A need to touch
The lawn behind the Manoir was even better kept, of still more ancient tending, than the one in front; but where that had a circle’s regular shape, this stretched out among cypresses and gnarled magnolias...
Category: Sarnia
Extracts from Sarnia
Honouring the dead
The graveyard was not far from the house, less than ten minutes on foot, but the Jelains insisted on the carriage. Sarnia was still too weak to walk out, Mrs Jelain declared, and Edmund supported the argument. In fact, Sarnia was not sorry to acquiesce. Although she had ceased taking Dr Falla’s potion, a lethargy clung to her mind and her limbs felt weak. She was grateful for the help of Edmund’s arm as he led her from the landau to the graveyard.
Sam Youd on Guernsey
Sam Youd wrote more than half his 57 published novels during the nearly twenty years he lived on the Channel Island of Guernsey. It was on Guernsey that he first ventured into the field of...
A prodigious amount of walking
‘We seem to do a prodigious amount of walking in London,’ he observed. ‘Do you not walk much in Guernsey, then?’ Sarnia asked. ‘That we do,’ he chuckled. ‘And climb as well. Our town is...
Departure time
The evening of a clear summer day was darkening when the carriage conveyed them into Vauxhall station. The gas jets flared high up but were little needed still; even under the shadow of the platform...
All men have their faults
She spoke confidingly to Sarnia. ‘I suppose all men have their faults, but I would rather have extravagance than meanness.’ ‘I perfectly agree,’ Sarnia said. ‘Meanness and coldness – they are much the same thing...
The train departs
The guard’s whistle was blown and the engine chuffed into life. The train moved out of the station’s gloom into the brighter ambience of the city’s dusk. Overhead the sky was deep, almost violet blue;...
I have no thought of being rich
‘Beauty such as yours, my dear Sarnia, has power. But none of these is one tenth as powerful as money. The evidence is undeniable.’ ‘But I deny it. Money only has power insofar as men...
It is your name which is written down for the next dance, not his
‘I am fully engaged.’ He took the card from her and studied it for a moment in silence. Then he said: ‘The next is a mazurka. That will do capitally.’ She said, trying to be...
No, cousin …
‘No, cousin …’ The denial, she realized, could apply either to his last sentence or to what she knew would follow. Which had she meant herself? She was not quite sure. She tried again to...
