Denzil Quarrier

Lilian became my wife, for good and all--no doubt about that! But I didn't trouble much about the future--it's my way. … They think she is teaching in London. The tragedy excuses her from visiting them. Aunt and sister are sworn to secrecy concerning her whereabouts.

Secret wife plus Bristol cover story plant the electoral bomb — private history fused to public candidacy — so plot scores 87.

Lilian seemed to be reading. She sat on a footstool, her arm resting on the seat of a basket-chair, which supported a large open volume. But her hand was never raised to turn a page, and it was long since her eyes had gathered the sense of the lines on which they were fixed.

Lilian individuated by unread book and childhood posture before Denzil or Glazzard speak — solitude as character — so cast scores 86.

For half an hour there had been perfect silence in the room. The cat upon the hearthrug slept profoundly; the fire was sunk to a still red glow; the cold light of the autumn afternoon thickened into dusk.

Opening dusk dilates; later election and confession compress — provincial political tempo, not thriller — so pace scores 84.

"I can't tell you why I did it. I'm not sure that I quite understand now. I did it, and there's no more to be said." Denzil turned away, and stood with his eyes fixed on the ground.

Betrayal stated without rhetoric — Glazzard's blank motive against Denzil's silence — so prose scores 87.

A pleasant little sitting-room, furnished in the taste of our time; with harmonies and contrasts of subdued colour…

Tasteful room as concealment cell before Polterham politics — domestic interior as political risk — so world scores 85.

This attitude had been a favourite one with her in childhood, and nowadays, in her long hours of solitude, she often fell into the old habit. It was a way of inviting reverie, which was a way of passing the time.

Solitude-as-habit invites the secret before politics arrives — quiet hook — so hook scores 86.

I may as well tell you, Liversedge has been persuaded to stand as Liberal candidate for Polterham at the next election. It surprised me rather; I shouldn't have thought he was the kind of fellow to go in for politics.

Provincial Liberal machinery enters a household already living a legal fiction — scandal as legitimacy, not platform — so innov scores 88.

"Quarrier, you can't forgive me, and I don't wish you to. But may I hope that you won't let my wife know of it?" "You are safe from me," answered Denzil, barely glancing at him, and at once walked away.

No duel or courtroom — refusal of revenge after betrayal — moral closure by walking out — so ending scores 89.