Other Fiction Hilton, James: And Now, Good-Bye. V1. 30 Oct 2010

[weatherwax]

James Hilton (9 September 1900 – 20 December 1954) was an English novelist, and author of several best-sellers including Lost Horizon (which popularised the mythical Shangri-La) and Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Excerpt:
The Reverend Howat Freemantle awoke about the usual time on Monday morning of that second week in November. From habit, as soon as he was completely conscious, he lit the bedside candle, glanced at his watch ticking loudly on the table, and then at his wife, whose huddled back and deep regular breathing presented a familiar picture close by. Seven-thirty. He reached out an arm to light the gas-ring under the kettle—a manoeuvre dexterously performed as a result of long practice. Then he leaned back to doze for those last and frequently most delightful minutes.
But this morning they were not particularly delightful. Parsons, he had often reflected, were not immune from the 'Monday morning' feeling—on the contrary, they were subject to a peculiarly distressing Monday morning feeling of their own. After Sunday, with its sermons and services, Monday came, not as the beginning of a six days' holiday, as so many lay persons imagined, but as a sudden drop to the bottom of a hill which had to be slowly and laboriously climbed over again.