The Keeper of Stories

Janice arrives at tea five minutes late to avoid looking overeager to see the bus driver, Euan. After small talk, they settle into a chat about books. Euan loves books and comes from a small Scottish town that hosts a large book festival. Janice is in her glory. Later, though, the mood seems to shift toward doubt again. She becomes certain that this will never work out; she blurts that she left her husband and then tries to answer Euan’s awkward questions about her family. She reveals that she came to the UK from Tanzania at age seven, but the conversation falls apart. She stutters that she has a sister when he asks about siblings, but then she abruptly gets up to leave. He asks to see her again, to start over, or to stick with books as a conversation topic. She reveals that she collects people’s stories, and he says that he collects people’s conversations. She agrees to meet again.

At Mrs. B’s, Janice meets Mycroft (attorney Fred Spink). He has been investigating whether Tiberius can have Mrs. B removed from her house. He explains that Augustus had an invested savings of over £40 million. As a Master of the college, Augustus arranged for Mrs. B to stay in the house until she died or became too infirm to live alone; for this arrangement, he allotted the college £2 million. If Mrs. B leaves, the college must pay out the £2 million, which Tiberius will receive.

Mycroft also knows that Tiberius is drumming up the concerns over alcoholism to create a reason for the college to want her gone. He thinks that the wine is a “lost cause.” Mycroft sends Janice to the corner store for a bottle of wine over which they can celebrate since his legal inquiries are sure to halt or pause the matter. She takes a bucket to hide the wine, and Mrs. B says, “Oh, we’ll make a spy of you yet” (163).

Mrs. B returns to Becky’s story after Mycroft’s departure. Janice notes her lyrical use of language, and Mrs. B claims that it is Scheherazade’s influence, meaning Janice’s. Becky took up with another man in Paris during the war—this one a prince. They spent time together at social gatherings and picnics in the country, far from the fighting. This prince was England’s Prince Edward—before his affair with Wallis Simpson and abdication of the throne. Edward wrote Becky letters that a lover would send a mistress, which she kept when he moved on to another woman.

Janice is late for her next date with Euan, but she brings him a library book that she thinks he might enjoy. She then concentrates on discussing books and stories. Euan says that he has four stories and would like to have a fifth. He also has a personal history that he says he does not count: He was a coxswain on a lifeboat, but he and a team once lost a little boy in a storm. He chooses not to claim that tragic story as part of his identity. He tells another: He is a traveling bus driver, meaning that the bus service uses him as a substitute driver in locations where drivers are in short supply. He enjoys traveling to new places.

When Euan asks for Janice’s story, she freezes up, so he requests a collected story instead. She talks about an Italian prisoner of war who, after World War II, decided to stay on in England, where he had been imprisoned. He helped other Italians find jobs there and worked to establish trust between them and the English citizens. He took a job as a cleaner but began doing odd jobs needed by one of his elderly clients. When this client passed away, she left him her house and property. By the time Janice is done telling the tale, Euan is holding her hand.

Fiona has changed the undertaker business in her dollhouse to a bakery, which Janice is glad to see. She later brings Mrs. B a bottle of gin, and Mrs. B reveals that Mycroft should have the college tied up in legal inquiries until the holidays (around nine months away).

Mrs. B resumes Becky’s story. Becky took revenge on the prince by marrying a wealthy man; she also brought her daughter into the household. However, Becky did not enjoy motherhood or marriage; they divorced, and she sent her daughter to private school. Janice asks Mrs. B if she and Augustus sent Tiberius to a private school; after confirming that they did, Mrs. B snottily comments on how Janice could never afford that for her child. This causes Janice to snap at Mrs. B, setting her straight, and the two quarrel briefly before Mrs. B apologizes. They commiserate over their guilt in sending their sons away.

Walking back to Geordie’s, Janice calls Simon to tell him that she left his father; overjoyed, he says that she should have done so long ago. Janice asks if he resents being sent to school. Simon says that he loved it and took full advantage of making friends and participating in sports. Janice feels a great burden lift.

Leashing Decius in the entryway, Janice overhears Tiberius’s phone call to someone. He is irate about his mother getting legal representation. He catches Janice listening, and she flees. Euan meets her and Decius, and together they collect Adam. Euan and Adam chat and throw the ball with Decius. Later, Euan shares some of his collected conversations with Janice. She asks if people yell at him on the bus; he says of course, but he tries to only listen to the quiet voices: “Those people, the quiet people, seem to have the more important things to say” (201).

At the café where they first had tea, Janice and Euan reveal their favorite things in various categories. Janice sees Mike out the window, giving a guided tour. She thinks that this might be the right job for him. Euan tells Janice that he attempted to propose to a girlfriend once, but she was so focused on her own chatter that she didn’t hear him. He did not ask again. As they talk, Mike comes in and indicates that he thinks Janice is having an affair with Geordie. He leaves in a huff, and she laughs; Euan is shocked that she knows the famous opera star.

Mrs. B finishes Becky’s story. Becky fell in with a “prince” of a man from Cairo whose lavish lifestyle she found attractive. They married; he wanted her to settle her ways, which led to quarreling. One night after the theater in London, they returned to the Savoy, arguing. At two o’clock in the morning, Becky shot him in the head and killed him. She was arrested and tried; the court case was sensational and dramatic. In the end, Becky used the letters that the Prince of Wales wrote to her to blackmail him; he arranged it so that she was acquitted.

Janice is suspiciously silent as the tale wraps up. Mrs. B repeatedly asks what is wrong, but Janice tries to hide her emotions, saying, “So the letters, and the deal, yes I can see, that’s how she got away with it” (209). The vocal emphasis on “she” reveals a comparison: Looking at Mrs. B, Janice knows that she revealed that she (Janice), like Becky, killed someone without consequence.