Living Alone

ey were surprised to see a great crowd of people banked up on the Island, and one man in the uniform of a policeman, standing alon

g argument. "'Ere's some more parties wanting to cross." He turned to Richard. "Look 'ere,

ah," said

ictoria and Albert the Good-was waiting to cross now, I wouldn't come in for

that a climax of defiance was being r

older on Mitten Island?" asked the

hard, to his com

any of these names: Iris 'Yde, T.B. Watkins, Hangela the Witch, possibly a male in fem

ite you the prospectus if you like. I have a superintendent there. I have known her all my life. I did not know s

of his neck. He succeeded in killing one insect upon the bridge of his nose, and left it there by mistake, a

d the policeman,-"with being, although a civilian, in possession of a flying mach

said Richard. "De

ic in his discomfort and indignity. His small eyes, set in red fat, stared with uncomprehending protest; his fat busy hands were not agile enough to de

reply, and Richard could say n

nd regimental number, please, young man,"

I think. That's the worst of not being able to read or write. I can describe the place to you exactly, a house with a lot of windows, that sees a long way. If you turn your back on the Marble

n his voice. "Seein' as 'ow you refuse information, an' this ferryman thinks fit to defy the law, I 'a

essful evening of his life, overwhelmed him. A shadow swept over the party, a large flying substa

oomstick landed on the spo

There was no need to tell anybody to look. Five hundred odd people were already doing so wit

olently once or twice. Richard stretched out his riding-cro

an't sink. Talking of sinking, Richard, there's a question that puzzles me rather. If a rat got on to a submarine

itch by the shoulder. "G

asked the witch. "I've o

s all that Sarah Brown

ended grown-up voice. "I can take a hint,

itable flouncing movement on H

an enraged seal. Peals of laughter from the other s

the Horse Vivian on the nose, preparatory to riding away. "Don't

ity to the stirrup. "You don't know how bitterly I long to be still and hear things very

pulled himself slowly into the saddle. The policeman stood mysteriously impoten

are not so cold as the moon, and yet your teeth chatter more loudly than hers. The heat of your wrath is less than the heat of the sun, and yet, while he is silent and departed, you fill the air with clamour, and-if I ma

moved, treading quietly on the strip of

oice fading away as he rode. "My True Love's voice is the onl

every buckle on the Horse Vivian's harness caught the moonlight, and chang

Brown sitting, white and haggard with pain, on the

e was saying to David. "We are nearly

startlingly inoffensive abo

onsible for this houtrage, all

it is so terrible to see any one have an accident to his dignity. You must forget it quickly, you must run and find some

me too now if you like, Mr. Pompous-in-the-Pond, for the party you're looking for is no

en't 'eard the last of this, none of you 'aven't, not by a long cha

ould not distinguish the faces of the waitin

' to get 'er, no

ks but kindness

saint than any

house, and put 'eart into 'im aft

ood fairy of

my garden in one night, when I first

ter saints and fairi

aw can't c

said Sarah Brown. "There is n

her last match, lit the lantern, and looked round. There was no sound in the house of Living Alone, she thought there would never again be any magic sound there to penetrate to her imprisoned hearing.

en on it. Sarah Brown read: "Well Soup it looks like my Night's come and what dyou think Sherry's come too. Im an me as gone

n. She looked at the empty grate. She put a cigarette in her mouth, the unconscious and futile answer of the Dweller Alone to that blind hunger for comfort. But she h

ky seemed to be nailed carelessly to

spotted darkness that walls up your hot sight. Again on those nights you dream that you have already done those genial things your body cries for, or perhaps That Other has done them. The fire is built and alight at last, a cup of something cool and beautifully sour stands ready to your hand, you can hear t

that house and of that state would ever exchange one of those haun

the cold ashes of her fireplace. The Shop below shook suddenly with many footfalls

"I can hear a dog barking." And a woman's vo

bance. She groped to her door, opened it, and shouted mi

up, flashing an

Why look, your little dog is making your counterpane muddy. D

l h

et me help you into bed, and then you shall tell me wha

raciously. "You are none of you g

inent and suspicious. But Meta insisted. I quite expect to spend the next twenty-four hours in gaol, or else to be shot for Offence of the Realm. In fact, speaking as a ratepayer, I t

smelt the unflower-like scent that always denoted the presence of Miss Ford. Sarah Brown herself was accompanied by nothing more seductive than a faint smell of gasoline, showin

ly explosive," s

ned her back. "Ah, Miss Brown..

