Explore "Payment Deferred" by C.S. Forester on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
And now began the darkest period in all Annie Marble's unhappy life, the last few weeks before its unhappy end. The shadows had massed about 53 Malcolm Road, and as they clustered round ready for the last act of the tragedy poor Annie grew more and more conscious of their presence.
Winnie was gone; of that they could be sure now. They had waited a week in suspense; then they had begun to advertise for her. Discreet little advertisements in the personal columns of the papers -- "Winnie. Come back to 53. Everything forgiven. Father and Mother. " That was the most they could do. For a brief half-second while they had been debating what to do there had arisen a hint that they might call in the police, but it vanished at once like a breath of cold air, leaving them looking dumbly at each other without meeting each other's eyes.