Vera's
main characteristic is that she is bored. The fact that she is obviously very intelligent as
well as imaginative only adds to her boredom. She is confined to a household in which the same
exact things happen every day. The three males go out hunting and are expected back at tea time.
They are always accompanied by the spaniel. They always enter by the tall window which is left
open for them. She knows that Bertie always sings the same song--"I said, Bertie, why do
you bound?"-- as a way of announcing their arrival. Her aunt has become so accustomed to
the monotonous routine in this stereotypical English country setting that she always talks about
the same subjects, based on information derived from the three men, who provide just about the
only conversation she ever hears.
She rattled on
cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the
winter.
Vera's boredom inspires her to create some
excitement by making up a story which will be substantiated by the repetition of all the boring
events of daily life she is so familiar with. Her aunt and the three hunters are like living
symbols of the girl's utter boredom. They are completely dependable in their routine existences.
She knows exactly what they will all do and say. It is no wonder that "romance at short
notice was her specialty," since her only escape from boredom is in her imagination.
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