A Marvellous Light

The light in his face had retreated, as though someone holding a candle up to glass had taken a few steps backwards. It was the resigned expression of someone on whom jokes were often played, and who knew he was expected to laugh afterwards even if they were more cruel than funny.

The sole window lurked awkwardly near the ceiling as though to say it was there on sufferance and didn’t intend to provide anything so pleasant as a view.