A fine gentleman
It was just after four o’clock that Sir Donald arrived, by growler and unaccompanied. I had expected something more impressive: a private carriage and a retinue of servants. But it was a rare occasion even...
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A stiff white hand
They brought him back from the dockyard on a cart. It was a cold day, with drizzling rain, and the men who accompanied the body were wet and bedraggled. They had covered him with a...
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.
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...
The world grows worse
They set out next morning, with a tide and a fresh south-easterly. Mr Fernie’s boat was larger and better kept than Tostevin’s, a two-masted ketch newly painted green, with a crew of two men and...
Leave of absence
‘How did you get leave of absence from the bank?’
‘Mr Merton granted it. I asked for it in lieu of the holiday I was to have later in the summer. He readily agreed – you know how indulgent he is.’
She said quickly: ‘You did not tell him that you were alarmed on my account?’
‘I did not speak of you at all. I spoke of an aunt at Southampton who was ill, and needed me.’
On the hot sand
She slept and woke, hearing her own voice crying weakly for Peter. The storm raged, but less fiercely. She tried to get to her feet, but the drag of wet clothes and the oilskin were...
The island of Herm
Hilary Ford recalls the island of Herm: Herm, three miles from St Peter Port, is the tiny jewel of the Channel Islands…. Before the first ferry arrives in the morning, and after the last goes...
The weather is breaking
She felt more at peace than she could ever remember. Over eighteen hours had passed since she last took the drug, and her mind felt clear, though languid. There was the enormous relief of freedom,...
‘I am your doctor’
They were trying to make out she was mad, but a doctor could not be deceived. She clutched his arm, weeping and shaking, and implored him to get her away, to take her to a...