not hear of the matter before or during lunch.

Uncle Lulworth takes his lunch very seriously. He is in awe of his cook, Sebastien. Sebastien came to cook for Uncle Luworth upon the untimely death of Aunt Adelaide's brother Peter for whom Sebastien cooked.

Egbert has a letter with evidence that Peter and Sebastien quarreled. Peter threw coffee in Sebastien's face. Sebastien then muttered something about killing Peter:

I [Peter] got so irritated and annoyed at [Sebastien's] conceit and obstinacy that at last I threw a cupful of coffee in his face and called him at the same time an impudent jackanapes. Very little of the coffee went actually in his face, but I have never seen a human being show such deplorable lack of self-control. I laughed at the threat of killing me that he spluttered out in his rage, and thought the whole thing would blow over, but I have several times since caught him scowling and muttering in a highly unpleasant fashion, and lately I have fancied that he was dogging my footsteps about the grounds, particularly when I walk of an evening in the Italian Garden.'

Shortly thereafter, Peter died from a blow to the head, but no one suspected Sebastien. He and Peter seemingly had never quarreled. Egbert had just found the letter addressed to his Aunt Adelaide. With this information, Sebastien would have had a motive to kill Peter.

Uncle Lulworth, who now employs Sebastien as his cook, asks Egbert for the letter. Uncle Lulworth burns the letter, the evidence that Sebastien could have had a motive for killing Peter. Egbert almost screams:

Egbert's voice rose almost to a scream. Sir Lulworth had flung the paper well and truly into the glowing centre of the grate. The small, neat hand-writing shrivelled into black flaky nothingness.

Egbert gasped. He cannot believe his Uncle Lulworth just destroyed the evidence that could have given Sebastien a motive for killing Peter:

"What on earth did you do that for?" gasped Egbert. "That letter was our one piece of evidence to connect Sebastien with the crime."

Uncle Lulworth intentionally burned the letter so there would be no evidence against Sebastien who is now his cook. Egbert asks why did he cover for a common murderer. Uncle Lulworth exclaims that murderers are common, but cooks are not:

"But why should you want to shield him?" cried Egbert; "the man is a common murderer."

"A common murderer, possibly, but a very uncommon cook."

A blind spot is defined as "an area where a person's view is obstructed." This is the literal definition. In daily life, people often talk about having a figurative "blind spot" for someone; by this they mean that they fail to exercise discrimination or judgment about them. For instance, one might say that a doting father has a blind spot when it comes to his son's rude behavior because he is fond of the boy and chooses to ignore the behavior.

In Saki's The Blind Spot, we have two characters, Egbert and Sir Lulworth, who are having lunch together. As they dine, Lulworth extols the pleasures of their meal, which starts with borscht and is followed by olives. Lulworth is obsessed with food—to the point where Egbert feels the man is pretty frivolous about things in general. In this story, he is about to find out how frivolous.

When Egbert tells him he has something important to discuss, Lulworth replies:

"Then we can't possibly speak about it now," said Sir Lulworth; "no one could talk seriously during a borscht. A beautifully constructed borscht, such as you are going to experience presently, ought not only to banish conversation but almost to annihilate thought."

Egbert waits patiently until the right moment, then tells Lulworth his shocking news. A relative has died and left Egbert an inheritance, and along with it came a number of letters his relative had written and received. In one of the letters there is evidence of a murder.

The brother of the woman who died had written her, relating how he had been in a dreadful fight with his personal chef, Sebastien. They came to near blows as they argued about a meal. The brother, Peter, became so angry he threw his coffee in Sebastien's face, and the chef threatened to kill him. In the letter, Peter reports to his sister that he fears for his life. This is significant because Peter was found dead days later on the steps outside his home, his head bashed in. The inquest was unable to prove who did it, and the case is still open. But this letter seems to settle the matter—Sebastien did it.

Egbert is stunned when Lulworth suddenly snatches the incriminating letter from him and dashes it into the fireplace to burn away:

"What on earth did you do that for?" gasped Egbert. "That letter was our one piece of evidence to connect Sebastien with the crime."

"That is why I destroyed it," said Sir Lulworth.

"But why should you want to shield him?" cried Egbert; "the man is a common murderer."

"A common murderer, possibly, but a very uncommon cook."

So, Lulworth is willing to protect Sebastien because he has a blind spot for the exceptionally good cook; he is alright with overlooking any poor behavior, even murder, when someone can put out a nice plate of food. Thus, he illustrates his "blind spot" for the murderous cook.

Only two characters appear in the story: Egbert and his Uncle Lulworth. They discuss three other characters: the married couple Peter and Alexandra, who were Egbert's aunt and uncle, now both deceased, and Sebastian, a chef who now cooks for Uncle Lulworth. The man is apparently a gourmet, as he does not want his lunch interrupted.

Egbert finds himself shocked and distressed by his uncle's attitudes and actions. He has brought a letter with information that might indicate that Sebastian had killed Peter. Lulworth had burned the letter because he valued the chef's skills.

The theme of egotism seems paramount here, as Lulworth rejects something important because it might interrupt his sensory pleasure; his satisfaction is more important than finding out what happened to his own relatives.

Of course, as the story ends at that point, we do not get to see what develops. Perhaps Lulworth was behind Peter's death. It may be that Lulworth truly did value the chef more highly. If so, hypocrisy could also be a main theme.