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Short Fiction · Chapter

An Adjustment of Nature explained

The narrator recounts a story from three years ago about his friend Kraft, a painter who believes in the 'Unerring Artistic Adjustment of Nature.' They frequent Cipher's restaurant, where the magnificent waitress Milly works.

What happens

The narrator recounts a story from three years ago about his friend Kraft, a painter who believes in the 'Unerring Artistic Adjustment of Nature.' They frequent Cipher's restaurant, where the magnificent waitress Milly works. Kraft fears that a wealthy lumberman will marry Milly and take her away from her natural environment. When a Klondiker millionaire appears and shows interest in Milly, the friends get him drunk and send him away to preserve the natural order. Later, the narrator learns that Kraft married Milly himself, revealing his true motive.

Themes in this chapter

  • Social Class and Wealth

    The Klondiker's wealth threatens to disrupt Milly's natural place at Cipher's, highlighting class tensions between the working class and nouveau riche.

  • Deception and Appearance vs. Reality

    Kraft pretends to act out of artistic principle but actually has personal motives, as revealed at the end when he admits he married Milly.

  • Humor and Irony

    The ironic twist that Kraft, who preached about preserving nature's adjustment, was himself the one to upset it by marrying Milly.

Characters to notice

Key passages

  • “It was our love of the Unerring Artistic Adjustment of Nature that inspired us. We could not give her over to a lumberman, doubly accursed by wealth and provincialism.”

    We were motivated by our belief in nature's perfect order. We couldn't let her marry a wealthy, unsophisticated lumberman.

    The narrator explains their philosophical justification for interfering with the Klondiker's courtship of Milly.

  • “With his own guns we drove him from the field.”

    We used his own money against him to defeat him.

    The friends trick the Klondiker into spending his own wealth on drinks, incapacitating him.

  • “I hurried away to see Kraft. His satanic eyes were the same, his hair was worse tangled, but his clothes had been made by a tailor.”

    I went to visit Kraft. His eyes were still mischievous, his hair messier, but he now wore tailored clothes.

    The narrator observes that Kraft's appearance has improved financially, hinting at his changed circumstances.

  • “Then, said I, 'when you led us against the lumberman—the—Klondiker—it wasn't altogether on account of the Unerring Artistic Adjustment of Nature?' 'Well, not altogether,' said Kraft, with a grin.”

    I asked if his motivation for stopping the Klondiker was purely artistic. Kraft grinned and admitted it was not entirely so.

    The final revelation that Kraft had personal, romantic motives for intervening.

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