‘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,’...

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...

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...

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...

She went to dancing lessons for over three months and then, one afternoon, she danced for Solly. It happened accidentally; he was sitting as he so often did, playing the piano for his own soul’s...

In the choice of friends, the illusion of free will is most strong. Some we seem to reject and others to claim, and the impression is built up in our minds that these men and...

‘Standards of behaviour,’ Aunt Peggy said stridently, ‘do count for so much. It is easy enough to poke fun at them, but they are the … the backbone of our society. Without decent behaviour, everything...

That night Dadda was back early. We sat in the kitchen, all four of us, drinking cocoa under a gas-mantle that flared nakedly because the shade had been packed, and Dadda spoke to us seriously....

Mamma accepted the idea of the change, but without any enthusiasm. She told herself that she was afraid of Dadda overreaching himself, but the real trouble was something else: she was a child of the...

‘You are in the estate business?’ Maier said. ‘Let me get you both a drink. What are you having?’ Solly pointed to the glasses. ‘Beer.’ Maier said: ‘On my expense account no one ever drinks...