Safe Return Doubtful

Two of the six stories in this short book concern Saki’s early character Reginald, a snappily dressed young man who fancies his chances with any young women he meets. He appears quite frequently in early Saki stories.

In ‘Christmas Revel’, Reginald is spending the holiday with some distant relations of his father’s, the Babwolds. The festivities are quite typical, parlour games, extended trivial conversation and Reginald’s attempts to escape from it all. He mischievously manages to escape, but that entails him travelling on Boxing Day.

Mrs Babwold wears a rather solemn personality, and has never been known to smile, even when saying disagreeable things to her friends. She takes her pleasures sadly. Her husband gardens in all weathers. When a man goes out in the pouring rain to brush caterpillars off rose trees, I generally imagine his life indoors leaves something to be desired; anyway, it must be very unsettling for the caterpillars.

In the following story Reginald shares his thoughts on Christmas presents..

There ought to be technical education classes on the science of present-giving. No one seems to have the faintest notion of what anyone else wants, and the prevalent ideas on the subject are not creditable to a civilised community.

It’s a welcome diversion, not just from the usual Christmas short story fare, but also as an excuse to get away from the sort of interactions with relatives the stories concern.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5