Across the page whereon he had scribbled the trial attempts for his rhymes, the flourishing capitals, the crossed-out words, the superimposed virtues, he fancied he saw his own name in straggling, almost illegible characters, “dere Mr. Corke;” and remembered Nan’s sole petition to him, “Praie doe not be angrie.”
Suddenly he knew that his anger had killed her, that his epitaph, written in anger, was more monstrous than his murder. He cried out that he must alter it, but Mr. Hambridge had left the room. Mr. Cork found himself alone.
A Note on the Author
Margaret Irwin (1889-1969) was educated at Clifton High School in Bristol, and then at Oxford University. She began writing books and short stories in the early 1920s. She married children’s author and illustrator John Robert Monsell in 1929.
Irwin was praised for her historical accuracy in her novels, and she wrote passionately about the English Civil War.
Discover books by Margaret Irwin published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/MargaretIrwin
A Royal Cinderella
Bloodstock and Other Stories
None So Pretty
Still She Wished for Company
The Bride
The Proud Servant
This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London
WC1B 3DP
First published in Great Britain, 1971, Chatto & Windus
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