In the Prime of Life

Summary

Copenhagen’s gilded parlors inhale the scent of tuberoses while a draper’s assistant, Ellen, folds muslin like a future she’s not allowed to keep. Edgar, silk-waisted and flush with generational coin, purchases roses the way others acquire racehorses—impulse draped in chivalry. Their courtship is a Sunday carousel of gaslit waltzes and promenades along Langebro, time measured in tram tickets and stolen breaths. Three turns of the moon and the carousel stops: a trembling blue line on a strip of cotton tells Ellen the ride is over. Edgar kneels, swears a kingdom of two, then watches his father’s patriarchal gravity collapse the vows into ledger ink. The unborn becomes an un-person; the florist’s bouquet, now funereal, rots on a writing desk where signatures once promised permanence.

Synopsis

A wealthy young man, Edgar, sees a shop-girl, Ellen, and is immediately attracted to her. He buys her flowers. They meet next Sunday and, presumably, often thereafter. Three months later Ellen is pregnant. The couple decide to marry, and Edgar tells his mother. His father convinces him not to marry.