But when a high-heeled shoe was flung at them from the bedroom, followed by a volley of fruit-carrier words of the latest brand, they retired, awed and horror-stricken, to cover.
Martin found himself in a small, square living room with two windows looking over the intimate backs of other similar houses.

Under the best of conditions it was not a room of very comfortable possibilities.

In the hands of its present occupant, it was, to Martin's eyes, the most depressing and chaotic place he had ever seen.

The cheap furniture and the cheaper wall paper went well with a long-unwhite-washed ceiling and smudged white paint.

A line of empty beer bottles which stood on a mantelpiece littered with unframed photographs and dog-eared Christmas cards struck a note so blase that it might almost have been committed for a reason.