Nine Coaches Waiting

I know what it was, of course. I’d lived with loneliness a long time. That was something which was always there … one learns to keep it at bay, there are times when one even enjoys it – but there are also times when a desperate self-sufficiency doesn’t quite suffice, and then the search for the anodyne begins … the radio, the dog, the shampoo, the

‘I can’t promise anything. All I can say is that we’ll try and compromise between what’s right and what’s best.’

I sat quietly and watched them, feeling a warm, almost affectionate glow towards this large and distinguished Parisian who, among all his other preoccupations, could bother to make a lonely small boy feel he was wanted.

Léon de Valmy was speaking. That he was angry was obvious, and it looked as if he had every right to be, but the cold lash of his voice as he flayed the child for his small-boy carelessness was frightening; he was using – not a wheel, but an atomic blast, to break a butterfly. Philippe, as white as ashes now, stammered something that might have bee

Banquets abroad by torchlight! music! sports! Nine coaches waiting – hurry – hurry – hurry – Ay, to the devil … Tourneur: The Revenger’s Tragedy.

the inspector’s manner with me was gentle and even respectful, and I found myself answering his questions readily and without any anxiety other than the dreadful obsessional one – the fox under my cloak that kept my eyes on the open door all through the half-hour or so of question and answer, and made my heart jump and jerk every time anyone passed

telling Madame de Valmy. She was laughing, looking happier and more animated than I had seen her since I came to Valmy. I realised sharply how lovely she had been before time and tragedy had drained the life from her face. On the thought, she turned and saw myself and Philippe by the door, and the gaiety vanished. The boredom and annoyance that shu

It was a tribute to Léon de Valmy’s rather overwhelming personality that my own first impression had nothing to do with his crippled state; it was merely that this was the handsomest man I had ever seen. My experience, admittedly, had not been large, but in any company he would have been conspicuous. The years had only added to his extraordinary go

Her eyes as she smiled at me were friendly, almost warm, and for the first time since I had met her I saw charm in her – not the easy charm of the vivid personality, but the real and irresistible charm that reaches out halfway to meet you, assuring you that you are wanted and liked.