''All the so-called terrors of solitude console me. The resonant silence of the evening's end, as the stars come into their own is a pleasure I cannot share with anyone - though some do seem sensitive enough. I often awake alone, with the echo of an uncertain sound from the house below fading in my ears . . . I leap from the bed directly and rush to meet the intruders. Perhaps once a week I have such an adventure. But no one is ever there." TS
