London

London is both a shared cultural destination and a place associated with the private connection between Tom Burgess and Patrick Hazlewood. Marion Taylor’s recollections frame the city through changing impressions: first as an unfamiliar, difficult environment, then as a setting for a night out with Tom and Patrick, and later as the destination of time Tom plans to spend without her.

Setting and changing impression

On her first visit, Marion found London noisy, dirty, and hard to take in. With time, she came to appreciate its contrasting features: plane trees, the movement of the tube, the activity of coffee bars, and the relative seclusion of the British Museum, where she remembered the fig-leaved David. The change is less a transformation of the city than of Marion’s capacity to notice it; London becomes legible to her through particular places and details.

The opera outing

One evening in January, Patrick took Marion and Tom to London to see Carmen, hoping to introduce them to opera. The journey also brought Patrick and Tom’s different expectations about money into view. Patrick generally insisted on paying when the three went out, while Tom, newly in full-time employment but still on probation, protested and wanted to pay for himself and Marion. Patrick initially treated the disagreement lightly; Tom persisted, counting out money and asking how much he owed. Marion kept out of the exchange.

At the opera, Patrick seated Marion between himself and Tom. Marion struggled to concentrate on the performance because she was aware of Tom beside her, while Patrick remained focused on the stage. The music changed Marion’s initial resistance to opera, and, during the final scene, Tom reached for her hand in the darkness. Afterward, Patrick stood to applaud with visible enthusiasm, and Marion and Tom joined him. The outing thus holds two different kinds of closeness together: a public evening organized by Patrick, and a quiet gesture between Marion and Tom.

London and private time

In a later recollection, Tom tells Marion that Patrick is in London for the weekend. They are approaching the pavilion, and Marion understands that Tom is describing an opportunity for the two of them to be alone, without Patrick. She had known Patrick to have a place in London but had not known him to spend weekends there; until then, he had usually been with them. London’s significance in this moment depends on that contrast between the familiar threesome and the prospect of an unaccompanied meeting between Tom and Marion.