Ladd
12-18-2014, 02:51 PM
Many decades ago, I read a short story that I have spent the intervening years believing was written by Saki (i.e. H.H. Munro). I recently went through a book of his collected works and was surprised to not find it. If it wasn't written by Saki, it is certainly in his style and time period.
In short:
A young man is on a motorcar trip and his car breaks down. The local repair shop in the village says it will take a week to get the parts needed for repair. By means that I have forgotten, he ends up spending that time as a guest in the home of a local resident, where he is introduced to the gentleman's family. I remember there was a daughter about the traveling man's age and a woman (Mother? Aunt?) who wore a full veil and didn't speak. Perhaps her face is disfigured in some way.
Moving forward in the story, the daughter begins visiting the man's room in the dark of night, insisting that there be no lights and leaving before dawn. After a day or two, the man begins to suspect that it is not the daughter visiting him, but the veiled woman. He attempts to tell them apart by gently biting the neck of the visiting woman. Next morning at breakfast, both women are wearing scarves around their necks. Other scenarios ensue.
Eventually the man leaves the home and returns to his travels, never knowing what actually happened.
I would have sworn that this was a story by Saki, but if so, it certainly isn't in the "Completed Collected Works" that I got from the library. An hour of Google failed to turn up anything that seemed similar. I'll laugh if it was a short story that appeared decades ago in Playboy magazine or some such, which, of course, I only read for the articles. :-)
Any clues or tips as to how to go about my search for this short story would be appreciated.
Regards,
Ladd
In short:
A young man is on a motorcar trip and his car breaks down. The local repair shop in the village says it will take a week to get the parts needed for repair. By means that I have forgotten, he ends up spending that time as a guest in the home of a local resident, where he is introduced to the gentleman's family. I remember there was a daughter about the traveling man's age and a woman (Mother? Aunt?) who wore a full veil and didn't speak. Perhaps her face is disfigured in some way.
Moving forward in the story, the daughter begins visiting the man's room in the dark of night, insisting that there be no lights and leaving before dawn. After a day or two, the man begins to suspect that it is not the daughter visiting him, but the veiled woman. He attempts to tell them apart by gently biting the neck of the visiting woman. Next morning at breakfast, both women are wearing scarves around their necks. Other scenarios ensue.
Eventually the man leaves the home and returns to his travels, never knowing what actually happened.
I would have sworn that this was a story by Saki, but if so, it certainly isn't in the "Completed Collected Works" that I got from the library. An hour of Google failed to turn up anything that seemed similar. I'll laugh if it was a short story that appeared decades ago in Playboy magazine or some such, which, of course, I only read for the articles. :-)
Any clues or tips as to how to go about my search for this short story would be appreciated.
Regards,
Ladd