The Ivy Tree

by Mary Stewart

the slight, indescribable sound that, in the North, manages to express assent, deprecation, interest, dissent, apology – anything at all that the listener cares to read into it. It sounds like ‘Mphm’, and you can conduct whole (and perfectly intelligible) conversation with that one sound, anywhere north of the Tyne.

There are times when your body and nerves think for you. Adrenaline, they tell you nowadays. They used to say, ‘Needs must, when the devil drives’,