Don’t You Wonder Sometimes, What Might Have

I Can See,’ Miss Emily Said, ‘that It Might Look As Though You Were Simply Pawns In A Game. It Can Certainly Be Looked At Like That. But Think Of It. You Were Lucky Pawns. There Was A Certain Climate And Now It’s Gone. You Have To Accept That Sometimes That’s How Things Happen In The World. People’s Opinions, Their Feelings, They Go One Way, Then The Other. It Just So Happens You Grew Up At A Certain Point In This Process.’ ‘it Might Be Just Some Trend That Came And Went,’ I Said. ‘but For Us, It’s Our Life.

Indeed — Why Should I Not Admit It? — In That Moment, My Heart Was Breaking.

We All Live Inside Bodies That Will Deteriorate. But When You Look At Human Beings, They're Capable Of Very Decent Things: Love, Loyalty. When Time Is Running Out, They Don't Care About Possessions Or Status. They Want To Put Things Right If They've Done Wrong.

I Was A Little Concerned That A Lot Of People Thought I Wrote Merchant Ivory Movies. I Also Thought If I Was Ever Going To Write Something Strange And Difficult, That Was The Time.

As I Say, I Have Never In All These Years Thought Of The Matter In Quite This Way; But Then It Is Perhaps In The Nature Of Coming Away On A Trip Such As This That One Is Prompted Towards Such Surprising New Perspectives On Topics One Imagined One Had Long Ago Thought Throughly.