Mrs. Bixby and her dentist husband live in a New York apartment. Once a month, Mrs. Bixby travels from New York City to Baltimore, supposedly visiting her elderly aunt; in fact, she is having an affair with the Colonel.

As she is preparing to leave after one of these visits to Baltimore, Mrs. Bixby receives a package from the Colonel containing a letter and an expensive gift: a dark mink coat. The Colonel's letter informs Mrs. Bixby that they can no longer see each other, and suggests she tell her husband the mink coat is a Christmas present from her aunt. Mrs. Bixby is in despair as she reads the letter: her aunt is far too poor to be given credit for the gift. However, Mrs. Bixby is intent on keeping the coat and devises a plan. On her return to New York she visits a pawnbroker and pawns the coat for $50. The pawnbroker gives her a pawn ticket, which she declines to mark with any kind of name or description. The ticket guarantees her right to claim the coat at any time. She tells her husband that she found the pawn ticket in the taxi, and he decides it would be best if he redeemed the ticket, in spite of Mrs. Bixby's objections.

The next day, Mr. Bixby goes to the pawn shop to redeem the ticket and claim the item it stands for. Mrs. Bixby is excited and rushes to her husband's office after he has collected it. She is horrified when he proudly holds up a small, mangy stole, and not her coat. He announces it is real mink and that she should consider it her Christmas present.

Mrs. Bixby initially believes the pawnbroker has cheated her of her coat and intends to confront him. But as she leaves her husband's office, Mr. Bixby's secretary, Miss Pulteney, walks proudly past her, wearing the mink coat. It is implied that Mr. Bixby is having an affair with Miss Pulteney, decided to give her the coat, and purchased a cheap stole for his wife instead. As Mrs. Bixby cannot demand the coat back without revealing her own affair, she is hoist with her own petard.

Also contained in:
Alle Verhalen
Best of Roald Dahl
Best of Roald Dahl
Collected Short Stories
Kiss Kiss
A Roald Dahl selection
Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected
Short Stories
Short Stories (Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat / Vengeance Is Mine)
Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories
Tales of the Unexpected
Tel est pris qui croyait prendre
Trickery