A good fire glo little range  a sudden, sment to find rail lead me to tures t, damn t be part of too. All t engage t be still young enougo enjoy tead; and not, Id be bound, inimical to poetry, either.

    to ed furniture, ains, all co fas, tself o terior designers sno t ire s inants . Id never seen so many dolls before, not even in Melissas cabinet, and all quite exquisite, as if t come from t be older them!

    Dolls sat on suck out before toycs. Fine ladies in taffeta bustles and Frencs, babies in every gradation of cuteness. A limp-limbed, golden-ure in pink satin spra of te lady in a kitscorian pelisse of maroon silk, ra, lay in an armcorial an air as if to  riding  occupied the wonderful albino rocking horse.

    No last I iful ories of all t - none of ted, all e, ions and t multitude of glass eyes, like tears congealed in time, made me feel very lonely.

    Outside, t torm . Inside, till one t to cross. I guessed sing for me, ed, if only momentarily, before t lead to t nursery, as if unseen gryp guard it.

    Faint gloelpiece; a dim tranquillity, alcum pouary. And t I entered t nursery, I could ransparent breat all, not even pulled te-enamelled crib around aken t ss instigator, ; s asleep in t, toned dohe pillow.

    Se, fragile, lace smock and e stockings ers morning. Se kid sandals. ttle er, ttle quarry, lay curled up h.

    ted tains  yet dra once tempest, so I could  I ormed in to interrogate me, I reassured myself t s knole c y o let me  te in tional fas kisses? ell so mucter; I srating tenderness of a poet at the cradle of a child.

    If nobody came? I i-climax; Id just take t off my feet for a  I must admit I felt a toucment as time passed and I antly to abandon all ation to dinner. tten all about me! Careless even of t off playing in t as tired into table privacy of t at least Id o umbler of good o see me o tark trudge home.

    tirred in tered indecips clencely flusexture of c  in tcransparent. I ciment suffused t nursery.

    I icipated, I suppose, some sort of gratified lust from t tisfaction of lust of t of lust of t, of vanity; but tenderness toender I became. O. ouchable sleep, judges me.

    Yet s a peaceful sleeper. Scs and sometimes santly and te loudly, coug for a long time and it struck me t tion, le girl tle tyrant,  unloved; t o sleep, so to play. Sale, flaxen e t s ed all toooyc of te house?

    of t, I  so far in forgiveness as to stroke  as plumage of snoive as t of tory of toucirred. Souctering, and rolled over uneasily. As ss che scrubbed linoleum.

    S iptoed doo collect ten doll  t in e pyjamas, tle friend. Per to pick  t and glittered at tragic, glass eye. A sequin? A brilliant? try, old c stars in your eyes for you.

    I looked more closely.

    It .

    It ear.

    t a succinct bloed t I felt only a vague astonis as I pitco a black vanis.

    roubled absence of ligried to move, a dozen little daggers serrated me. It erribly cold and I rapped inside a little  carapace of Melissas  t ing snow.

    After a fec it best to stay quite still in tless line I could dimly see against te nigside. Sloed back and forty onous ca of crows.

    I tried to piece toget o me. I guessed I lay on t explored, ttle of its interior in tly lig all must once ed  and ced itself in a cracked mirror of immense size on the wall.

    Perrapped by tainly, I  in ttered glass viscera of t I t Id just seen multiplying its reflections in anotime s moorings in ter above me, t very orm t  t mig I ill alive. But  just  .

    t t struck cold green fire from t addressed me unceremoniously in a cracked, old o?

    trapped in tered glass, tered ligold ance. to me a very feeble one.

    I could not see t all, could not even make out , but I told aying o impress ry crones snobbery. Stered ory. So be careful, poor old o no good come and so on and on. But, if I am t, t is perfectly all rigo ser elep  ill torm dies doe cut off! sitters.

    I must folloake care.  a cras to an end. Come e cosy, sir,  her, eh?)

    S me solicitously out of trap and took me past our poms moving like deep sea fisairs , t I  or system of linked ions, snole nauseous; I grasp ters too tight.

    ture spookily se ss but torc linger on anyt slippers go flipperty-flopperty, flipperty-flopperty, srepid negotiator of till I cannot see le of y, froy, second-ore, typical crone smell, like grandmas smell, smell of my childhood women.

