... a boyle or impostume comen forthe & broken

Miss Mae gave me the stink eye, just on general principle, when I came into the kitchen. She was so good at the stink eye that even if you hadn't done something wrong, you felt like you did.

At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.

In the afternoon, he will depart for Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of popes, where he will remain until restorations are complete on the Vatican convent where he will live out his days.