Although it was so brilliantly fine--the blue sky powdered with gold and great spots of light like white
wine splashed over the Jardins Publiques--Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on fur. The air
was motionless, but when you opened your mouth there was just a faint chill, like a chill from a glass
of iced water before you sip, and now and again a leaf came drifting--from nowhere, from the sky.
Miss Brill put up her hand and touched her fur. Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again. She had
taken it out of its box that afternoon, shaken out the moth-powder, given it a good brush, and
rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes. "What has been happening to me?" said the sad little
eyes. O, how sweet it was to see them snap at her again from the red eiderdown!...But the nose,
which was of some black composition, wasn’t at all firm. It must have had a knock, somehow.
Never mind--a little dab of black sealing-wax when the time came-- when it was absolutely
necessary...Little rogue! Yes, she really felt like that about it. Little rogue biting its tail just by her
left ear. She could have taken it off and laid it on her lap and stroked it. She felt a tingling in her
hands and arms, but that came from walking, she supposed. And when she breathed, something light
and sad--no, not sad, exactly--something gentle seemed to move in her bosom.
There were a number of people out this afternoon, far more than last Sunday. And the band
sounded louder and gayer. That was because the season had begun. For although the band played
all the year round on Sundays, out of season it was never the same. It was like some one playing
with only the family to listen; it didn’t care how it played if there weren’t any strangers present.
Wasn’t the conductor wearing a new coat, too? She was sure it was new. He scraped with his foot
and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotunda
blew out their cheeks and glared at the music. Now there came a little "flutey" bit--very pretty!--a
little chain of bright drops. She was sure it would be repeated. It was; she lifted her head and smiled.
Only two people shared her "special" seat: a fine old man in a velvet coat, his hands clasped over a
huge carved walking-stick, and a big old woman, sitting upright, with a roll of knitting on her
embroidered apron. They did not speak. This was disappointing, for Miss Brill always looked
forward to the conversation. She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though
she didn’t listen, at sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked round her.
She glanced, sideways, at the old couple. Perhaps they would go soon. Last Sunday, too, hadn’t
been as interesting as usual. An Englishman and his wife, he wearing a dreadful Panama hat and she
button boots. And she’d gone on the whole time about how she ought to wear spectacles; she knew
she needed them; but that it was no good getting any; they’d be sure to break and they’d never keep
on. And he’d been so patient. He’d suggested everything--gold rims, the kind that curved round
your ears, little pads inside the bridge. No, nothing would please her. "They’ll always be sliding
down my nose!" Miss Brill had wanted to shake her.
The old people on the bench, still as statues. Never mind, there was always the crowd to watch. To
and fro, in front of the flower-beds and the band rotunda, the couples groups paraded, stopped to
talk, to greet, to buy a handful of flowers from the old beggar who had his tray fixed to the railings.
Little children ran among them, swooping and laughing; little boys with big white silk bows under
their chins, little girls, little French dolls, dressed up in velvet and lace. And sometimes a tiny
staggerer came suddenly rocking in to the open from under the trees, stopped, stared, as suddenly
sat down "flop," until its small high-stepping mother, like a young hen, rushed scolding to its rescue.
Other people sat on the benches and green chairs, but there was something funny about nearly all of
them. They were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though
they’d just come from dark little rooms or even--even cupboards!
Behind the rotunda the slender trees with yellow leaves down drooping, and through them just a line
of sea, and beyond the blue sky with gold-veined clouds.
Tum-tum-tum tiddle-um! tiddle-um! tum tiddley-um tum ta! blew the band.
Two young girls in red came by and two young solders in blue met them, and they laughed and
paired and went off arm-in-arm. Two peasant women with funny straw hats passed, gravely leading
beautiful smoke-coloured donkeys. A cold, pale nun hurried by. A beautiful woman came along and
dropped her bunch of violets, and a little boy ran after to hand them to her, and she took them and
threw them away as if they’d been poisoned. Dear me! Miss Brill didn’t know whether to admire
that or not! And now an ermine toque and a gentleman in grey met just in front of her. He was tall,
stiff, dignified, and she was wearing the ermine toque she’d bought when her hair was yellow. Now
everything, her hair, her face, even her eyes, was the same colour as the shabby ermine, and her
hand, in its cleaned glove, lifted to dab her lips, was a tiny yellowish paw. Oh, she was so pleased to
see him--delighted! She rather thought they were going to meet that afternoon. She described where
she’d been--everywhere, here, there, along by the sea. The day was so charming--didn’t he agree?
