The End Of The Affair

Bendrix reviews a report from Parkis, who has “made friendly contact” (29) with the maid at the Miles’s home. Parkis has gained access to Sarah’s engagement book and her waste-paper basket, also revealing that Sarah keeps a diary and has done for some time. Parkis says that Sarah has not been keeping appointments and has also attached a note from Sarah, a love letter to an unnamed correspondent. Bendrix has come to resent Parkis’s reports.

The words of the love letter haunt Bendrix, keeping him up at night. Bendrix is self-admittedly jealous of Henry, Sarah, and the mysterious new lover. He remembers that he used to fight with Sarah about jealousy. He recalls one particular instance, when he tells her that “a frigid woman is never jealous, you simply haven't caught up yet on ordinary human emotions” (30). Sarah agrees that this may be the case, which only angers Bendrix further. He finds himself consumed by jealousy and angry with Sarah for wasting their precious time on fighting. Eventually, Bendrix storms out into the street. He feels the need to hurt Sarah, to make her feel the jealousy he feels, knowing that “the only way to hurt her was to hurt [him]self” (31-32).

Performing his duties as a warden during the Blitz, Bendrix tours the streets of London at night to monitor the people taking shelter. He meets a young woman and propositions her; they go to a nearby pub. The girl “couldn’t have been more than nineteen” (32), and he cannot help but see Sarah in her face. Bendrix feels no desire for the girl, and he leaves her in the pub, finding a phone box to call his own home, hoping Sarah will answer. She does not, so Bendrix returns home and tries to read. Unable to focus, he takes a sleeping draught and goes to bed, thinking about God and the Devil.

Parkis has discovered where Sarah spends most of her time: She is visiting No. 16 Cedar Road, which contains a number of flats. Parkis promises to find out who occupies these flats and who she visits. Bendrix takes pleasure in knowing that the detectives are on the case, enjoying the power over Sarah that it gives him. He considers calling Parkis off, but Henry has been included in the Birthday Honours, and a picture of him and Sarah at a film gala rekindles Bendrix’s jealousy.

Bendrix writes to Henry, arranging a meeting with the promise of information. They meet for lunch at Bendrix’s club. Over the food, they talk “elaborately about nothing” (34) and then retire to a position beside the fire, where they begin to talk about Sarah. When Bendrix reveals that he visited the detective, Henry stands up and accuses Bendrix of “infernal cheek” (35). Despite Henry asking to leave, Bendrix reveals that Parkis has found something of interest. But when Bendrix hands Henry the reports, Henry throws them into the fire. Feeling “drained of venom” (35), Bendrix allows Henry to leave, content that he has planted a seed of doubt in Henry’s mind. Henry is in such a rush to leave that he forgets his hat.

Taking Henry’s hat, Bendrix pursues him out of the club but quickly loses sight of him. Bendrix finds Henry in the Victoria Gardens, and Henry demands that Bendrix sit beside him on a bench. Henry asks Bendrix bluntly whether he and Sarah were lovers, which Bendrix denies at first and then confesses. Bendrix explains to Henry “about the character of his own wife” (36), and the two comfort one another for their failure to maintain Sarah’s interest. Bendrix remembers “the end of the whole affair” (37).