Elizabeth came in with the Deepings. She was at her best in situations such as this: quiet, sympathetic, serene. She put her arm, unobtrusively but firmly, round Ruth Deeping’s shoulders as she led her across...

She stood aside and he carried the boy through into the salon. He put him down on the carpet, in front of the fire, and stripped off the upper garments. He massaged the still warm...

The Deeping boys, Selby saw, had got the toboggan out again, and were using it to slide down the steepest part of the hillside, just beyond the fall. They were going quite fast, probably not...

‘Do you have that – a place of your own?’ ‘I,’ she said, striking a histrionic attitude, ‘live with a friend in West Chelsea. Fulham, that is. Walk up three flights, and there we are....

A dedicated man, Selby Grainger thought, would be starting to worry now about the possibility of delay in getting back to work. He stretched back in the chair, and gave a small grunt of satisfaction....

‘They will be able to open the road up within a week? You’re sure of that? We don’t have to start rationing food, or anything like that?’ ‘No rationing,’ he said. ‘They know down at...

‘The toast may be a little variegated. We’ve had to improvise a toasting fork.’ ‘Toast made on an open fire!’ Grainger said. ‘Can I come and make my own?’ Mandy shook her head. ‘You’d get...

Going down the last flight of stairs, to the basement, she felt a little light-headed. She would be better after coffee, and she decided she would have some toast this morning, too. Getting up without...

She slept soundly, undisturbed by George when he came to bed, and awoke at six thirty. She lay in the dark, listening to the wind which was still raging outside and to her husband’s heavy...

Hamilton took the minibus down to pick up the party from the village just before six. By that time, clouds had gathered on this side of the valley, and a bitterly cold wind had risen....