Crome Yellow

Mr. Scogan is working as a fortune teller at the fair. His tent is labeled “Sesostris, the Sorceress of Ecbatana,” and his costume includes a wig, bandana, and horned spectacles (147). He uses the spectacles and a magnifying glass to read visitors’ palms and uses suggestive questions to convince them that something terrible is about to happen, although he refuses to add any detail about the impending event.

On the pretext of tying a Union Jack to Mr. Scogan’s tent, Denis spies on him through an opening in the canvas. He hears Mr. Scogan tell an old woman that there will be another war very soon. Mr. Scogan then tells an attractive young woman to meet a man matching his own description on a nearby footpath the following Sunday. Denis wishes he could do what Mr. Scogan is doing.

Denis finds Anne in the tea tent, where she is selling copies of his poem. She tells him she has sold only three but has started giving a copy to everyone who purchased tea. He leaves, rereading the poem as he walks away. Written in rhyming couplets, it describes the joy of holidays throughout history and praises freedom from the drudgery of daily labor. Denis notices how bad the crowd smells and walks toward the swimming pool, where Henry is overseeing a women’s swimming competition. As the next race starts, Mrs. Budge appears and begins talking to Denis. During the war, Mrs. Budge had read that the government needed peach stones, although she did not know why. However, she had 36 peach trees and a number of greenhouses in which more could grow, so she ate thousands of peaches over the next several years and sent the stones to the government.

She tells Denis that it is nice to see young people enjoying themselves, and they watch Lord Moleyn and Mr. Callamay talking to the winner of the race, who is clearly uncomfortable with their attention. Mrs. Budge says that she never learned to swim but could float. Tired of the conversation, Denis leaves, and as he walks away, he hears someone say, “Disgusting!” from atop the terrace (153). It is Mrs. Bodiham, watching the swimmers along with her husband. Mr. Bodiham looks at the sky and asks, “How long?” (153).

Denis finds Mary directing the children’s sports; her face is red and sweaty, but she is smiling. He tells her she is wonderful. She says that she met a woman who had three children in 31 months and that Mary told the woman about the Malthusian League, but a group of children interrupt her before she can finish the story. Denis wants to go back to the tea tent, but it is full of people. Unsure what to do, he suddenly decides to simply go back to Crome and drink gin in the library.

As night descends, lamps illuminate the fair, and dancing begins. Denis stands near the entrance to the enclosure, watching the crowd: Priscilla and Mary dance with local farmers, Mr. Scogan and Lord Moleyn dance with uncomfortable young women from the village, and Anne dances with Gombauld. Watching Jenny play drums in the background, Denis sadly remembers the drawings in her notebook and feels like an outsider.

Henry takes Denis to see the oaken drainpipes he recently unearthed, and the two walk away into the darkness. Denis is fairly uninterested in the drainpipes, but the two sit on the grass and continue talking. Henry says he will be happy when the fair is over and admits that being around large groups of people is more exhausting than exciting for him. He would rather be around books or artifacts, arguing that it is too difficult to truly know anything about other people. He says it is the same with current events, as they are constantly evolving: The past is knowable because it cannot change. Henry says that if machines ever become perfect in the future, perhaps people like him will be able to live the truly solitary lives they desire. Denis asks if Henry does not find friendship and love beautiful as well, and Henry claims that in the past, human contact was so highly praised because few people could read. He believes that as reading becomes a more widespread habit, more people will realize that it is more pleasurable than socializing.

As they return to the fair, Henry says that in his youth, he engaged in a series of “phantasmagorical amorous intrigues,” but as these events were unfolding, they seemed as quotidian as any other activity (152). He argues that romance and adventure feel romantic and adventurous only when looked back on or experienced secondhand. Denis sees that Anne and Gombauld are still dancing together.

Later that night, the fair is over, and the lamps are being put out. Anne and Gombauld stand by the pool, and Gombauld tries repeatedly to kiss Anne. She says no, telling him he is taking advantage of her as she is exhausted after two hours of dancing. Gombauld sarcastically tells her to call him a “White Slaver,” and Anne says if he tries to kiss her again, she will box his ears (161). They continue walking around the pool and Anne tries to make conversation about Degas’s paintings, but Gombauld responds with anger and frustration.

Denis, watching from the terrace, mistakenly believes they are engaged in a consensual romantic embrace. Devastated, he runs into the house and encounters Mr. Scogan, who tells him there is ultimately no point in being depressed about anything. Denis runs away as Mr. Scogan shouts after him that life is always the same under any circumstances.

Denis lies in bed, unable to sleep. He finally climbs up to the parapet of the western tower, which rises 70 feet over the terrace. Looking over the darkened landscape, he wonders why he climbed up there. He thinks about death, and tears come to his eyes; he says something out loud and makes a gesture with his hand, but later cannot remember what he said or did. Suddenly, a voice from behind him asks what he is doing, startling him. He finds Mary, who had been sleeping on the eastern tower and saw him talking to himself and waving his arms. Denis laughs, knowing that if she had not spoken to him, he would have jumped.

An hour later, Denis has told Mary everything—his unrequited love for Anne, his jealousy of Gombauld, his despairing thoughts of suicide—and feels sadly peaceful. In turn, Mary tells Denis that Ivor broke her heart. Denis asks her if she really thinks that Anne and Gombauld are together, and she says yes, telling Denis that his only option is to leave Crome. She comes up with a plan for him. The clock strikes three and she tells him he must go back to his room. When he gets back in bed, he falls asleep immediately.

The next morning, Mary wakes Denis, who is sleeping soundly. She tells him with some urgency he must go send the telegram. Panicked, he jumps out of bed and runs to the village post office, where he sends a telegram to Crome ordering him to return to London on urgent business. Happy with his decisive action, he returns to Crome. At breakfast, Mr. Scogan asks him if he feels better and reminds him that he had been worried about the cosmos the previous night. Denis says that one is happy only in action. Looking out the window, he admires the beauty of the landscape and feels momentarily sad at the prospect of leaving.

After breakfast, Denis sits on the terrace, using the newspaper to hide from Mr. Scogan’s attempts to talk about the nature of the universe. He starts wondering if he was mistaken about Anne and Gombauld and thinks he might be strong enough to stay at Crome. Mary appears, asking when he thinks the telegram will arrive and informing him that he should catch the 3:27 train. Denis feels increasingly sad and regretful. The next time he lowers the paper, Anne is standing in front of him with her usual malicious smile. Mr. Scogan appears, insisting on continuing their conversation about the cosmos.

The group is having coffee after lunch when the telegram arrives. Denis mumbles that he has to return to London because of urgent family business. Anne protests, saying Denis has only been there a short time. Priscilla claims to have had a presentiment about something happening that day, and Mary reminds Denis about the 3:27 train. Henry orders a car to take Denis to the station. Denis regrets putting the entire plan into motion and tells himself he will never do anything decisive again. Dreading the journey and his eventual arrival in London, he feels like he might as well climb into his coffin. When the car arrives in the courtyard, he compares it to a hearse.

The rest of the group comes outside to say goodbye. Denis taps the barometer on the porch and quotes a line from poet Walter Savage Landor, feeling proud of his cleverness. However, no one else notices. Denis gets into the car and leaves.