Summary

Marriage a la Mode is the brief story of a 1920s English husband and wife, viewed through the husband's perspective of their life and the changes that he finds unsettling. William is on his way to the train station for the ride home when he remembers that he has not bought any gifts for his two children, Paddy and Johnny. The last several times he has brought them sweets, which they bemoan in favor of something more unique, but they have every toy imaginable, and his creativity lags.

William remembers how Isabel, his wife, looked at him when he told her that, as a child, his only toy was an old towel with a knot at one end. William remembers her laugh and notes that it is a decidedly new laugh that she uses today.

Upon seeing a fruit cart, William's...