The Gentle Spirit

A short story, sometimes titled A Gentle Creature, narrated by a pawnbroker who sits beside the body of his young wife and tries to understand what has happened in their marriage. As he speaks, he goes back over their meeting, his pride and coldness, and her quiet resistance. The tale is a compact study of self-deception, control and misunderstanding between two people, told through the shifting thoughts of a man who cannot quite face himself.