I met Solly in the street near the school one day and we talked for a few minutes; casually, about nothing of importance. As we parted I saw Kelly coming towards me. He caught up...

We sat silent for a few moments. Ernst was crooning to the parrot: ‘Die Fahne hoch, Die Reihen fest geschlossen …’ ‘The Pier Head,’ she said, ‘… coming off the ferry late at night, and...

Coming in from the kitchen, Jinny called out: ‘Ah, there you are, Ricka! You’re back early.’ He was walking slowly but jauntily down the stairs. His mouth was smiling, but the blue eyes were cold...

‘What’s Jinny like? Different?’ ‘Very different.’ ‘No,’ I said instinctively. ‘No different. The same as always.’ ‘A German,’ Dadda said. ‘She has become a German completely. It is wonderful to see her.’ ‘She talks German,’...

I, of course, was engrossed at this time with my own plunge into the world of commerce. Mamma, although not very pleased, was resigned to my joining Dadda in the business. She took me along...

I had been so concerned with seizing this chance to hit back that I had not considered the implications of the words I had read and was now speaking. I have never had much taste...

‘So she told you it was just a boy-friend, and we had something against him? She’s a liar as well as a slut. Look at that.’ Mamma tossed her the poem. I was standing near...

‘Not that I admire your choice,’ I said bitterly. ‘My choice? David, is your mind as dirty as the others’? You mean you really thought Henry was my lover?’ ‘The poem,’ I said. She had...

I was always anxious to co-operate with Anna in avoiding subjects about which she was sensitive; sensitivity made her ferocious. But I raised the matter with Dadda in the office one day. I had come...

‘I haven’t been cursed by a priest since Father Reilly caught me doing a mock of his sermon back in Dublin, when I was a girl of eight. This one’s an Italian’ (she pronounced it...