The Happy Mariners (21 page)

As the four children sauntered slowly, perhaps a little reluctantly, across that familiar brickfield bathed in the mellow sunlight of an autumn evening, they did not talk at all, but only exchanged bright glances, glad of their shared secret. At the gate in the garden fence they were met by Mother herself, come in search of them; and when they saw her pretending to be cross, and heard her say: ‘Now, children, you're ten minutes late!'—they gazed at her, all four of them, with dreams in their eyes, and no one could think of an answer. As for Fandy, he was busy washing his face. There never was a cleaner cat than Fandy.

Gerald Bullet
was a British man of letters. He was a novelist, essayist, short story writer, critic and poet, who wrote both supernatural fiction and some children's literature.

Bullett was born in London in 1893 and was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. After Cambridge, Bullett began reviewing for
The Times Literary Supplement
and other journals, and then embarked on a career as an assiduous short-story writer and poet, small-time publisher, and editor and author of some forty published books. Bullet's 1932 detective novel
I'll Tell You Everything
was written jointly with J. B. Priestley. In 1956 he adapted his most popular novel,
The Jury
, into a film called
The Last Man to Hang?

Politically, Bullett described himself as a “liberal socialist” and claimed to detest “prudery, Prohibition, “blood sports, central heating, and literary tea parties”. Bullett was also an anti-fascist, describing fascism as “gangsterism on a national scale”. He publicly backed the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. During World War II Bullet worked for the BBC in London, and as a radio broadcaster after the end of the war.

Gerald Bullett died in January 1958.

For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been
removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain
references to missing images.

This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader

Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP

First published in Great Britain 1927 by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd

Copyright © 1927 Gerald Bullett

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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The moral right of the author is asserted.

eISBN: 9781448210992

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