DATENSATZ “GABBLE” (VERB)
<hit text="C9R" n="2639">Gain attention before speaking, then make the subject known at the beginning of
the conversation, not at the end when it is too late to contribute or to follow the train of thought.Indicate change of
subject.NEVER SHOUT.It not only distorts the face but gives the impression of anger or impatience.Speak naturally
but at reasonable speed (do not <kw>gabble</kw> or mumble!) and not too fast!If you are not understood then rephrase the sentence.For example, ‘the weather forecast isn't good, it's going to rain' could be repeated as ‘I've brought
my umbrella with me because we may have showers.’pp. 184–5: illustration/diagram</hit>
<hit text="EFW" n="302">' And everywhere he is in chains!' cried the Collector urgently in his delirium,
causing both young ladies to turn anxiously towards his bed but it was nothing, merely a passing fancy in his
overheated brain.He continued to <kw>gabble</kw> away under his breath and the ladies returned to their gossip.' To
be fair, however, it must be said that the natives on the hill also applauded the firmness and resolve which the
gentlemen displayed in our defence.Although, of course, it goes without saying another outcome would have pleased
them better.'' How bright those fires shine in the darkness!</hit>
<hit text="H8S" n="2503">But somehow she didn't feel grateful.Sharing the honour with Sexy Lexy made it
somehow even worse…‘Folly, are you all right?I'm sorry; I just didn't know…And all those things I said, I was just
guessing really.I just <kw>gabble</kw> on — I didn't mean —’‘It's not your fault,’ Folly managed through her
sobs.‘You've done me a favour really.I'd rather know.At least — I did know, sort of, but I couldn't help hoping…’‘I
know what you mean.’Lisa sounded as if she did.</hit>
<hit text="HGT" n="3571">I've dialled too quickly, she thought.I need to rehearse, get it clear in my mind.But
then, just as she had decided to abandon the attempt and risk Anne's annoyance, he answered, repeating the number in a
cool, clear, frighteningly strong voice.Robyn took a gulp, swore she wouldn't <kw>gabble</kw> and then proceeded to
do just that ‘Umm — hello, this is Robyn.I'm phoning to arrange a time…I mean — um — I'm phoning to let you
know, because I've finished the plans and I didn't know whether to send them or —’She cringed at the sound of her
own voice and took a breath.Professional businesswoman?Who was she kidding?</hit>
<hit text="HU0" n="2462">The three ruffians pummelled me, banging my head against the wooden slats.Of
course, I fought back like a veritable lion but my sword and dagger were in the garret and who in the tavern would
listen to my screams?Within a few minutes my body was one mass of bruises from head to toe.Two of the ruffians
seized me, pushing me against the fence, and I could only <kw>gabble</kw> in horror as their leader drew a long, thin
stiletto and pulled back my shirt to expose my throat.He said something in French about the shop and the Sign of the
Pestle.I saw the evil light in his eyes and knew that so far they had only been playing with me: their real intent was to
kill.I gave one more scream, I don't know for whom.Benjamin!</hit>
<hit text="AHR" n="263">Hal's development makes one eager to see just how he will change in Part 2.Owen
Teale's comic and original Hotspur brings much more to the part than the usual hellcat warrior.Sylvestra le Touzel, his
forbidding English wife, is in stark contrast to the Celtic sexiness of Lady Mortimer (Jane Gurnett), who
<kw>gabbles</kw> away in Welsh under the paternal gaze of Bernard Kaye's Glendower, the crashing bore.With a
shrine suspended from the ceiling and with Jerusalem evoked in Henry's opening speech, the guilty spiritual stain of
Henry's usurpation certainly makes itself felt amid the play's comic carry-ons and pisspot humour.</hit>
<hit text="CHB" n="1476">Hispanic house with a sunshine vibe and a Fabi Paras facelift to boot.And Whyte
can't wait to get out there and show the masses just who is behind the latest mover.To hell with anonymity and
