We walked for a few minutes in silence, our hands clasped lightly, the air grey and breathless about us to the cold, shadowy heights of the sky. A fat old man and a young girl...

I said: ‘Don’t imagine things, Livia. It isn’t like that. It’s no more than a weakness in Piers’s sexual make-up that makes him incapable of retaining an interest in any woman for long. In that...

After breakfast there was the usual Sunday confusion as to what should be done before the pubs opened at twelve. I was feeling the need of fresh air myself and decided to go for a...

I accepted the coffee from Helen and drank thirstily. My disengaged right hand rested on my knee; I felt something damp nuzzle against it and looked down to see Brock preparing to rest his furry...

Howard said: ‘We all heard him coming in last night. Like the entry of the gladiators.’ I remembered more distinctly myself. There had been a light in the window of Helen’s room but I had...

Britton and Piers were sitting opposite each other in my arm-chairs. They were talking. Britton broke off a sentence as I entered the room, and smiled his welcome before continuing with it. ‘I was saying...

It was a long time now since Lulu had offended her father by the manner of her refusal of an arranged marriage but Eugene Cartesian, whose personal fortune was well and amply secured in half...

Sitting side by side we watched her making preparations. The silence which had fallen between us had something of deliberation in it; in a way a refusal of communication. Yet it had no awkwardness. There...

Leslie said: ‘Well, it’s not surprising. The sort of mind that can kid itself it’s getting nourishment from communist slop is always likely to turn to the religious trough instead. The pigfood’s the same; it’s...

Leslie said suddenly: ‘How’s the Yank settling down?’ Lulu looked from one to the other of us in inquiry. ‘Britton,’ I explained. ‘You knew he was coming? He arrived this morning.’ She said: ‘Oh, I’ve...