Ralph unlocked the door to his let and as he entered the dark motionless hall experienced that momentary qualm of ownership which even after three years still lightly besieged him sometimes when he returned alone at the end of the day When he had first bought the flat he used to come home in an eager questioning mood  often as early as he could  wondering what it had been doing during the hours he had been away It had represented a form of welcome to him a region in which his focus was undisputed and reliable He supposed that he should have worried about intruders or burst drains in that moment of reunion but his flat had always been sitting waiting for him with an expression of independence or of neglect depending on whether hed left it tidy or not In the end he had begun to regard it merely as another cloistered annexe of himself a space into which the stuffy chambers of his heart and head had gradually overspilled their contents