A Handful of Dust

At Brat’s Club, Jock Grant-Menzies arrives and finds Tony sitting alone. Jock has been stood up by a woman, while Tony was “fed up with being alone at Hetton” (65). Brenda is also in London, he reveals, but she claims to be too busy to see him. As they drink, Jock talks about his recent professional interest in pigs, and Tony invites him to visit Hetton with his female acquaintance. They get very drunk together, and Tony insists on calling Brenda. She is with Beaver, so she tells Tony not to visit, but he is too drunk to follow the conversation. Brenda sends Beaver away from the apartment, while Tony and Jock continue to drink and mull over whether they should visit Brenda, who they insist is a “grand girl.”

Deciding to drink more, Tony and Jock visit a “dingy little place” named The Old Hundredth (70). There, they drink more and meet two sex workers. Milly and Babs encourage them to spend money in the establishment and to dance. Tony continues to think about Brenda and eventually calls her to apologize that he will not be able to visit her after all. When he and Jock leave, Tony takes a taxi away while Jock drunkenly plans to pass Brenda’s house and ring her doorbell to see if she is awake and angry. The next morning, Tony calls Brenda to apologize. She reiterates that she cannot see him because she has “got lectures all the morning” (76). Tony returns to Hetton, explaining to John that he traveled to London to telephone Brenda and nothing more. John is offended by Tony’s curt manner. That night, Tony sleeps alone in Brenda’s empty bedroom.

Brenda arranges to visit Tony with some friends. Tony quickly becomes bored, and John continues to sulk. Brenda brings Mrs. Beaver to Hetton to hire her to redesign one of the rooms. She does not plan to stay at Hetton long, and Tony jokes that she talks “as though [she] had settled [in London] for good” (81). As they entertain that night, Tony does not follow along with the women’s conversation. That night, he visits Brenda’s room, and she lies still while he kisses her on the cheek. A few days later, Brenda mentions to her friend that she feels sorry for Tony. She suggests that they could “get him interested in a girl” so that he could have his own affair to entertain him (83). She writes to Tony to announce that she will return home soon with a friend named Jenny Abdul Akbar, who lives in the apartment next to her. She also mentions seeing Jock in the company of a “shameless blonde.”

Jenny arrives early at Hetton; Brenda is deliberately late to allow Tony time to talk to Jenny alone. Jenny introduces herself as Princess Abdul Akbar and explains that she was previously married to a Moroccan prince. She claims to have suffered from terrible sadness in her past, but Tony is hesitant to make anything other than small talk. Unlike his father, John is enthralled by Jenny and peppers her with questions. When Brenda talks to Tony, however, he is unimpressed by this “joke woman.” Throughout the weekend, he struggles to make conversation with her, and she chides him for being “shy of talking about [himself]” (94). Brenda comes to regard the weekend as a failure, but her friend assures her that she has done more than most wives would do to keep their husbands happy.

Brenda arranges to spend the weekend away, though Tony reminds her that the local hunt has arranged to meet at Hetton. Brenda insists that she cannot attend but wishes that she could stay to see their son ride in his first hunt. Jock comes to visit, and Tony confesses to his friend that he gets “depressed down here all alone” (96). Tony encourages Jock to invite his “shameless blonde,” an American woman named Mrs. Rattery who arrives in her own small airplane. Tony’s friends assume that he knows nothing about Beaver and that Brenda will soon get bored of her affair. The “serene and distant” Mrs. Rattery makes an immediate impression on Tony (101), while Jock busies himself with work.

The day of the hunt arrives. John rides Thunderclap, and Ben has strict instructions from Tony not to allow him to ride for too long. Jock and Mrs. Rattery follow along on horseback, while a young woman named Miss Ripon struggles to control her horse. After a poor day’s hunting, Ben insists that John return home. They accompany Miss Ripon, who welcomes Ben’s help with her fretful horse. As they pass a bus and a motorbike in a lane, the motorbike misfires. Miss Ripon’s horse bolts and collides with Thunderclap. John is thrown from the horse and killed instantly. Everyone agrees that “it was nobody’s fault” (107).

Jock and Mrs. Rattery break the news to Tony, who struggles with how to tell Brenda. Jock agrees to go to London and tell her in person while Tony stays behind to deal with the administration. Everyone reiterates that no one is to blame as a formal doctor’s inquiry takes place. Mrs. Rattery stays with the stunned Tony. He tells her about his concern for Brenda, as she has “nothing else, much, apart from John” (112). He worries that she might see the story in a newspaper before Jock can find her. They play a children’s game to pass the time.

Jock visits Brenda’s apartment, but she is not at home. Her neighbor, Jenny Abdul Akbar, offers to take him to Brenda, who is at a party thrown by Lady Cockpurse. A fortune teller is entertaining the guests by reading the soles of their feet. Each fortune is the same. After Brenda’s fortune is read, Jock arrives and delivers the news. She sits “perfectly still with her hands folded in her lap” (121). Jock takes Brenda to her apartment and explains the circumstances of John’s death. She takes the train to Hetton, while her friends disagree over whether this is likelier to end her marriage or her affair. In the following days, the inquest and the funeral take place. During this time, Brenda and Tony scarcely speak to one another. Mrs. Rattery is gone, and Thunderclap is to be sold. Among John’s possessions, they find a perfumed handkerchief that belongs to Jenny. Tony presumes that Brenda will return from London. When he speaks to her, however, she suggests that her life at Hetton is over. He suggests that they delay such a serious conversation. In the following days, she returns to London. She is meeting with Beaver, though Tony assures himself that she is grieving. She writes to him from London, finally explaining that she is in love with Beaver and asking for a divorce. She wants to be “great friends” with Tony, who still mistakenly believes that she has only met Beaver twice. Jock explains that many people have known about the affair for a long time.