There was adirty old woman in the basement.
Stretched flat on her bed, shesaw the moon; it seemed immensely high above her. He
stillhad courage, she observed with pride.
Bigwigs, mandarins, he supposed half
contemptuously. Let him ring thehouse down, for all she cared. She waitedas if for
some sluggish thought to rise.
He was a littleashamed that he had been caught
leaning out of the window clappinghis hands.
She stopped and looked down over thebanister. He
was always herfavourite, they said, and the thought pleased him today. Heought to
take a real holiday, she said, turning to Abel. And then, she resumed, when Mary
Palmer says to me, Which isyour daughter? A shabby old man,something like a decayed
groom to look at, stood there with a rakein his hand. The light grew more andmore
artificial; yellower and yellower. Butit was impossible to read; impossible to
sleep. A woman was peering up at him frombehind the bars of a cage in the basement.
Maggie held the blind so that the window wasuncurtained. Crosby wont trust herself
in the Tube, willyou, Crosby?
But he was very handsome; beside him theColonel
felt large, weather-beaten and rough.
The flower fell off her laponto the
floor.
But I dont see Martin every day, Maggie
protested.
She watched the couples comingdown the iron
staircase.
The mixture of lightswas very odd; one leaf was a
lurid green; another was a brightwhite.
The worlds nothing but thought, does he say? Thank
Uncle Abel for the lovely necklace, her mother promptedher.
I havent seen him since he came back from Africa.
Remember, he said, were dining with the Chathams tonight.
She had got the job through her son the policeman.
Sheleft the door ajar and a dog pushed in after her.
Did she want him to stay, did she want him to go?
Then she saw that there were lightsin the hall beneath.
Snatches of talk andlaughter were blown across the
garden. But if they dont say O my broken heart, said Sara, what do theysay, at
parties?
Their daughter Magdalenawas with them; and she
looked where her mother pointed.
If my brother gets off in time to take me, she
said, and went upanother step too. All was silent in the house at Browne Street.