To Save the Realm, First Two Paras, Chapter 6: A Bookshop on Bury Place

Brock stood unsteadily on the cobblestones of Bury Place, a narrow byway near the British Museum. He was still in his cups from his meeting in the pub with Bertie. How many drinks had they had? He looked up and down the street. No cars were moving in either direction. A green Spitfire was nestled close to the curb up toward Great Russell Street. It was getting on to five o'clock. There were no popular boutiques or trendy restaurants on Bury Place. It was not a destination of the young and fabulous. It was peopled, instead, almost wholly with second-hand bookshops. Some of these were dusty, cluttered emporia of remaindered books and tattered paperbacks. Others specialized in rare antiquarian tomes with gorgeous rough-edged paper and beautifully tooled leather bindings. The street's only concession to the overt enjoyment of life was a patisserie with a couple of small round tables on the sidewalk.