Black Girl, White Girl [antikvár]

1 hristmas Eve in London. Not one of those merry, glittering, snow-spattered Christmas Eves, but a dark, dank one with intermittent sleety rain. However, Henry Tibbett—Chief Superintendent Tibbett of the C.LD.—and his wife, Emmy, were feeling cheerful enough. It was a tradition that on Christmas Eve they dined at the house of friends in the City of London. The dinner and the company had been as good as ever, putting the Tibbetts into an excellent frame of mind as they drove home through the deserted streets of London's business quarter, a mildly festive West End, and then down the never-sleeping clamor of the King's Road toward The World's End. For those not familiar with London, it should perhaps be pointed out that this address is not as dire as it sounds. The World's End is a pub, which for decades marked the dividing line between chic, artistic Chelsea and working-class Fulham. This distinction has now disappeared. In the sixties and seventies, houses well west of The World's End were described by house agents as being in Chelsea. Now that Fulham is fashionable, whereas Chelsea is considered somewhat brash, the same houses have reverted in the property advertisements to where they have always belonged—the Borough of Fulham. The Tibbetts had left their friends at half past eleven, so by the time they had parked the car and Emmy had the key in M