Geraldina saw a human form outlined  against the bright light as though someone was entering through a  doorway. The figure came closer and a look of recognition came with a  smile to Geraldina’s face.

“I knew you would come,” she said.“I knew you would not leave me.”

—excerpt from story ‘Beyond the Edge’

“That is why you went away, isn’t it,” he  said gruffly. “You confounded fool. Tell me, Agron, King of  Nincompoops, did you run away like a yellow-bellied missish girl because  of this?”

With that he holds up his mangled left  hand in my face. My eyes fixed on his hand and saw clearly what I had  imagined so many times in my mind, the strong hand, with the two  fingers, the ring finger and the middle finger missing, the flesh  mottled and badly set over the gap. I cannot speak. I did not have to.  He saw the pain, the torture, the living dread in my eyes that I did not  bother to conceal.

—excerpt from story ‘The Gypsy King'