TMS Lockwood/Matis: The Landlady

Billy Weaver had traveled down from London on the slow afternoon train, with a change at Reading on the way, and by the time he got to Bath, it was about nine o’clock in the evening, and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance.

Billy Weaver had traveled down from London on the slow afternoon train, with a change at Reading on the way, and by the time he got to Bath, it was about nine o’clock in the evening, and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance.

“Try The Bell and Dragon,” the porter answered, pointing down the road.

It’s about a quarter of a mile along on the other side.”

But Mr. Greenslade at the head office in London had told him it was a splendid town.

He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine.

They had porches and pillars and four or five steps going up to their front doors, and it was obvious that once upon a time they had been very swanky residences.

They had porches and pillars and four or five steps going up to their front doors, and it was obvious that once upon a time they had been very swanky residences.

But now, even in the darkness, he could see that the paint was peeling from the woodwork on their doors and windows and that the handsome white facades were cracked and blotchy from neglect.

But now, even in the darkness, he could see that the paint was peeling from the woodwork on their doors and windows and that the handsome white facades were cracked and blotchy from neglect.

Suddenly, in a downstairs window that was brilliantly illuminated by a street lamp not six yards away, Billy caught sight of a printed notice propped up against the glass in one of the upper panes.

Animals were usually a good sign in a place like this, Billy told himself; and all in all, it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decent house to stay in.

On the other hand, a pub would be more congenial than a boardinghouse.

The name itself conjured up images of watery cabbage, rapacious landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers in the living room.

The name itself conjured up images of watery cabbage, rapacious landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers in the living room.

He was in the act of stepping back and turning away from the window when all at once his eye was caught and held in the most peculiar manner by the small notice that was there.

Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house, and the next thing he knew, he was actually moving across from the window to the front door of the house, climbing the steps that led up to it, and reaching for the bell.

She stepped aside, holding the door wide open, and Billy found himself automatically starting forward.

But the trouble is that I’m inclined to be just a teeny-weeny bit choosy and particular—if you see what I mean.”

“I’m so glad you appeared,” she said, looking earnestly into his face.

She was holding it well out in front of her, and rather high up, as though the tray were a pair of reins on a frisky horse.

There is nothing more tantalizing than a thing like this that lingers just outside the borders of one’s memory.

He was a Cambridge undergraduate.

Or was it the corridors of a hospital?

But I think he was a trifle shorter than you are; in fact I’m sure he was, and his teeth weren’t quite so white.

There wasn’t a blemish on his body.”

He waited for her to say something else, but she seemed to have lapsed into another of her silences.

“Good gracious me,” he said.

He turned away from the dog and stared with deep admiration at the little woman beside him on the sofa.

Holding her teacup high in one hand, inclining her head slightly to the left, she looked up at him out of the corners of her eyes and gave him another gentle little smile.