Question

why did mrs. Dorling refuse to recognize the author

Answer 1

Mrs. Dorling was a greedy woman who did not return the belongings to the narrator. She refused to recognize the author because she did not want to part with the things of narrator's mother.  Mrs. S had entrusted the task of taking care of her things before leaving to save their life from Nazi soldiers. After the war when the narrator returned, and went to her house to take her mother's things back, she refused to recognize her. She kept her standing at the door, and asked her to come some other day. Her selfish, inconsiderate and avaricious behavior hurt the already hurt narrator. Her intentions of misappropriating the author's mother's goods were quite clear.

Answer 2

Mrs. Dorling never thought that the narrator would return after years to get her mother's stuff back. She had been using the stuff all along and didn't want to return it. When he recognized her, she hid herself behind the door and didn't even want to talk to the narrator. She lied that she didn't recognize her. Narrator's mother trusted Mrs. Dorling as her friend but she displayed a inconsiderate and selfish behavior which hurt the narrator.