THE MARCHIONESS

Subtitled a novel, more correctly a novella, this is a septic little story reproduced with some acuity if without the attractiveness of the earlier Wednesday Visitors (1968). All of it takes place within a few days inside a small London apartment house where the Marchioness sits perched under an umbrella to protect herself from the cloudbursts (the plumbing) overhead. She is also fastened on her son Jimmy, a sad sort about 45, who does everything for her except keep her alive. Once gone a neighbor, Mrs. Abbot, lays her out while removing the money under her mattress; the sapphic girls upstairs quarrel viciously while Jimmy turns to one for comfort; his father, old Mr. Jimmy, comes back and is at first turned away with a stick; and although Jimmy is told that ""She's gone and nothing will bring her back"" there are indications of her continuing presence. . . . The laying to rest of The Loved One is reminiscent--but except for hints of pathos and glints of malice, not much more.