Chapter 2, "The Letters from Zedelgheim" Summary

The first portion of "Letters from Zedelgheim" is told in a series of nine letters written in 1931, by Robert Forbischer to his friend, Sixsmith. In his first letter, Frobisher is in London skipping out of a hotel in the middle of the night because he is too broke to pay his bill. Although he is the son of a British nobleman, he has been disinherited and has run through his credit, luck, and the goodwill of his friends.

Frobisher is a music student, who has been kicked out of school. With the few pounds he has left, he takes the ferry from Dover to Ostend (Belgium) with the idea of arriving at the doorstep of aging and wealthy composer, Vyvyan Ayrs, at his Chateau outside of Bruges. The plan is that the ailing...