Frank led the way on to the pier, down the ramp – slanting sharply since the tide was out – and through to the landing stage. The ferry boats huddled against the wharf, and beyond...

‘Do they give you much trouble?’ ‘They would if they had the guts. Best part of them never went in the Army, you know. Work of national importance, that was what they were on. Eight...

It was dusk outside; a clear night with stars beginning to appear. Cartwright had driven back through Huyton, and come in from the Huyton road. Bates walked in the opposite direction. Going home, he thought....

‘Milly! We’re here.’ Milly came down the stairs, bulking even larger than was reasonable against the sunset light from a window behind her. She greeted Bates in a friendly but shy fashion. He wondered what...

‘I’m not going to have it said that my son pushed in where he wasn’t asked.’ He had used indifference against his mother for so long that he could adopt it with both ease and...

She said: ‘You say that John’s written back accepting?’ ‘Of course,’ Frank said. ‘It would have been very impolite if he hadn’t done so.’ She was replenishing the food in Esther’s cage. Esther was failing...

‘I’ve no intention of being a wife ever.’ She glanced at Frank, and then quickly to Patrick and John. ‘Having been brought up in close contact with such wonderful specimens as these three, I can’t...

‘What did you think of going in for when you leave the University, Frank?’ ‘I don’t know yet. If I go to the University my mother wants me to be a schoolmaster.’ Mr. Lucus nodded...

As he bent his body beneath the jutting branch, Frank thought that that was another lesson well learned: never to expect common sense to carry the day against feelings. Patricia had flung herself down into...

‘Perhaps I could point something out to you, Mr. Prentice.’ He had a dry tired voice. ‘The firm is only interested in the land if it meets certain requirements. If it should happen that it...