Closer to Fulfilment

Of course, when Blake summoned me to Tarnmouth I went, after all we had been friends since childhood and, although we had latterly lost touch somewhat, I would never ignore such an impassioned plea for my presence.

I arrived in the town in October and was immediately struck by a sense of oppression, the streets were uniformly narrow and grimy, the locals unfriendly to the point of truculence and the varied castes of men that orbited the harbor area were singularly repellent and of swarthy aspect.

I took a room at the Davenport Boarding House, an establishment that suited my economy and had about it an air of faded grandeur. For ten days I took watch at the window of my room, awaiting the arrival of my friend and his news.