mystery.Whyte wanna be adored.‘I'll tell you something,’ <kw>gabbles</kw> Robert enthusiastically, ‘There's no-one
out there now whose doorstep I'd be willing to kip on just to get their autograph.Ten years ago there was Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet, OK they looked daft and camped it up, but people wanted to talk to them, wanted to see them.There
was something both tacky and glamorous about them.Nowadays what have you got?</hit>
<hit text="HGT" n="1479">‘A reasonably successful one.So if you imagine that orders and irritation are
going to intimidate me you're in for a big surprise!Other people may be frightened by your blunt arrogance, but don't
make the mistake of including me in that category…I —’‘Quit <kw>gabbling</kw>, woman.If I were you I'd save my
breath and my energy for later — talking never proved a thing; it's actions that count.And I'm afraid that as all I've seen
is one miscalculated mishap after another you've got an awful long way to go before I'm convinced of anything.</hit>
<hit text="BPD" n="1660">‘But it went berserk and, you'll not believe us, but the car brought us here.’‘What
time was this?’ asked Jack.‘About eleven,’ said the man, almost unwillingly.His wife darted him an impatient look.‘We
couldn't control the car.’She was almost <kw>gabbling</kw> now.‘I know it sounds ridiculous but Henry — my
husband — he did everything.But when we got here it was worse.There were these awful rumblings underground and
then, well before dawn, the men came with spades.The earth — it was all over the place — as if something had broken
through.From underground.’</hit>
<hit text="EFJ" n="2234">‘I'm dead as a door nail.I don't think I'm constructed for physical labour.Is that Mr
Evans's son you've got with you?Brawny chap, isn't he?’‘Not much brain though, I don't think,’ Carrie said.Frederick
was leaning on his pitchfork, apparently listening to Mister Johnny who was waving his small hands and
<kw>gabbling</kw>.Nick lay on the ground, watching them.It was all very peaceful: Mister Johnny's voice bubbling
away like a lark and the sun on the hay field and on the tall-chimneyed house and on the quiet mountain behind
it.Carrie's feeling of happiness grew until her bones seemed to ache with it.</hit>
<hit text="CA3" n="2906">You move on, and thank you, and I'm sorry if you've been disturbed, and I'm sorry
about Demian, and I shall shed the deceptively comforting skin of this house, and all will be well, Larry, you shall see,
the estate agent will save the day in the end.’They were saying too much.What are all these words?Lee thought.It's as if
we are <kw>gabbling</kw> the end of a play we are in.We can't wait to leave this theatre, this atmosphere, this
trap.We want to get into the street again, to shift into normality, to chat in the pub, to laugh again.Goodbye, Larry.You
achieved more than you will ever realize.Gabriel and I saved you from falling into your own image, if you could only
see.</hit>
<hit text="CJA" n="2396">Were they still free?Then the first human vessels were sighted, following the
initiative of the Seraph Kajsa .And after that there was no stopping them.From Swiss clinics and private sanitaria they
came, eager to be frozen.The representatives of nations and organizations that had been preserving a cautious neutrality
now swelled the flock, <kw>gabbling</kw> about friendly relations and mutual benefit.From the Frasque, they
thought, their leaders might obtain the t vin secrets of social control and personal immortality: two valuable aids to
peaceful and effective administration.Why anyone should want to govern anyone else continues to escape me.It seems
an exhausting and thankless task.Looking after inanimate objects is difficult enough.</hit>
<hit text="CJJ" n="2139">‘The Emperor!’ snapped Juron.He meant Him on Earth.He also meant that tallest of
the Titans.Seizing their opportunity, the Wolverines sprinted, scrambled, ducked.Now they were on the catwalk, deep
underneath the carapace.Now they stood beside the adamantium hatch.<kw>Gabbling</kw> a canticle as he tore loose
