Sinai Tapestry

equable division of spoils

stolid atmosphere of overt Victorian gentility and covert imperial vice

maternal great-grandmother

with a resigned expression

Tom could talk a person’s ear off

tipsy buzzing hours of night

lapsed into silence

Hundreds of sweating shoppers jostled each other and squeezed in front of the open shops where hawkers cried out their wares

thronged with conquerors or pilgrims

rapped his way down