ABSTRACT

Hardly had the first White soldier appeared than the Balgals decided to leave the author's flat at once and return to their own working-class dwelling on the outskirts of the town. In a few minutes they had packed up all their belongings, and were hastily departing. The quiet modest workman Balgal, his wife, who had lately been so close a friend of my parents, and their two rather frightened children were laden with all sorts of domestic articles and timidly creeping along the walls, as if some evil spirit were chasing them away. Certainly she found it, thanks to the combined efforts of the four members of the Balgal family, in a somewhat filthy and disorderly state; but she could feel no more bitterness towards the once so unwelcome guests. The fact was that they were all too busy. The silence, the semi-lethargy which had reigned in this house for so many months had vanished in a flash.