Anselm left Victor Brionne, knowing he would continue to drink but knowing there was little he could do to hold him back. Victor – he could call him nothing else – had urged Anselm to tell Agnes about Robert. It was a secret that could not be withheld from the little time she had remaining.
Anselm left shortly before 5 p.m. He dropped into a newsagent, drawn by the blaring of a radio from behind a curtain over the back room. He leafed through a paper, waiting for the news on the hour. The shock verdict delivered in the trial led a series of other items, culminating in the shock transfer of a football player. Two shocks, one at either end.
Anselm walked out, dazed, and looked around. It was a lovely dusty, sunny day and there were children playing in the street.