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just let it form a sludge in the bottom of my cup.
“Probably just old memories. Everything gets mixed up in nightmares.”
Then a man appeared, and my fear vanished. I felt like nothing could hurt me.”
“You’re the invalid, not me.
visibly ill at ease under Carol’s inquisitive gaze.
there’s nothing between Daldry and me apart from a civil, reciprocal appreciation for each other.
You’re an idealist who doesn’t know how to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
Daldry returned a short while later, wearing a turtleneck sweater and a pair of flannel trousers.
I didn’t cry when they lowered his coffin into the ground.
He rummaged through the drawers of a tall cabinet.
I’ll take my leave.”
“The reason I bring her up has more to do with an extraordinary thing that took place a few months before her flight.”
He had been so kind to her when she was sick, it was the least she could do to show a little patience and listen to what he felt he needed to tell her.
she knew that for the locals on her team the soothsayer’s predictions would be of utmost importance, and she needed their support.
she had completely forgotten about her fleeting encounter with the fortune-teller.
I just feel like eating a decent steak.”
asked Alice, uneasy to be the object of so much unexpected and obsequious attention.
I take you to one of London’s finest restaurants and order wine of the rarest delicacy, a mythical vintage—”
What man in his right mind would waste time judging your clothes when your eyes alone could captivate anyone?
It had a silky texture—she had never tasted wine like this.
“You wouldn’t happen to be taking me thousands of miles from home and abandoning me in a distant land just to paint under my skylight, would you?”
she was content in her decision.
He didn’t hesitate to reel off the names of various high-placed officials in the Foreign Office hierarchy.
Alice was aghast at what seemed to her to be so much blatant lying.
We livened up his day.”
Alice entered the pub and her friends were already there, engaged in an animated conversation.
“I haven’t seen you this radiant in a long time,” Carol insisted. “Have you met somebody?”
Alice stood on the landing as they left and waited until the stairwell went silent.
As soon as the plane took off, her eyelids drooped and she dozed off.
It always pays to tell the truth.
“It can’t be very pleasant to have the sensation of reentering a nightmare, especially when you know you’re awake,”
“I’m too educated to give such things any credence,”
his face flushing scarlet for the second time.
“That in one day I could easily find a hundred men who would happily beguile her.”
“Considering your current state, you’re not in much of a place to give me advice concerning my health.
A flock of seagulls sat motionless on the railings along the waterfront.
“When I think of the sauce that came with the fish and the delicacy of the dessert—do you think I could order a second?—it’s
In the street below, the people of Istanbul hurried to take refuge under streetcar shelters and awnings,
“Some fresh air would probably do me good,
I met the British consul here yesterday, but he didn’t leave me feeling very optimistic about my chances of finding out whether my parents ever came here.
In the spice market, Alice stopped at each stall, breathing in the varied scents of the powders, dried flowers, and vials of essential oils.
For Alice, the most memorable visit was a morning trip to the Flower Passage and its covered market, followed
by lunch in a charming little waterside restaurant.
Daldry and Can had come to an understanding.
“Thirty-nine. I would have been four years old on March 25, 1915.”
Can had come into the lobby and was now tapping on his watch to say that it was time to go.
“Why did Miss Alice not accompany us this evening?” Can asked.
“The thought has never even crossed my mind.
“Because I would save her from meeting a fellow like me. I’m a loner, a bitter bachelor. I’m set in my ways and I hate it when the outside world tries to make me change. I hate noise, and she’s noisy. I hate socializing, and she’s right across the corridor. Besides, all the noble sentiments associated with love always end up threadbare and debased. In love, you have to know when to make an exit before it’s too late. For me, that means restraining myself from making any declarations to begin with.”
Alice could see the tears welling behind the thick lenses of Mr. Zemirli’s glasses, and it made her feel a little less embarrassed about not having been
