‘It’s the way you handle things. You go about them the way John would if he were here – with what I can only describe as a large-handed confidence. Neither of you have particularly large...

‘How conventional death makes us,’ she said. ‘Not like birth. I remember when the twins were born, Oliver picked each of them up in turn and tossed them so high that the midwife swore Paddy...

Mrs. Manson shocked him on the first encounter. She was a thin, bright-eyed woman of medium height, dressed in an old skirt and pullover, and she was smoking a cigarette. He had only once or...

When John had gone, Mrs. Bates called him. ‘Frank!’ He had been preparing to go round the side of the wash-house into the garden. ‘Come here, son. You didn’t tell me you’d met the doctor’s...

While he had been speaking, he had heard Patricia mouthing after him: ‘’Ow the ’ell’ – not so much in mimicry as in delighted interest. But when he had finished there was no immediate reply...

He got there early, and after a while thought that they must have changed their minds and decided against coming. He leaned against the boat-house, kicking the wood with his heel and was depressed to...

‘You’ve been very good to me. Oh, it’s damned hard … Frankie, my precious, I suppose I really want to tell you that I love you. As much as ever – more than ever. I...

Sir Joshua said: ‘Sit down, Frank. Monica and I have been discussing her future. We can’t make up our minds whether she is to marry a duke or a belted earl. What are your views...

He looked once more at the island, and prepared to make his way out through the window. It was then that he heard voices. The accents were unfamiliar and stilted. He caught his breath before...

Inside the wood it was dark and his feet made little noise over the carpet of leaf and leaf-mould. He made for the old chestnut first. It had been a tremendous stretch once to reach...