Quality

The narrator knew Mr Gessler from childhood. The small London shop had quiet distinction - only the name and a few boots in the window.

Mr Gessler and his elder brother made boots in a small by-street shop with no sign except 'Gessler Brothers'. They made only what was ordered, and every pair fitted perfectly.

To the boy, making such boots seemed mysterious. Mr Gessler smiled and said in his German accent, 'It is an art.' The boots lasted terribly long.

The narrator remembers asking if boot-making was hard. Mr Gessler replied, 'It is an art.' One entered the shop restfully, as into a church, and waited while Gessler dreamed of boots.

Gessler would feel the leather, admire its beauty, and promise delivery in a fortnight. The smell of leather was like incense.

Without many words Gessler examined gold-brown leather, fixed his eyes on it, and asked when the boots were wanted. The narrator inhaled the incense of his trade and heard slippers tip-tapping upstairs.

Once a pair creaked. Gessler blamed the narrator for getting them wet before they 'found themselves' and offered to remove them from the bill if he could not fix them.

When the narrator complained of creaking boots, Gessler said they should not have creaked and that the feet had got them wet too soon. He asked that they be sent back for inspection.

When the narrator once wore emergency boots from a big firm, Gessler quietly said, 'Those are not my boots.' He spoke bitterly of firms that win customers by advertisement, not work.

Gessler pressed the uncomfortable spot and said big firms had no self-respect. He cried that they took all the trade through advertisement; each year he had less work and more grey hairs.

After a long gap the narrator returns to find Mr Gessler aged and alone. His elder brother is dead. Soon Mr Gessler too dies - the last artist of his kind.

Months later the shop seems unchanged, but Gessler has lost his brother and looks wan. He still offers beautiful leather. The narrator realises the artist-craftsman is vanishing from the world.