Elizabeth Fair

“Clichés really do describe emotional experiences, you know. The mere fact that hundreds of people use them proves it. People who are truly suffering don’t bother about looking for elegant new ways of expressing their feelings.”
― Elizabeth Fair, The Mingham Air

“Mrs. Woodfidley was inviting the guests to assemble for drinks, which were being handed out by Mr. Woodfidley and Garson from a long table in the bay window. The bottles and glasses had been visible from the first and their serried ranks must have drawn longing glances from more persons than herself - it would have been so much easier to sing and talk if even a single drink had been given one at the start of the party. But now she had guessed that the party was organized in set figures, like a formal country dance, and that the delay in serving drinks must be due to this plan. The figure in which drinks were consumed had just begun; it would succeeded by another after a fixed interval of time, and therefore she had better make sure of a drink before the music changed.”
― Elizabeth Fair, A Winter Away