Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/78

 Next day, in a letter dated, City of Dreadful Nights, he adds:  ''Last night no air-raid was possible, because of an appalling thunderstorm, which kept me awake for another three hours. If you have ever heard thunder rolling for fifty seconds without intercession and giving sixty of these rolls to the hour, you will know the sort of thunderstorm it was.''

This description prompts him to an anecdote:

"Then there's Roche, the resident magistrate. Don't go shooting Roche now unless it's by accident. What does he look like? Well, if ye've ever seen a half-drowned rat, with a grey worsted muffler round its neck, then ye know the kind of man Roche is!"—Speech quoted before the Parnell Commission.

On my return from Cornwall, my flat was not yet ready for me, but the Teixeiras' hospitality allowed me to continue staying with them.

You will be as welcome on Thursday night as peace at Christmas, wrote Teixeira, 9. 9. 17.