pain he inflicts on her - this surely indicates his ability to cause her more
pain in the future. This is surely indicated when the narrator
comments:
That
cut of the button on the palm of her hand was, principally, what she was to carry
away.
The pain and scar of
this wound seems to symbolise there relationship. The ghostly comparisons continue as
the girl imagines "spectral glitters" in place of her fiance's eyes and his lack of
emotion and sensitivity and his refusal to embrace or kiss her reinforce his complete
lack of care or concern for her.
Then, finally, note how
the dialogue introduces another chillingly spooky threat. The man tells her that he is
going "not so far as [she] thinks" and then his final speech expresses his promise which
is uttered more like a warning:
"I shall be with you," he said, "sooner or later.
You won't forget that. You need do nothing but
wait."
All of these points
indicate and foreshadow the terrible ending of this story where Mrs. Drover and her
first fiance are reunited and he keeps his promise.
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