er, and the rest of the party re-ent

Ford nervously,-"taking such a great de

rica. Indeed, if I remember rightly, America is entirely populated with fugitives from somewhere else. So dretfully co

person present really conscious of sanity. "Only a miracle could prod

e-or magic," s

d the counter towards the open draw

all, she did break the law. In fact I cannot for

rse we know it is wrong to break the law, but in this

last," said

do you

bably not even the penultima

s, knows of gentlemen in the Foreign Office that would do a l

from three departments of the Foreign Office are fairly regular Wednesday friends o

with one of the paper packets out of the witch's

f it again and again. It's Rrchud this and Rrchud that whenever anything in the least t

nd such skill in ... chemistry...." As if unconsciously she tore off one corner of the packet of magic she held before adding: "And

missing much of the conversation, caught the name of

estrained emba

murmured Miss Ford

beg of you to be careful how you repeat idle gossip about my son. Rrchud is at

rd, deciding to ignore Sarah Brown both n

Sarah Brown. "This is t

very credulous people are," she said with a self-conscious smile. "I

und, punctuated by taps, proceeded from the corner. It was Mr. Bernard Tovey trying to sing, "Mon c

run across, if you like," she said, "and ring up Richard from the ferryman's house. He may have

personating Delilah in the corner, was approaching the more excitable passages of the

er recent black hours, to think of all those people in the world who were sitting stuffily and pleasantly in little ugly rooms that they loved, doing quiet careful things th

amily. On the table was a bowl of milk from which a large bull-snake, in a gay Turkey-carpet design, was drinking. A yellow and black python lay coiled in several fig

hon has a barren figure, from a caresser's point of view. The ferryman went on: "There is something about the grip and spring in a snake's body that makes me feel giddy with

e, and the over-refined voice of a

was not in

t if any one wanted him they were to be

. Mr. Higgins spending so much of his time on the battlefield at present, a good deal

every official to whom the sheet should be presented would read upon it what he would want. But Mr. Higgins woul

ny pas

og doesn't need one, does he-a British dog? I will book the ber

n asked: "Are you having a party up at t

ly," replied Sar

ise like a thousand mad gramophones

urned like a clap of thunder

an enormous flower. Facing these flames stood Miss Ford and Mr. Tovey, hand in hand, each singing a different song very earnestly. Lady Arabel had found somewhere a patent fire ex

e down. Look at that row of petticoats up there, catc

ke," whispered Mr. Tovey. "But

l going to America." And she continued her so

you should burn the hous

greed Mr. Frere. "But wate

d be heard, singing, "If those lips could only speak," in a loud tr

wn distractedly. "I told you it was dangerous. Nothing will

. There are no places and no people existing where I am not. I have suspected it before, and now I am sure that everything is all a pre

ze now, and flakes of ashy petticoat, and the

crisis, and yet liked to appear busy and helpful. It was to the ferryman's telephone that they returned. Sarah Brown knew that the fire was a

who had a heroic and almost cinematic gift for bein

use of Living Alone is on fire. Someone h

a busy night at the office too. Do you think it

t to the water's edge. In fact I don't see why, being a magic fire,

I'll come,"

out of the do

who has moved swiftly. "The lightning service is getting very bad. I was held up for quite three-quarters of a second over Whiteha

ile Sarah Brown and Richard were about fifty yards away, a many-forked and enormous

e are lighted," said Richar

far did it outshine them. The flame shrank in upon itsel

rah Brown. "Your mothe

ders will never cease. Well, well, it is fortunate

crowd, they saw all the recent occupant

as saying in an aggrieved voice

med to scatter the flames, and the drawer full of explosives caught fire

morrow." She roused herself a little, and said to Mr. Frere with a smile: "You k

?" asked Mr. Tovey, who was still dreamily b

out," sa

s?" added Mr. Tovey, turni

house," sa

scovered hi

abel. "Are you sure? I didn't know the Higgi

ps into which everything enters, and out of which nothing comes. It always grieves me to see tradesmen pouring sustenance in at the back door, and

Richard," said Miss Ford. "But it doe

ople who live alone was it real. It is dark and deserted now, and levelled with the cold ground; it is as though it were a tent, bei

d at Sar

ord. "We are all going to America,

little trip for you all. America, you know, would b

New York," said Miss Ford, who seemed

l forget the magic of to-night, and

am going home. I never heard such dretful nonsen

truly thankful to get to bed, and wake up to-morrow sober. I wi

Tovey, fixing his innocent eyes,

had yet dared to tell him of the misfortune that had overtaken him. "I'll give up th

to me that everybody has forgotten why they came here. Pleas

u, if you happen to have a telephone book and a compass and a toad's heart and a hair from a black goat's beard about you. Or again, if you stand on a sea-beach at

" answered

he is without any spell at all. She's with my True Love at Higgins Farm, he

did the things that other people did, the natural things. Except just once. And for that once, I am so cruelly punished.... I am given a son who is no son to me, who says only things I mustn't understand ... who does only things I mustn't see...."

s, mother, and Peony, my True Love, insists on calling him Elb

Arabel st