It was first published in The Sphere on 24 December 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.
[1] At the harbour Fenella and her grandmother say goodbye to Fenella's father and board the Picton boat; a number of everyday situations are described during the journey, which highlight a degree of tension between the rather religious grandmother and staff on the boat.
They arrive at the grandparents’ house and meet Fenella's grandfather.
It becomes apparent slowly as the story develops that Fenella's mother has recently died, and she is being taken to live in Picton for an unknown length of time.
The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.