a bundle of eerie fetishes knotted from dried ligament, Juron undogged that door.The back of the Titan's head housed a
red-lit escape chamber, equipped with anti-gravitics.From this chamber, short fat tunnels led to the control bubbles in
the shoulders and in the forward headcabin.</hit>
<hit text="CK9" n="38">As the old woman pushed the hand-cart across the yard a number of children
scampered from various heaps to gather around her, <kw>gabbling</kw>.But the gabble was such that the child
couldn't distinguish what it was they wanted, until the old woman cried, ‘No candy rock today! 'TIS all gone, all gone,’
at which, one after the other, the children, as if at a signal, stopped gabbling and took up the chant: ‘Raggie
Aggie!Raggie Aggie!Baggie Aggie!Baggie Aggie!</hit>
<hit text="GUE" n="2934">Of colluding with my brother in some illegal deal.Is this not depravity,
Caroline?Where do you draw the line in these matters?’‘Roman, I'm sorry!’She glared up at him through the darkness,
her fingers clinging to the reassuring warmth of his broad shoulders.Fighting down a wave of combined anger and
panic, she found herself <kw>gabbling</kw> furiously, ‘I'm sorry !I was wrong about my mother.I've already
apologised.I accept that my mother makes her own choices.Really I do!And I think your ‘live for the day’ philosophy is
absolutely spot-on; I couldn't agree more!And I believe that consignment back in the warehouse is totally, completely,
unquestionably legal .</hit>
<hit text="AT7" n="2022">She's talked a lot about you.Can… can I see her, miss?’He spoke in a thick
Northern Geordie dialect and, listening to it, she asked herself how Jessie could ever have come to love this young
fellow?In a rough kind of way he was good-looking, but he was heavily built and looked an aggressive type.She heard
herself <kw>gabbling</kw> now, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.Do you know what you have done to my
sister?She's… she's in a state.There'll be great trouble for her.Do you know that?’‘Aye, I know that, miss.And aye, I
know what I've done to her.And I know what she's done to me an' all.’</hit>
<hit text="H9Y" n="2253">Suddenly, up came Miss Stark, bold as brass and dressed in gold foil.She slid
down the wall behind us to say ‘Hello Sir’ to the Prince.From nowhere there was a manifestation, a man-infestation of
photographers, five-rows deep angled like a bas-relief of <kw>gabbling</kw> gargoyles.‘Would you kindly go away,’
said Prince Edward in a voice which would certainly have carried across Rutland.And go away they did, only turning
back to snap Koo whispering into my ear.The photo said it all.The following Sunday, we were there in the ‘Gaga’
section of the Mail on Sunday.</hit>
<hit text="A6C" n="1559">Once, coming back from New York, we were all watching a romantic comedy.It
was interrupted by the captain's voice telling us that thanks to the strong following winds we would be arriving in
London three quarters of an hour before schedule.Trouble was, the film wasn't nearly finished.So a stewardess fast
forwarded it.We sat, rigid in our seats, as chunks of <kw>gabbling</kw> plot sped by.Our suave heroes were
transformed into Laurel and Hardy: suburban life speeded up into some manic, coronary inducing rush hour.How time
flies!We were at our stewardess's mercy.She had promoted herself into the film's second editor, and slowed it down to
normal at the bits she liked, and thought we would appreciate.These bits were the love scenes.</hit>
<hit text="H9D" n="670">Don't want people to think Walter went for the tartish type.The interview opened
with reminiscences of their meeting and courtship.Suitably bowdlerized, said Viola to herself with a grim smile: if she
knew Walter, there was a good deal of slap and tickle involved which didn't get into the account.Very sensible of Hilda:
nothing is more ridiculous than an old-age pensioner <kw>gabbling</kw> on about his or her risqu￩ past.The article
went on with an account of Walter and Hilda's early married life, against a background of dole and depression.What
