It
was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-four
Orwell
looked nervous and worried. He said that he feared that the Commnists were out to kill him and asked Hemingway for the loan
of a pistol. Ernest lent him the .32 Colt...Orwell departed like a pale ghost.
Carlos Baker: Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story
There
is a curious lack of any letters to any of [Orwell's] friends while in France and Germany and none of them can remember him
talking about the time...It is puzzling.
Bernard Crick: George Orwell: The first Complete Biography