The Luncheon

Short Story | W. Somerset Maugham

How did the writer have his revenge on the lady guest at last?

Premium

How did the writer have his revenge on the lady guest at last William Somerset Maugham s story The Luncheon shows quiet pain and silent suffering It also shows a final soft revenge The young writer meets a lady admirer at Foyot s the costly Paris restaurant She eats richly He suffers silently But years later time gives him a gentle victory Remembers the Pain of Foyot s The writer meets the lady again in a theatre after many years She smiles and says nbsp You asked me to luncheon nbsp This takes him back to Paris He remembers Foyot s He remembers her lies She had said nbsp I never eat anything for luncheon nbsp But she ate salmon caviar asparagus ice cream and a peach The young writer ate only a mutton chop He drank only water She drank champagne He had only eighty francs for the month

He feared the bill This memory becomes his first step toward revenge She Enjoyed He Suffered At Foyot s the lady acted modest but behaved greedily She said she ate only one thing yet she ate five costly things She said nbsp My doctor won t let me drink anything but champagne nbsp She never thanked him She judged his small tip She called him Humorist She left in a taxi The writer walked out with no money This one-sided suffering stayed in his heart Time Gives the Real Revenge Years later he looks at her again She is now huge He says nbsp Today she weighs twenty-one stone nbsp This is his soft revenge Her own greed punished her Her lies became truth His pain becomes humour He wins quietly The writer s revenge is calm quiet and perfect He does not shout He does not fight Time itself becomes his weapon The woman who once hid greed behind sweet words now carries its weight openly His silent suffering turns into a silent victory

Continue Reading

Sign in and subscribe to unlock the full content