kind of a person was Walter Machin then, the interviewer asked?‘Well, he was a charmer,’ said Hilda.‘A bobbydazzler.Ask anyone who knew him.</hit>
<hit text="G3G" n="2282">So did the Famlio thugs, after Pulvidon he snarled at them, not wanting to be out
doing.And Gharr grinned his gleaming, toothy grin, and took Mala and the Gharrgoyles off to a suddenly vacated table
on the far side of the place.Everything went back to normal.The noise swelled again, now enlarged by people
<kw>gabbling</kw> about how exciting it was at Fif's, and wasn't that gorgeous man the famous Gharr, and who was
the sexy little cat-person with him, and so on.And still unnoticed, I sat and thought and had two more sunbursts.Then,
while the pirates and Famlio were staring piercingly at a new contingent of roisterers coming in, I decided to
move.</hit>
<hit text="AD9" n="3254">‘It's like a battlefield,’ he kept saying as he and Tammuz walked through the
building.‘It's like a battle field.By all the gods that ever were, that bitch will pay for this!’ They found the canteen door
barricaded, Leila and the others hiding inside.Leila threw herself on Quincx, <kw>gabbling</kw> about what
happened.Both Ari and Nathan looked sullen and had clearly joined ranks over something.Tammuz looked at his
daughter and thought, ‘Now I can tell her.Now… if I want to.’He put a hand on her shoulder, and then one on
Nathan's.They both looked as if they needed it.‘Will you tell me what happened?’ he asked.</hit>
<hit text="GW0" n="88">As Lucy moved back out into the passageway, she met the returning tide from the
last ensemble number onstage; they arrived in a rush, panting like horses and shedding their quasi-military costumes as
they moved.Everyone was in a hurry as they squeezed by; no-one seemed to notice her, and she didn't see much chance
of getting their attention right now.They charged into the other dressing rooms, <kw>gabbling</kw> as they started a
quick change for another number.Over the relay system Lucy could hear the filtered strains of Ain't Misbehavin' .Every
now and again the music would cut for a couple of seconds and there would be some faint, whispered phrase that would
haunt its way down the wire, but she couldn't make out what was said.</hit>
<hit text="EWH" n="42">It was packed tight along the whole of its length with gold coin.He swore softly in
Cornish.' Re Dhew a'm ros!By God who made me!Look at this, Sam!We're bloody rich!'Taking the belt and feeling the
weight of it, Sam was hardly able to believe his own eyes.In the other boat, the priest had started <kw>gabbling</kw>
in Latin — the Dies Irae, by the sound of it.And with good reason, too, for Harry had unsheathed the dagger.It was like
a dream that Sam could neither halt nor awake from: the gulls were screaming overhead and the rollers were thundering
up against the Gribbin.</hit>
<hit text="JY4" n="2149">‘Believe it or not, the first time we spoke of our affairs was last night in the
restaurant.I saw you and Maria Luisa on your yacht.Steve couldn't see: he had his back to you.I recognised her but I
didn't know how Steve would take it if he saw you together.I went a little crazy and started <kw>gabbling</kw> on
about you and love and him and Maria Luisa.I just wanted to know how deep his feelings for her were.’‘It sounds as if
you were more concerned for him than yourself, which suggests you do care very deeply for him,’ Fernando said
quietly.</hit>
<hit text="GUX" n="1587">So now he lifted the woman from the stationery shop to her feet.Her eyes were
black, and fear bruised them, like fallen plums.Shaking his head, angry, he quietened her, until at last she dropped her
hands and stopped <kw>gabbling</kw> and turned back into her shop.Davide had not uttered a word of
consolation.How could he?He had none to give her. Yet in Ninfania, blandishments were the stock-in-trade — ‘Of
course your son will return,’ he could have said.‘Of course we will manage something, together, you and I. And many
others, my connections, your connections….’</hit>
<hit text="CK9" n="39">As the old woman pushed the hand-cart across the yard a number of children