    So see so many dolls  up camp in this decay!

    Dolls every of tea cs, dolls propped up on telpiece tered faces. ed daugared at me dumbly from glass eyes t migorm t trapped me  I heir blind eyes.

    And  any of tures in t fainted in time to encounter on a oo muc to continue to support it? truts of in crinoline, stove in like a broken umbrella. o a t s lost  o ra ill te wig now awry on a china scalp.

    And I almost tripped over a poor corpse on t of balding velvet, rands left of all t honey-coloured hair. . .

    Yet if any of t imaginary nursery ing t of my dream tion, t recognise to deattered about a room  to a geriatric cosiness. Nevert a certain sense of disquiet, not so muc I oo preoccupied , my co pay muctention to a prickling of the nerves.

    And in ting as a gloeaming kettle could make it, even if eldritced by a candle stuck in its oo telpiece. t some ooring my battered spirits and tled me out of t  as mucude as if s belonged to, set me do into my eyes and brain. to take off my  sea from ; cut me a slice of dark gingerbread t s in an old biscuit tin ure of kittens on tom could  sagging, treacly, indigestible goody! I felt better, already; outside, t rage but I ic crone.

    For suc almost to a  and pepper op of ortoises ell er for a long time and tly repelled me but tea  do you remember tcs come h a vengeance.

    Sea for op of t cus to sip from ter about t I  on t, eyeing -- nervously, I must admit -- t surface, taggles.

    t;I see youre admiring my beauties.quot; Meanainless s ec y cup ae, all at once moved as if by a sudden sense of purpose; I sa pay in kind for my kind reception, I must give tention. So introduce to me one by one. Dotty. Quite dotty, poor old thing.

    t and in skirt  s ty acquisition to toy cupboard in ime, s revenges, tary exile in Morocco, ty. . .  made t ing ted, trico ted, a track of spittle descended ossed to one side; ttle before sill on the floor.

    Serap . Sially, from Paris and still possessed a certain style, even in y and, even if so t a lady tter ted ter, s tensions on top of told me no meet Lady Lucy, aed but ed  sensitive parts and groed, in spite of ty velvet riding . Sed tal affliction. . . ture ore for toria, a ure death.

    Eacory o me; t auty I soon realised stle girls imately. S ; and stayed on after t ter  c little daug, mig?  like my imaginary blonde  uncout in tainer ined tude. In t ty noses for t tter into piano keys for ttle girls must once ea ress, gone out riding on ponies, groo come to dances in ayed over for ies, golf by day, affairs of t by night. had my Melissa, herself, danced here, perhaps, in her unimaginable adolescence?

    I t of all tiful  as pearls going in to dinner in dresses as brilliant as t- surrounded t off by ts of tners, t ineffable perfume of sex and luxury t dreo Melissas bed. And time, noing their head like snow.

    te. to ya trouble yourself. But, no; I must he bed, she said.

    You she bed.

    And, , cackled furiously, jolting me from my bitter-s reverie. ricken ly notion sed to sacrifice me to some aged lust of s lodging but I said: quot;O possibly take your bed, please no!quot; But o cackle again.

    o , saller toeriously, sy;  in a esting, to t I kne recognition, led to t nursery.

    I ated back into t of my dream.

    Beyond tumbled, all   nursery orm and its  of a place beyond trum of colours. t of y of t lige-enamelled crib, s dreaming occupant. torm crooned a lullaby; ttle er t  in a luminous cup, but stered replica, a dra  time in all t nig a pure fear.

    tly approac, some floppy, clot  so me as ceremoniously as if it  from a Cmas tree. I jumped ric cin pyjamas.

    ill crying. Fascinated, fearful, I touceardrop pendant on . Anotear o replace tolen, til t en too mucs time. A magic snoorm blinded my eyes; I , too.

    tell Melissa tory is bankrupt, grandma.

    Diffuse, ironic benediction of t ligended icky o grasp mine; in a terror of consolation, I took e of igo, enc ss.