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Authors: Francis King

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I am not afraid to die. In a sense, I feel that I am dying
for you
. In some way, I feel that this too is necessary.

Now and at all moments—now and at the hour of death—I am yours, yours only.

SHIRLEY
.

She pushed the sheets into an envelope and licked the flap with a greyish tongue. The pen seemed to scratch intolerably as she wrote the address in careful flourishes. Then for a while she sat motionless, looking outwards at the plane trees, the little square, the blotchy façade opposite. Suddenly it seemed to her bitter and terrible that she should never see these things again. If it had been raining or there had been a fog perhaps she would have been able to leave them without regret. But the spring sunshine was sad and autumnal as it flowed over the window-sill; it was lax with memories. She wanted to sit in it, doing nothing, while far below people made random furrows of shadows on the gleaming pavements, and a dog sniffed a lamp-post, and a barrel-organ tinkled in the distance.

Oh, no. She must be resolute. She put on her coat with its fur collar that stuck out in drab tufts, and then her hat, and last of all some green woollen gloves embroidered with eidelweiss. But before she left the room she went on an impulse to the head of her bed. Taking from the wall the framed photograph of her father she smashed it downwards on the brass bedpost. Then, from the splintered glass, she extricated his image and put it in her pocket.

As she walked downstairs she fingered it all the time.

From a letter:

M
Y DEAR
G
ENERAL
,—I am sending you this typescript of the novel. I have called it
To the Dark Tower
. This is the third draft. But it still is not you...F
RANK
C
AULDWELL
.

Copyright

First published in 1946 by Home & Van Thal

This edition published 2013 by Bello
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.co.uk/bello

ISBN 978-1-4472-5822-3 EPUB
ISBN 978-1-4472-5819-3 POD

Copyright © Francis King, 1946

The right of Francis King to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the material
reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher
will be pleased to make restitution at the earliest opportunity.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication ( or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does
any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by
any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites’).
The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute
an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content,
products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.

This book remains true to the original in every way. Some aspects may appear
out-of-date to modern-day readers. Bello makes no apology for this, as to retrospectively
change any content would be anachronistic and undermine the authenticity of the original.
Bello has no responsibility for the content of the material in this book. The opinions
expressed are those of the author and do not constitute an endorsement by,
or association with, us of the characterization and content.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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BOOK: To the Dark Tower
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