scampered from various heaps to gather around her, gabbling.But the gabble was such that the child couldn't
distinguish what it was they wanted, until the old woman cried, ‘No candy rock today! 'TIS all gone, all gone,’ at
which, one after the other, the children, as if at a signal, stopped <kw>gabbling</kw> and took up the chant: ‘Raggie
Aggie!Raggie Aggie!Baggie Aggie!Baggie Aggie!Lousy Loppy Aggie!Narrow old bugger Aggie!’The old woman
seemed not to hear the children, yet on leaving The Courts to pass through another narrow alleyway, she bitterly
emitted one word: ‘Scum!’</hit>
<hit text="HH1" n="2917">‘Aye,’ agreed her husband.‘A fine thing, is it not, sir?That a man cannot keep an
open house for the benefit of travellers such as yourselves.’‘Never mind your gossip now, Thomas,’ exhorted their
hostess.‘Fetch up some ale, while I put the broth back on the fire.My lady looks pale nigh unto death and you stand
there <kw>gabbling</kw> like a half-wit.’‘A loose tongue to match a loose brain, eh, Thomas?’ chuckled a third voice
from the shadows beyond the fire.‘I don't know why Dame Sybil puts up with you.’The speaker came forward.He was
a youngish fellow, dark of hair and eyes, and modestly clad in a plain green tunic over buff-coloured leggings.</hit>
<hit text="JY4" n="3613">‘No!’She moved her glass out of range.‘I…I just want to talk… we have to talk,
Steve.’She couldn't just come out with it.It would have to come from him.He topped up his own glass and was very
silent as he did it.‘I'm sorry, Ruth,’ he said sombrely.‘I'm being unfair, <kw>gabbling</kw> on about me and Maria
Luisa when things didn't go right for you and Fernando.Come on, spill the beans.It will help to talk it out.’Slowly Ruth
turned her head to look at him, her partner, her friend with golden sun-bleached hair atop an open trusting face.He
didn't know, he really didn't.He would have mentioned the baby by now if he had.</hit>
<hit text="JXT" n="3149">‘Tonight it would be a sin to call you Ronni.’He raised her hand to his lips and
kissed it, then continued to hold it against his lips.‘Why didn't you tell me you had such a beautiful name?’Ronni shook
her head helplessly, sensing it would be wiser not to speak.If she were to try, she would only end up
<kw>gabbling</kw> something silly, for the heat of his lips against her fingers had sent her brain into a kind of mental
tailspin.She felt incapable of putting two sensible words together.And anyway, who needs words? she told herself
blissfully, as they continued to float across the dance-floor together — though Ronni wasn't on the dance-floor, she had
both feet in heaven.</hit>
<hit text="FRA" n="1071">State your main point as impressively as you can.After stating it, pause to give
time for it to sink in.Speak slowly, and get as soon as possible to the core of your case.Your time is much more limited
than it would be in a real case, and you cannot afford to waste it; on the other hand, it is no use <kw>gabbling</kw>
what you have to say, for then it will not be understood.Establish eye contact with the judge, and make sure that you
can be heard.Do not read out your argument if you can possibly avoid it, but in any case do not mumble into your
notes.</hit>
<hit text="ADA" n="764">He remembered that he had been lost, apparently going round and round the same
spiralling loop of bumpy and frozen track.He remembered the hostile trees, the rain and the fear.He remembered the
lights of the car at last picking out the yearned-for shape of the cottage.He remembered the exultation of that dazzle,
and then the disappointment, and then the despair, and then his own voice <kw>gabbling</kw> numbers, and then the
oblivion.But what had happened after that?He had no recollection of leaving the car.He did not know how he had got
the door to this place to open.He could not recall lurching like a drunk across the small room and throwing himself in a
gibbering heap upon the bed.</hit>
<hit text="JYF" n="2312">‘In Gloucestershire at their kennels and smallholding?’ he questioned, causing her
