did indeed glance somewhat nervously at the hansom into
which Lavender put her, apparently asking how such a tall and narrow
two-wheeled vehicle could be prevented toppling over. But when he,
having sent on all their luggage by a respectable old four-wheeler, got
into the hansom beside her, and put his hand inside her arm, and bade
her be of good cheer that she should have such a pleasant morning to
welcome her to London, she said "Yes," mechanically, and only looked out
in a wistful fashion at the great houses and trees of Euston Square, the
mighty and roaring stream of omnibuses, the droves of strangers, mostly
clad in black, as if they were going to church, and the pale blue smoke
that seemed to mix with the sunshine and make it cold and distant.

They were in no hurry, these two, on that still morning; and so, to
impress Sheila all at once with a sense of the greatness and grandeur of
London, he made the cabman cut down by Park Crescent and Portland Place
to Regent Circus. Then they went along Oxford Street; and there were
crowded omnibuses taking young men into the city, while all the
pavements were busy with hurrying passers-by. What multitudes of unknown
faces, unknown to her and unknown to each other! These people did not
speak: they only hurried on, each intent upon his own affairs, caring
nothing, apparently, for the din around them, and looking so strange and
sad in their black clothes in the pale and misty sunlight.

"You are in a trance, Sheila," he said.

She did not answer. Surely she had wandered into some magical city, for
now the houses on one side of the way suddenly ceased, and she saw
before her a great and undulating extent of green, with a border of
beautiful flowers, and with groups of trees that met the sky all along
the southern horizon. Did the green and beautiful country she had seen,
shoot in thus into the heart of the town, or was there another city far
away on the other side of the trees? The place was almost as deserted as
those still valleys she had passed by in the morning. Here in the street
there was the roar of a passing crowd; but there was a long and almost
deserted stretch of park, with winding roads and umbrageous trees, on
which the wan sunlight fell from between loose masses of
half-golden cloud.

Then they passed Kensington Gardens, and there were more people walking
down the broad highways between the elms.

"You are getting nearly home now, Sheila," he said. "And you wil