H.E. Bates Companion

A snapshot of an nameless old man, no longer appreciated or respected by his children and extended family, in the midst of a Sunday tea. He finds a companion in his seven-year-old grand-niece, making animal shapes out of biscuits and eventually falling into a "mesmeric peace" as she brushes his hair. In The Listener (December 7, 1939), The Beauty of the Dead and Other Stories (1940), Twenty Tales (1951), Love in a Wych Elm and Other Stories (2009). Also in The Toc H Gift Book (1944).