The Death of the Heart

The Death of the Heart Summary | Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

It is January in 1930s London. We meet two characters, Anna and St. Quentin, who are deep in conversation while walking across an icy footbridge in Regent's Park.

As they stroll, Anna tells St. Quentin a story of how she accidentally came across the diary of a girl living with her, Portia. She is unsettled and annoyed by the situation because she didn't mean to find the diary; she had found it while putting a dress away in Portia's room after it had come back from the cleaners.

Perhaps even more importantly, Anna says that she is annoyed with Portia's mere presence, although she isn't sure what she can do about it, being that Portia is her husband Thomas's sister.

When Anna runs through the circumstances yet again, there seems to have been no alternative but for Portia to come stay in their home: Thomas's father, Mr. Quayne, had dictated a letter in which he stated that upon his death, Portia was to live with Thomas and Anna. He had given the letter to his wife Irene, yet since Irene didn't like Thomas and Anna one bit, she hid the letter away. The letter didn't reemerge until Irene's death years later and once it was finally discovered, Mr. Quayne's wishes were finally carried out. According to Mr. Quayne's wishes, Portia was to stay with Thomas and Anna for one year.

As Anna and St. Quentin round Regent's Park one more time, Anna, in an effort to put off the eventuality of having to return home and face Portia, tells yet another story. It seems that Mr. Quayne had been married to a delightful, patient woman who took care of him and nurtured his inner boy. She encouraged him to retire at a young age and the two of them moved to Dorset. He adored his wife and easily took up a leisurely life filled with golf, gardening and social outings. Yet he still missed London and would occasionally travel into the city without his wife, to attend social meetings, club outings and the like.

While on one of these journeys, Mr. Quayne met a woman, Irene, and the two were quite taken with one another. He got into the habit of making an excuse to travel to London every so often, and they continued their torrid affair throughout the summer months.

One night, in the fall, Mr. Quayne's guilt got the best of him. He woke his wife in the middle of the night to confess about what he'd done with Irene. See, he had received word from Irene that she was pregnant—with Portia.

Mr. Quayne had come to realize that he adored his wife and didn't want to leave her; in fact, he wished he had never started up anything with Irene. He cried about what he'd done, but Mrs. Quayne insisted that he do the right thing, calmly telling him that he of course had to marry Irene. Mrs. Quayne then filed for divorce.

Mr. Quayne begged and pleaded but Mrs. Quayne stood her ground. She had Thomas drive his father to the train station, where he was to travel and meet Irene. He did marry her and they, not having much money of their own, were destined to move a lot, always living in dark, dreary places. Thomas only saw them rarely, and only enough to know that the lifestyle would surely end up killing his father, which it did.

By now, the conversation has brought St. Quentin and Anna back around the park, where the "All Out whistles were blowing," and the park's gate is about to close. The two hurry through and head toward Anna's home. She isn't so upset about having to go inside anymore.