Walter was annoyed about the taxi; he felt it a waste of money,
when we might have gone in the tube, and he did not like Grandmother
to pay it, for he liked to pay everything himself. I knew very
well by now when Walter was annoyed; I could tell by the way
he sat, by the way he fidgeted with his hands, even when he said
nothing at all.
He said nothing this time, and I said nothing. I felt very tired
now, and then, I was frightened. It was as though I had been
asleep, and dreaming, and contented, and now suddenly I had
woken up; as though everything had become intense, and alive,
and somehow emotional. I felt as though tremendous things were
happening, all round us, everywhere; as though we were a tiny
island in a great space.
I put out my hand and touched Walter’s arm; it was dark in the
taxi and I could hardly see him.
‘Walter,’ I said, ‘do you feel as if something dreadful were
going to happen?’
He turned sharply.
‘No,’ he said. ‘What do you mean? What should happen?’