And wouldn’t he, perhaps?...But he shook his head, lighted a cigarette, slowly breathed a great
deep puff into her face, and, even while she was still talking and laughing, flicked the match away
and walked on. The ermine toque was alone; she smiled more brightly than ever. But even the band
seemed to know what she was feeling and played more softly, played tenderly, and the drum beat,
"The Brute! The Brute!" over and over. What would she do? What was going to happen now? But
as Miss Brill, wondered, the ermine toque turned, raised her hand as though she’d seen some one
else, much nicer, just over there, and pattered away. And the band changed again and played more
quickly, more gaily than ever, and the old couple on Miss Brill’s seat got up and marched away, and
such a funny old man with long whiskers hobbled along in time to the music and was nearly knocked
over by four girls walking abreast.
Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it all! It was
like a play. It was exactly like a play. Who could believe the sky at the back wasn’t painted? But it
wasn’t till a little brown dog trotted on solemn and then slowly trotted off, like a little "theatre" dog
that had been drugged, that Miss Brill discovered what it was that made it so exciting. They were all
on the stage. They weren’t only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a
part and came every Sunday. No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there; she
was part of the performance after all. How strange she’d never thought of it like that before! And yet
it explained why she made such a point of starting from home at just the same time each week--so
as not to be late for the performance--and it also explained why she had quite a queer, shy feeling at
telling her English pupils how she spent her Sunday afternoons. No wonder! Miss Brill nearly
laughed out loud. She was on the stage. She thought of the old invalid gentleman to whom she read
the newspaper four afternoons a week while he slept in the garden. She had got quite used to the
frail head on the cotton pillow, the hollowed eyes, the open mouth and the high pitched nose. If he’d
been dead she mightn’t have noticed for weeks; she wouldn’t have minded. But suddenly he knew
he was having the paper read to him by an actress! "An actress!" The old head lifted; two points of
light quivered in the old eyes. "An actress--are ye?" And Miss Brill smoothed the newspaper as
though it were the manuscript of her part and said gently: "Yes, I have been an actress for a long
time."
The band had been having a rest. Now they started again. And what they played was warm, sunny,
yet there was just a faint chill--a something, what was it?--not sadness--no, not sadness--a
something that made you want to sing. The tune lifted, lifted, the light shone; and it seemed to Miss
Brill that in another moment all of them, all the whole company, would begin singing. The young
ones, the laughing ones who were moving together, they would begin, and the men’s voices, very
resolute and brave, would join them. And then she too, she too, and the others on the benches--they
would come in with a kind of accompaniment--something low, that scarcely rose or fell something so
beautiful--moving...And Miss Brill’s eyes filled with tears and she looked smiling at the other
members of the company. Yes, we understand, we understand, she thought-- though what they
understood she didn’t know.
Just at that moment a boy and a girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. They were
beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father’s
yacht. And still soundlessly singing, still with that trembling smile, Miss Brill prepared to listen.
"No, not now," said the girl. "Not here, I can’t."
"But why? Because of that stupid old thing at the end there?" asked the boy. "Why does she come
here at all--who wants her? Why doesn’t she keep her silly old mug at home?"
"It’s her fu-fur which is so funny," giggled the girl. "It’s exactly like a fried whiting."
"Ah, be off with you!" said the boy in an angry whisper. Then: "Tell me, ma petite cherie--"
"No, not here," said the girl. "Not yet."
On her way home she usually bought a slice of honeycake at the baker’s. It was her Sunday treat.
Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not. It made a great difference. If there was
an almond it was like carrying home a tiny present--a surprise--something that might very well not
have been there. She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck the match for the kettle in quite a
dashing way.
But to-day she passed the baker’s by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room--her room
like a cupboard--and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time. The box that the
fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it
inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying.