England! Returning to England after so many years! How would it seem to him? Luke Fitzwilliam wondered as he disembarked from the ship. The thought lingered in the back of his mind while he waited at customs and suddenly came to the forefront when he finally sat on the train moving away from the port. Every time he returned to England for vacation, he had a wonderful time. He had plenty of money to spend (at least at first!), reunited with old friends, met colleagues who were also on leave – and all this carefree attitude was based on the following thought: It won't last long. So, let's live it up! Soon I will go back. However, now there was no question of returning. No more suffocating nights, the dazzling sun and the tropical beauty of the wild vegetation, no more lonely evenings and rereading old issues of the Times.
He had returned to his homeland, then, a retired police officer and relatively wealthy – a leisurely gentleman. What would he do from now on in his life? England! England, a gray, cloudy June day, with a strong, biting wind. A bit hard to feel welcome on a day like this! And then, there were the people! My God, so many people! Millions upon millions, with faces as gray as the sky, anxious, restless. And there were those houses, sprouting everywhere like mushrooms. Ugly little houses! Disgusting little houses! The entire countryside was full of flashy henhouses!