the companions of doctor who

[...]... something of a hurry The fire grate was empty of everything but abandoned ash On the table behind the sofa was a tray in charge of a forlorn coffee pot and a lonely cup and saucer Another cup and saucer looked even more isolated on the desk Sarah Jane picked up the open newspaper from the sofa and glanced at the photograph of Doctor Lavinia Smith and the item which announced her imminent lecture tour of the. .. teapot Brendan galloped out of the kitchen and across the hall into the sitting-room When Sarah Jane followed him in he was already attacking the top of the case with much verve She winced at the screeching of complaining nails as the top was wrenched free The contents of the case were protected by a wrapping of what looked like polystyrene but of a type not seen by either of them before Brendan’s exploring... chilled hands to the warmth of the fire There was no sign of the newspaper that had announced her aunt’s departure to the United States Sarah Jane turned to Pollock as he came into the room followed by an overawed Brendan for whom the Commander painfully represented the authoritarian voice of the Chief Petty Of cer in the Combined Cadet Force at school ‘Thank you This is very kind.’ 22 The least I could... moment The Americans don’t go much on Christmas, do they?’ 18 Sarah Jane had allowed the car to drift into the middle of the road in anticipation of cutting the many bends She’d forgotten that Dorset was the county of winding roads and lanes, lending infinite variety for the serious driver; the serious driver, that is, whose mind wasn’t hopping about between Hazelbury Abbas and the United States of America... rising from the river, and entered the village of Hazelbury Abbas from the east It was some time since Sarah Jane’s last visit but she was conscious of no change The very nature of this part of England resisted the inexorable march or urbanisation, of industrial development encouraged by the thrusting motorways in other areas Here was nurtured a natural rebellion against the tyranny of time Here the villagers... up the handset ‘Still not there.’ She moved restlessly to the mullioned seventeenth-century windows to look sightlessly out at the neat garden and the lush green of the undulating Dorset countryside where on the knolls the tufted leafless thickets beckoned the hurrying clouds ‘I should have liked to talk to her before I go.’ ‘What’s the rush?’ The woman on the sofa crossed slim and elegantly sheathed... sped off to the left, throwing a vengeful glance at the timid driver as she did so Sarah Jane’s woman driver looked round reproachfully (having overshot the right turn) presenting a full white beard that matched the flowing locks Sarah Jane scoffed and then laughed out loud at proof of the irrationality of prejudice Leaving Sherborne the MGB purred west along the Yeo Valley, through a vast saucer of mist... more than a hint of the voluptuary flowing from her well-poised head to the tips of her Gucci shoes ‘I thought you weren’t going until after Christmas.’ She prodded the copy of the North Dorset Echo lying beside her on the sofa ‘That’s what it says here.’ ‘They want me a month earlier.’ Lavinia drifted from the windows to the spitting wood fire The graceful Jacobean interior reflected the scientist’s personality,... to the incident with mixed feelings, his admiration in conflict with the furious tingling going on at the back of his neck But the stupid man in the Ford, maniacally sounding his horn, was already erased from Sarah Jane’s mind which had returned to the other side of the Atlantic in a tithe of the time it had taken her to change gear ‘Very odd,’ she muttered Brendan, however, was still pondering the. .. content with the richness of their history, the depth of immemorial traditions All invaders had become restive and retreated as had the Romans Sarah Jane drove slowly past the Saxon church with a long, refreshing look at its simple beauty, past the tiny grocery store with its even tinier sub post of ce, past the compact school building, past the peaceful thatch of the cottages in North Street, past the old . third member of the coven flowed forward and a taper was offered to the southern torch. The figure was tall and the stoop to obtain the light twitched back the cowl of the cloak. The flames twisted the cadaverous. lurked anonymous human eyes. The smaller of the goat figures bent over the altar. The black-handled knife and the cord were plucked up and offered to the moon, the sleeves of the enveloping cloak falling. – but the weather and the nature of the esbat cere- mony prohibited this. He offered up a private prayer to Hecate and tightened the muscles of his jaw which had the effect of deepening the crease