On one side of the car a waiter with
some broken glasses beside a tray was huddled near the step. On the
other, two very ragged tramps, a man and a woman, lay where they had
fallen, the man with his long, thin arm still outstretched, even as he
had asked for alms in his lifetime. One instant of time had put
aristocrat, waiter, tramp, and dog upon one common footing of inert and
dissolving protoplasm.

I remember another singular picture, some miles on the London side of
Sevenoaks. There is a large convent upon the left, with a long, green
slope in front of it. Upon this slope were assembled a great number of
school children, all kneeling at prayer. In front of them was a fringe
of nuns, and higher up the slope, facing towards them, a single figure
whom we took to be the Mother Superior. Unlike the pleasure-seekers in
the motor-car, these people seemed to have had warning of their danger
and to have died beautifully together, the teachers and the taught,
assembled for their last common lesson.

My mind is still stunned by that terrific experience, and I grope vainly
for means of expression by which I can reproduce the emotions which we
felt. Perhaps it is best and wisest not to try, but merely to indicate
the facts. Even Summerlee and Challenger were crushed, and we heard
nothing of our companions behind us save an occasional whimper from the
lady. As to Lord John, he was too intent upon his wheel and the
difficult task of threading his way along such roads to have time or
inclination for conversation. One phrase he used with such wearisome
iteration that it stuck in my memory and at last almost made me laugh as
a comment upon the day of doom.

"Pretty doin's! What!"

That was his ejaculation as each fresh tremendous combination of death
and disaster displayed itself before us. "Pretty doin's! What!" he
cried, as we descended the station hill at Rotherfield, and it was still
"Pretty doin's! What!" as we picked our way through a wilderness of
death in the High Street of Lewisham and the Old Kent Road.

It was here that we received a sudden and amazing shock. Out of the
window of a humble corner house there appeared a fluttering handkerchief
waving at the end of a long, thin human arm. Never had the sight of
unexpected death caused our hearts to stop and then throb so wildly as
did this amazing indication of life. Lord John ran the motor to the
curb, and in an instant we had rushed through the open d