to warm to him that he had remembered so much.‘That's right.I suppose I'm a sort of kennel-maid — dogsbody.I'm
sorry,’ she said quickly again, ‘that wasn't meant as a pun.’She halted, aware that she was <kw>gabbling</kw>.‘I'm
nervous,’ she explained.‘Of me?You have no need to be,’ Ven assured her.And while she stared at him in some
astonishment, ‘I would never harm you,’ he added.‘I — um — um don't think I thought you would.</hit>
<hit text="GW0" n="1918">‘Christ almighty,’ Joe shouted, ‘where do you draw the line?It's the middle of the
day!’‘Fuck you, peeping tom,’ the woman shrilled.‘Get out of here!’‘I'm turning it down!’ the man was
<kw>gabbling</kw>.‘I'm turning it down!’‘Yeah, do that,’ Joe suggested, and he walked over and put his hand behind
the man's head and pushed him face-first into the screen.The cheap TV rocked on its legs as the man grabbed at it in an
over-eager embrace, and Joe turned to the woman on the bed.</hit>
<hit text="HTG" n="1386">Must ‘a lost gallons.’Without another word Pooley tore into the club and found
Milton.‘I must speak to you, sir.It's urgent.’Milton apologised to the chief of the anti-terrorist squad and took Pooley
into a corner.‘Ramsbum says the injured waiter was Robert and that he's in a serious condition.’Pooley was
<kw>gabbling</kw>.‘I've just been told the same.Apparently there's no word from the hospital yet.’‘Can I go along
there please, sir?’‘No, I ‘m afraid you can't.We're taking over here now and you've got to stay.We can't let personal
feelings interfere with duty: you know that.’Pooley straightened himself.</hit>
<hit text="JY3" n="3387">She made a gigantic effort to pull herself together.‘What is it, Virginia?This isn't
just about Lucy and her baby, is it?’‘It's… no.My mother went to that hospital for… for minor surgery and she died
and… suddenly, just being there, it all came rushing back…’She was <kw>gabbling</kw> again, she distantly realised,
but she couldn't seem to help herself, the choked confession wouldn't be suppressed.‘And Lucy's had lots of
complications, Guy, it's not a straightforward pregnancy.I'm so frightened for her…’‘Virginia…’Guy attempted to pull
her into his arms, but she resisted, tensing violently against him.</hit>
<hit text="G13" n="2147">I stumbled, fell and rolled over the edge of it.I heard the cry ‘Keep on!’I lay with
my feet in a pool of water, and waited.A few seconds later there was the violent unleashing of death I had
expected.Someone leapt in the other side of the shell-hole.He must have been a Catholic, because he was
<kw>gabbling</kw> Ave's.Then there was another scuffle and I heard him go in a falling of bits of mud.I drew my feet
out of the water.But I did not open my eyes until the firing had stopped.‘I was not alone in that shell-hole.Half in, half
out of the water opposite me was a greyish mass.A German corpse, long dead, half eaten by rats.</hit>
<hit text="HTJ" n="2951">Just inside the doorway a police marksman lay on his face.He was not moving.His
body was riddled with bullets from the Skorpion.‘Keep them covered,’ the police Sergeant told his colleague.‘They
may be shamming.’He stared at the complex array of panels, dials, visual display units and keyboards.On the shelf
beside them a PMR set was <kw>gabbling</kw> away in a foreign language.‘Let's see if chummy here knows how to
switch all this stuff off.’He crooked a finger at the one operative still upright and when the shaking man did not move,
went up to him, gun aimed at his diaphragm.‘Let's have this mask off first, shall we?’He put up a hand and ripped the
head harness off.</hit>
<hit text="HA5" n="2464">‘I said — have you seen everything you wanted to see?’ he repeated
softly.‘Yes.Yes, thank you.It's very impressive.Once I have the back-up material, I'm sure I can give you what you
want…’She was <kw>gabbling</kw>, her voice breathy and barely under control, because she'd raised her eyes to his
face only to find the expression there more disturbing than the casual masculine pose he'd adopted, and which had
already reminded her of the night she'd spent in his bed.</hit>
