Did they really take tea and cherry cake,
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stiffly seated , upright on darkly varnished chairs
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Immaculate tableware, finest lace,
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tastefully restrained wallpaper,
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glued with cold water paste, still now visible
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from that other time and place.
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Dark patched walls where portraits would hang.
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Polished floor boards scraped by shoes
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of family who sang, clustered round grand piano.
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A man bent, measuring with a tape
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senses nothing of this. Calculates size of rooms,
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how price of his investments have risen ten fold.
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Outside a bill board displays apartments soon for sale,
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mortgages available at excellent rates, will hold.
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Back then the master of the house read “The Chronicle,”
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while making ironic asides. Plied himself with fine brandy,
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Properties, land, stocks, shares, all at his command.
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Adjusts pearl encrusted cuff links, pinz nez
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his trusted daughter brought back from the grand tour.
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“It’s a sin not to make money, a much larger sin to be poor.”
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He idly dreams of Indonesian trade; leases, charters, moorings
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storms. He's seized the tiller, stays on course. Finery, refinement,
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perseverance, charitable contributions, as with those he courts
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who sail through life’s squalls and back into port.
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He walked through a solid oak door.
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Callow servant slipped back into shadow.
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Bell pull swayed in a draught of air,
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Window opened a crack, curtain stirred,
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distant muted laughter strayed,
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whispers crept through opaque light,
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lingering near the back stair. Dull mauve glow
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of gaslight in an alcove, where dark shapes loomed,
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their blue grey shadows grown large in the flame.
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A flushed face slowly turned to gaze fixedly
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into the twilight street below, observing a rickety tram
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slowly swaying left to right, clanging towards
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a sheltered stopping point as night fell. Steeple bell
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rang, and through the window of that vehicle
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could be seen an ivory white slender arm of a tall girl
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gripped tight by thick jointed fingers
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released when the clipper called “Church Street.”
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and stepped down. As they rose, the watcher
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noticed a deep purple imprint on the woman’s arm.
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Both alighted, marked time, got into step, walked side by side
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through the wide arched entrance of the house.
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Neither touched the other or spoke The door closed
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on their floating forms, silence descended,
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someone waiting in the drawing room, rose to meet their fate.
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The only sound now a flailing poster, loosened from it’s hoarding,
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announcing apartments for sale, which drowned out a muted scream.
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