# XL: Which Mr. Flaherty Does Not Quite Explain explained — The Cream of the Jest

> Chapter companion for The Cream of the Jest by James Branch Cabell.

## What happens

The narrator reflects on Felix Kennaston as a parable of humanity, flawed yet devoted to his dream. After Kathleen Kennaston's sudden death, the sigil is found intact among her effects. The narrator reveals the sigil is merely the metal top of a cold cream jar, designed by P. N. Flaherty, and Kennaston's visions were a product of self-hypnosis and faith. Despite this, Kennaston insists the sigil taught him that life is miraculous.

## Themes in this chapter

### Dream vs. Reality

Kennaston's dream of the sigil's power is contrasted with the mundane reality of a cold cream jar top; yet his faith transforms his perception of life.

### The Power of Storytelling

The narrator frames Kennaston's life as a parable, and the sigil's 'meaning' is created by Kennaston's narrative and belief.

### Disillusionment and Cynicism

The narrator's revelation of the sigil's origin is a cynical anticlimax, yet Kennaston's unwavering faith challenges pure disillusionment.

## Character check-ins

### Felix Kennaston

Portrayed as a flawed, dream-driven man; his wife dies; he remains unshaken in his faith in the sigil's lesson.

### Mrs. Kennaston

Dies in her sleep; had hidden the sigil pieces; suspected her husband's mental state but loved him.

### Dick Harrowby

The narrator; reflects on Kennaston's character and reveals the sigil's mundane origin.

### P. N. Flaherty

The artist who designed the cold cream jar top, unknowingly creating the 'sigil'.

### Muriel Allardyce

Mentioned as having a jar of Harrowby's Crême Cleopatre in her handbag.

## Key lines

> the one great thing the sigil taught me—that everything in life is miraculous.

The sigil's ultimate lesson is that all of life is filled with wonder.

_Kennaston's core belief, reiterated despite the sigil's mundane origin._

> it is only by preserving faith in human dreams that we may, after all, perhaps some day make them come true.

Keeping faith in our dreams might eventually lead to their realization.

_The narrator's concluding reflection on Kennaston's story._

> the Wardens of Earth sometimes unbar strange windows... but always They humorously contrive matters so this man shall never be able to convince his fellows of what he has seen

The forces that govern the world allow glimpses of the extraordinary but ensure such experiences cannot be proven to others.

_The narrator's speculation on the nature of Kennaston's experiences._

## Links

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