She said the house, or rather cottage, was in a little backwater off George Street and had belonged to an elderly couple who had died. The son had told her there were a few antiques she might be interested in. He mentioned a small collection of glass paperweights, china 1920 pierrots, Rockingham poodles, ships and birds in glass cases. Not wildly interesting, but worth seeing.
My car was being serviced, so I made the journey by train. Everything looked the same: the depot of derelict buses on the right as the train drew in; the bookstall and flower shop on my left as I was leaving the station; the pet shop and the shop we used to call ‘the useful shop’, with a wonderful display of brass handles, knockers and knobs of all kinds. I soon came to the cottage I was looking for, one of a row with tiny gardens in front, and the bereaved son waiting outside with the door open behind him. My business with him was soon settled. I bought everything he offered, including some theatre tinsels of Victorian actors in their original frames, which I knew Mary would be pleased with, and he agreed to deliver them to her flat that evening. The furniture was already sold to a house clearer. It was particularly ugly Edwardian and had an unpleasant smell.
When I left the cottage the spring sun was shining and instead of turning back to the station I made my way towards Richmond Hill, glancing every now and then in the windows of once-familiar shops. Dickens and Jones were already displaying summer dresses, but at that moment clothes did not interest me because I was six months pregnant and growing larger every day. I left George Street and found I was being drawn towards the quieter streets at the back and then up the hill towards the old Forbes house, the place where I had felt so much I’d almost been burnt away, the place that had made me and nearly ruined me. As I stood outside, I could almost feel Gertrude’s presence and see her beautiful, brave figure bending over the flowers. The carved bear still guarded the house. It seemed as if he recognized me with his cold stone eyes.
I felt a strong compulsion to see the back of the house, the wild garden and the thicket. In spite of all it brought back to me I could not resist the desire to revisit the thicket where Gertrude and I used to sit, and look again at the tree where the magpies had built their nest and used to watch us from above as they chattered, and at the juniper tree whose fruit Gertrude used to eat with such abandon and, finally, at the place where those things I would like to forget occurred.
I slowly walked down a side road where there used to be an iron gate leading into the far end of the garden. The gate was still there, but when I looked in, that part of the garden had disappeared. In its place stood a tall block of flats built in Victoria plum-coloured bricks and with a horribly permanent look. The entire spinney had been built over and only the formal part of the garden remained, though it was not so badly overlooked as it might have been because the windows facing it were small ones, lavatory windows perhaps.
The new owners of the house must have sold over half of the ground it was standing on. I wondered what kind of people they were and returned to have one more look at the unchanged front of the house. As I stopped outside the wrought-iron gates, the front door opened and a plump dark woman came out, followed by two handsome little boys. They looked like Arabs to me and were excitedly talking in a foreign language. The mother did not speak at all but gracefully scattered small pieces of bread from a brass bowl for the chirping sparrows that immediately appeared. The boys ran to the old bear; the largest one rode on its back and the little one fed him with crumbs intended for the birds. I was glad to see children living in the house again.
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CAPUCHIN CLASSICS
Pamela Hansford Johnson
An Error of Judgement Feb-08
Guy de Maupassant
On Horseback and Other Stories Feb-08
Rudyard Kipling
Plain Tales from the Hills Feb-08
John Galsworthy
The Dark Flower May-08
Tom Stacey
The Man Who Knew Everything May-08
Elizabeth Goudge
Green Dolphin Country Jun-08
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles Jun-08
GK Chesterton
The Incredulity of Father Brown Jun-08
Donn Byrne
Messer Marco Polo Jun-08
Michael Arlen
The Green Hat Sep-08
LP Hartley
The Hireling, Sep-08
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
How I Became A Holy Mother Sep-08
Eric Linklater
Juan in America Sep-08
Kidnapped Sep-08
HE Bates
Love in a Wych Elm & Other Stories Jan-09
Hugh Walpole
Mr Perrin and Mr Traill Jan-09
Leo Tolstoy
Tales of Sexual Desire Jan-09
Charles Morgan
The Voyage Jan-09
Michael Bracewell
The Conclave Feb-09
Patricia Grace
Potiki Feb-09
Norman Douglas
South Wind Feb-09
AA Milne
Two People Feb-09
Bernard Shaw
Cashel Byron’s Profession Apr-09
Bram Stoker
Dracula Apr-09
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal Apr-09
William Saroyan
My Name is Aram Apr-09
George Eliot
Silas Marner Apr-09
Vercors
You Shall Know Them Apr-09
Ernest Raymond
We, The Accused Jun-09
Craig Nova
Incandescence Jul-09
The Napoleon of Notting Hill Jul-09
David Pryce-Jones
Shirley’s Guild Jul-09
Henry Rider Haggard
Allan Quatermain Oct-09
Storm Jameson
Love in Winter Oct-09
Penelope Gilliatt
A State of Change Oct-09
Edgar Allan Poe
The Dupin Mysteries with The Gold Bug Feb-10
Rose Macaulay
Non-Combatants and Others Feb-10
Michael Arlen
These Charming People Feb-10
Herbert Read
The Green Child Apr-10
François Mauriac
The Knot of Vipers Apr-10
Henri Muger
Scenes From the Latin Quarter Apr-10
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights Apr-10
Christina Stead
The Man Who Loved Children Jun-10
Henry Handel Richardson
Maurice Guest Jun-10
Ann Bridge
Peking Picnic Jun-10
Saki
The Unbearable Bassington Jun-10
Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness Jul-10
The Island Pharisees Jul-10
Julian Mitchell
The Undiscovered Country Jul-10
Anne Brontë
Agnes Grey Oct-10
Katherine Mansfield
The Aloe Oct-10
Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol Oct-10
O Henry
The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories Oct-10
Nancy Mitford
Highland Fling Oct-10
Somerville and Ross
The Real Charlotte May-11
Stephen Benatar
When I was Otherwise May-11
Fergus Hume
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab Jul-11
Robert Louis Stevenson
New Arabian Nights Jul-11
AP Herbert
Uncommon Law Jul-11
Nancy Mitford
Christmas Pudding Oct-11
Nancy Mitford
Pigeon Pie Oct-11
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