
In this delicate turn‑of‑the‑century tale, a young woman prepares for a rendezvous that she has rehearsed in the verses of poetry. She imagines a sun‑lit orchard, daffodils and bluebells, but the reality is the bleak waiting room of Cannon Street Station, where her lover arrives five minutes late. The narrative follows her inner commentary, her longing for a more lyrical setting, and the quiet disappointment that colors every glance.
When the two finally step out onto the frosty Embankment, their conversation stalls, and the silence becomes a canvas for her observations. She senses a hidden sorrow behind his eyes, a secret that threatens to upend the familiar rhythm of their courtship. As she offers an excuse to seek warmth over tea, the story unfolds into a study of how expectation, environment, and unspoken grief shape the fragile dance of intimacy.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (312K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2012-04-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1858–1924
Best known for blending everyday family life with adventure and magic, this pioneering English writer helped shape modern children’s fiction. Her stories, including The Railway Children and Five Children and It, still feel lively, funny, and warm.
View all books