He said, ‘Your appetites coarsen – whisky’s only a part of it.’ ‘Is it?’ Katharine asked. She smiled, but there was a small ring of steel in her voice. ‘What other appetites, then?’ He missed...

You’re thirty-three.’ ‘It’s a ripe age.’ Her eyes appealed to him. ‘If you’d been like John, a family man, it would have been different. You wouldn’t have thought you had to go.’ ‘That’s not true....

‘Everything in order,’ he told her. ‘I’m to report in ten days’ time.’ ‘You’re cracked,’ Wilf said. He was breathing heavily, nervously. ‘For God’s sake, Vicky, how did you come to let him do a...

‘Your husband is a great man, Vicky,’ Tulenkov said. ‘He is a samurai of commerce. I would like to take him back with me to Russia. We could learn from him.’ ‘Some day,’ Lionel said,...

‘The birds will have gone to roost,’ Lionel said. From the pocket of his overcoat, Tulenkov took the bag into which, on their way out, he had put cakes from the stand. ‘They will wake...

‘We’re very fond of Wilf.’ ‘I can’t think why! He has no conversation, and even less appearance. That suit, that dreadful tie, those boots! And that washable collar.’ ‘You make him nervous,’ Victoria said. ‘Most...

‘I’ve behaved cheaply. I’ve known it and not been able to help it. I regret that, but I don’t regret the thing that made me act so. I shall never regret it. Lye, dear Lye,...

Gilbert smiled at his son-in-law. ‘You see design in the world, Lye – purpose, laws of cause and effect, the meshing of gears as events roll forward to their destination.’ ‘Do I?’ ‘I have no...

Lionel said, ‘Did you know Vicky and Kitty had been estranged from each other?’ Gilbert nodded. ‘I noticed it during the winter. And it was obvious when Vicky came out here by herself to have...

Katharine arrived in the morning without advance warning. Lionel was sitting by Victoria’s bed when the door opened and she came in. For a moment Lionel thought it would be necessary to tell her of...