Mercy is a freelance writer and a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Berkeley. In the following essay, he suggests that the key to understanding Kipling's "Mrs. Bathurst" lies in its structure.

If you have come away from "Mrs. Bathurst" more than a little confused and frustrated by its complexity, then rest assured that you are neither the first nor the last to do so. Since its growing popularity as one of Kipling's most complex stories, "Mrs. Bathurst" has received a barrage of critical response, most of which takes for granted that the story is at once "obscure and puzzling," filled with "misinformation," "uncrackable," and, as though Kipling were pleased by his audience's frustrations, "teasingly ambiguous."

In fact, even those most familiar with Kipling's art have chosen to summarize "Mrs. Bathurst" before venturing to interpret its meaning, as though describing "what happens" is, in itself, an interpretive...