"Where the Cloud Breaks."

A retired Colonel, isolated and experiencing dementia, rejects the friendship of his charming neighbor when she acquires a television.

He resembles another retired military man who appears in the 1960 novella "A Month by the Lake" in his inability to handle and express emotions.

In Woman's Own (March 1961), Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal and Other Stories/The Enchantress and Other Stories (1961), Seven by Five/The Best of H.E. Bates (1963), The Good Corn and Other Stories (1974), The Poison Ladies and Other Stories (1976), A Month by the Lake & Other Stories (1987), Love in a Wych Elm and Other Stories (2009).

The story was also published in the Saturday Evening Post (July 8, 1961) with the title "Misunderstanding," and with comments by Bates in the issue's front section ("Loopy Ladies.")