A DEATH IN THE FAMILY It was past ten o'clock, and one by one, with a sudden, swift collapse, each shop in Botany Road extinguished its lights, leaving a blank gap in the shining row of glass windows.

Mrs Yabsley turned into Cardigan Street and, taking a firmer grip of her parcels, mounted the hill slowly on account of her breath.

She still continued to shop at the last minute, in a panic, as her mother had done before her, proud of her habit of being the last customer at the butcher's and the grocer's.
She looked up at the sky and, being anxious for the morrow, tried to forecast the weather.

A sharp wind was blowing, and the stars winked cheerfully in a windswept sky.

There was every promise of a fine day, but to make sure, she tried the corn on her left foot.