The Demon Lover : Summary

The short story, "The Demon Lover", has been written by Elizabeth Bowen. She has set it during the Second World War, when owing to extensive German bombing, called Blitz, most residents of London had sought refuge in the countryside. Kathleen Drover, a woman in her forties, has returned to her house in London during this time to collect items that she will take back to her family in the country, where they are living to save themselves from the bombs. She reflects on how her family has grown accustomed to life in the country, and on how empty and damaged the street is. It requires an effort on her part to get into the house because it has been shut up for so long, but following a struggle with the front door she manages to get inside.

Once inside the house, she reflects on how dirty and damp her family house has become. The absent furniture has left marks and indentations that seem strange and unnerving, and she feels entirely estranged from this once-familiar setting. As Mrs. Drover makes her way upstairs, she sees a letter on the hall table. Its very appearance—never mind the lack of a stamp and the fact it is addressed to her—makes no sense, as nobody has been inside the house for some time and no one knows she is due to be there today.

Though reluctant to read the letter, Mrs. Drover does so upstairs in her bedroom. The sender writes, “You will not have forgotten that today is our anniversary,” and that “You may expect me, therefore, at the hour arranged.” Strangely, it seems the sender has been observing her for some time and has knowledge of her life and her movements over the years. It is also clear that the sender believes Mrs. Drover has made him a promise, though it is little clear what exactly this promise entails. The brief message, signed K., reminds her of a promise that she made twenty-five years ago when she was engaged to a soldier who later died in the World War I. The sender states that he is sure that, even though Kathleen has left London, she will keep the rendezvous. She is frightened not only by the message but also by the mysterious means by which it has found its way to her. She is also in dread by the fact that her every action may have been under observation by an unknown person.

When Mrs. Drover reads the letter, the past floods into the present moment. The suggestion that the sender has been observing her for some time and expects her to keep a promise she made a long time ago also reaffirms this sense of the past taking over the present. The fact that the terms of her promise are not specified seems ominous. She is expected to understand what the sender means and fulfill her mysterious obligation that she is not aware of.

Though disturbed by the contents of the letter and the fact that it is marked with that day’s date, Mrs. Drover attempts to ignore it. She goes to the mirror to study her own reflection, where she is “confronted by a woman of forty-four,” and she describes how she has aged and how giving birth to the children has taken a toll on her body. She next attempts to distract herself by going through a chest and retrieving the items she has come to collect, but she cannot stop looking at the letter on the bed. As the clock strikes six, she anxiously begins to wonder which precise hour the letter refers to.

She remembers the “unnatural promise” that he exacted from her. Her most vivid remembrance of him, however, is tactile—the feel of the brass button of his uniform against her hand—and she looks to see if the imprint of it is still on her palm. The twenty-five years that have passed since their last meeting dissolve like smoke in her moment of present awareness. She thinks that she cannot remember what her lover did to make her plight so sinister a troth, but as she recovers the emotion that occasioned the

promise, she remembers. What she cannot remember is her lover’s face.

She recalls that his death caused in her a “dislocation”. She remembers that in the last week of his leave, she was not herself. She also remembers her parents’ relief that their daughter would not marry the mysterious young man to whom she had engaged herself, and their belief that, after a suitable period of mourning, she would return to normal activity. However, for years no suitors had presented themselves. Much later, when she was in her early thirties, to her parents’ and her own surprise, she married William Drover and later bore children.

While making her preparations to leave the house, Kathleen examines and then dismisses the notion of supernatural intervention in her present life. She thinks, however, that she must concern herself with the appointed hour to which the note refers. Having heard the clock strike six, she assumes that she has sufficient time to complete her chores, walk to the taxi ramp at the bottom of the square, find a cab, return to the house for her parcels, and catch her train to the country. As she listens at the top of the staircase, she is disturbed by a draft of dead air that suggests to her that someone is leaving the basement by a door or window. She leaves the house, walks quickly to the cab rank, enters the taxi, and realizes that it has turned back toward the house without her having given directions. She scratches at the glass panel, looks into the driver’s eyes for what seems an eternity, and screams as the car speeds into the deserted streets of the city.

The end of the story is also interesting when we find Kathleen screaming in the taxi. The story highlights how anxious, frightened and angry she is. A man who she would not recognise is staking a claim to her heart without her permission. The story is based solely on her naivety or innocence when she was young. She is being forced into something that she is not a willing participant too. Though she may never marry K, the fact that he has come back into her life twenty-five years later suggests that she has not forgotten her promise despite the fact that she is married and has children. This memory is sure to resurface at another time and bring further disruption to her life. Her condition in the taxi beckons that she has been facing a very real and personal war in her mind. This could be the result of the stress caused by the war.