Introduction<br > It is a short word， but it contains all: it means the body， the soul， the life，<br > the entire being. We feel it as we feel the warmth of the blood， we breathe<br > it as we breathe the air， we carry it in ourselves as we carry our thoughts.<br > Nothing more exists for us. It is not a word; it is an inexpressible state<br > lndleated by four letters...<br >Maupassant， in this passage from Our Hearts， is pretty confident<br >that he can define love， but in the end he decides that language<br >，is ，inadequate. It is certainly true that， as a noun， love remains<br >.resolutely abstract. As a verb， it has forfeited some of its potency since<br >Maupassant~s time， being forced， increasingly， to do the work that<br >qike* once did. We can love chocolate bars and Neighbours， gardening<br >and football; whereas loss， so often associated in our minds with love，<br >seems to have none of love s elusiveness and ambiguity. The word<br >itself， partic~arly when spoken， has a dying fall: its very sound is<br >desolate，<br > The stories in thts collection， diverse in form， style and content， all<br >deal， at some level， with aspects of this inexpressible state indicated<br >by four letters ， and of its loss. I did not want to confine myself to<br >romantic love only， nor to stories in which love and loss is the overt<br > subject matter (although in several of the stories it is). Love， I was<br > reminded while 1 was reading for this book， can be as powerful an<br > absence as it is a presence: never to have known love， never to have<br > given or received it， never to have experienced its Joys or suffered its<br > pains - this is probably the worst loss of all.<br > Dear Catherine， 1 am so glad you came before it was dark. [says<br > Mrs lngral~， in Elizabeth Taylor s story The Ambush ] Her seemingly<br > nte~ningless phrases were often found， later， to have some meaning<br > alter all，<br >