The Breaking Point — Daphne Du Maurier

LADY BEWARE!

Every Sunday afternoon James Fenton and his wife took their usual walk -- every Sunday afternoon. The pattern never changed.

Then Fenton reached his breaking point.

The idea of escape had never occurred to him before. But suddenly something clicked in his brain.

”Now, at this minute,” he thought, “one gesture of mine might change someone's future. Theft, fire, faces smashed in…murder.”

So Fenton chose No. 8 Boulting Street as a starting point for the greatest adventure of his life.

He rang the bell and a young woman answered. Fenton had the impulse to say, “I have come to strange you.” Instead he took off his hat and smiled. “Do you rent rooms?” he asked.