<hit text="JY3" n="910">The look she encountered was difficult to read.‘Good morning.Sorry about the scene
at the restaurant.I felt an idiot, blacking out like that.You must tell me what I owe you for the meal.May I use your
telephone?I promised I'd ring home as soon as I arrived yesterday, but somehow… with all the mix-up…I forgot…’She
was <kw>gabbling</kw> nervously, she realised, gradually petering to a halt as the implacable dark face didn't register
any reaction whatsoever.It was the dark Raybans that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.Then, finally, the
wide, well-shaped mouth curved into a slightly smug smile.‘Forget about last night.That includes the price of the
meal.And don't worry.</hit>
<hit text="JY3" n="1687">‘I'm just telling you that… that I'm not interested.I mean…I realise that to a man
like you this situation is probably an open invitation to a spot of casual sex, even if generally you don't fancy redheads,
as you so gallantly pointed out when we first met…’She was <kw>gabbling</kw> now, she dimly recognised, but it
was too late to stem the flow of words.‘But… oh, heavens, this sounds arrogant, as if I'm some irresistible Lolita or
something… but I wouldn't want you getting any ideas about me while we're thrown together like this…’</hit>
<hit text="G3S" n="2154">Why, t'barn's good enough to see, isn't it?'' The barn?'I pointed a shaking finger at
the heights.' You mean that building?The heifer's surely not in there!'' Aye, she is.Ah keep a lot o' me young beasts in
them spots.' But.but…'I was <kw>gabbling</kw> now.' We'll never get up there!That snow's three feet deep!'He blew
smoke pleasurably from his nostrils.' We will, don't tha worry.Just hang on a second.' He disappeared into the stable
and after a few moments I peeped inside.</hit>
<hit text="FPK" n="2693">Buttoning the long fitted jacket over her expensive cream gown, she went to him
on determined footsteps.Her heart leaped.He was so handsome.And now, he was hers.‘I'll make you a good wife,
Tyler.’She was <kw>gabbling</kw> now.‘You won't regret it.Oh!It'll be wonderful, you'll see.She threw herself into
his arms, sighing deeply when he half-heartedly returned her embrace.Her triumph would have been short-lived if she
had seen the smile slip from his face and a look of regret shape his expression; his quiet eyes were drawn to the
window, to the skyline beyond.</hit>
<hit text="CR6" n="1799">She was gonna kill me 'cos Sister Rosario gave her the ruler for pulling me plaits.’
She looked into her mother's face, pleading for understanding.‘Am I hearing right?You…’ she pointed at Maura ‘…
had a fight with Margaret Lacey.’She screwed up her eyes as if she was having difficulty seeing her child.Maura was
<kw>gabbling</kw> with fright.‘I hit her with me bag but we're friends now, Mum.That's where I was earlier when
you were looking for me.’Sarah shook her head slowly as if to clear it.So this one had gone too, another fighter in the
family.‘Go on, all of you… out in the street to play.</hit>
<hit text="BMS" n="2272">My god, he's raving bonkers and so am I.I didn't know what to say, whether to
say anything, whether to grab my stuff and run or lie here all day and go to sleep.I said, ‘What I told you before — you
were dreaming, you must've been dreaming, you know.You were <kw>gabbling</kw> on about lizards and turtles and
Australia and whales.I thought it was kangaroos you were so het up about?’‘'Stralia's got a coast, you know.All
round.They get whales, kill 'em, only there's hardly any left cos they killed that many.’</hit>
<hit text="BMS" n="2201">If we follow this top road along a bit we'll see the toll-booth for the suspension
bridge and…There was a bench just here.He sat on it.So did I, to get my breath back and rest my legs. ‘You were
dreaming, too,’ I said after a bit.‘You were <kw>gabbling</kw> on.D'you remember?I wish I could remember that
dream of mine.I told you, I never do.Mind you, there's one dream I have regularly, I don't need to write it down because
I have it so often.’Dreams, I'll catch him in the net of my dreams.‘I'm in this vast black cave.</hit>