The watchmaker’s shop
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
When Martin entered the watchmaker’s shop, Mr Rook did not look up from the clock he was mending. He lifted a cloth from the corner bench and set a familiar brass tray upon it. No word passed between them. Martin said that he had only come to return the key, but Mr Rook placed the smallest screwdriver beside the tray and drew the lamp nearer. “The light is poor by the window,” he remarked. Martin unbuttoned his coat and went to the bench where he had once worked.
Identify the detail that implies Mr Rook is glad to have Martin back.
456 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.