Trieste

Trieste serves as a staging point in Bella Baxter and Duncan Wedderburn’s journey: from a shipping office, Bella books passage on a Russian ship while Duncan, weakened by his dependence on anti-lethargy pills, grows increasingly reliant on her. The city’s rainy streets and docks become the setting for a brief reversal of control, as Bella conceals their destination and Duncan pleads for money for cigars.

A Port in the Journey

After four days in which Bella answers Duncan’s questions only with “Never ask!”, she makes arrangements while he is too ill to go anywhere without her help. In a Trieste shipping office, she books a passage on the kind of ship their informant had recommended. She cannot make out its Russian name, describing its sound as “cut use off”; the ship is identified in the narrative as the Russian Cargo Ship Cut-use-off.

The Docks and Duncan’s Plea

On the way to the docks, along a broad, dismal street in the rain, Duncan stops outside a tobacconist’s and asks Bella whether they are taking a long voyage by ship. She confirms that they are. He then sinks to his knees in the streaming gutter and begs her for money to buy cigars, explaining that he has run out. The moment concentrates the change in their situation: Duncan’s physical dependence and uncertainty leave Bella to direct their movements, while his craving makes even a departure for a long voyage secondary to his immediate request.