"What on earth is the meaning of this?" was Waymark's next inquiry.
"How came you here at this time?"
"Curiosity brought me," Maud answered, with the same unnatural
composure.
"Had you been there long?"
"No; I had asked my way to Litany Lane, and all at once found myself
in the crowd."
"Thank goodness I happened to be by! I had just been looking up a
defaulting tenant. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you lying
in that doorway. Why didn't you ask me to come with you, and show
you these places?"
"It would have been better," she said, with her eyes closed. Waymark
leaned back. Conversation was difficult in the noise of the vehicle,
and for a long time neither spoke.
"I told the man to drive to Edgware Road," Waymark said then. "Shall
he go on to the house?"
"No; I had rather walk the last part."
They talked brokenly of the Lane and its inhabitants. When at length
Maud alighted Waymark offered his arm, and she just laid her hand
upon it.
"I have seen dreadful things to-night," she said, in a voice that
still trembled; "seen and heard things that will haunt me."
"You give too much weight to the impressions of the moment. That
world is farther removed from yours than the farthest star; you must
forget this glimpse of it.
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