Hermione

by Hilda Doolittle

  I found Ezra waiting for me on the pavement outside the house, off Oxford Circus, where I had a room. His appearance was again unexpected, unpredictable. He began, “I as your nearest male relation . . .,” and hailed a taxi. He pushed me in. He banged with his stick, pounding (Pounding), as I have said. “You are not going with them.” I had seen them the day before at their hotel, off Victoria Station. It was all arranged. Ezra must have seen them afterwards. “There is a vague chance that the Egg,” (he called her), “may be happy. You will spoil everything.” Awkwardly, at Victoria Station, I explained to a married Frances, with a long tulle travelling veil, that I wasn’t coming. I had changed my mind. Awkwardly, the husband handed me back the cheque that I had made out for my ticket. Glowering and savage, Ezra waited till the train pulled out.

  Copyright © 1981 by the Estate of Hilda Doolittle

  Copyright © 1981 by Perdita Schaffner

  Excerpt from End to Torment Copyright © 1979 by New Directions Publishing Corporation

  All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, or television review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

  First published clothbound and as New Directions Paperbook 526 in 1981

  Published simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited

  eISBN 978-0-8112-2233-4

  New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin

  by New Directions Publishing Corporation,

  80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Pandora’s Box

  Part One

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  V

  VI

  VII

  VIII

  Part Two

  I

  II

  A Postlude

  Copyright