|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 23
It was late in the afternoon, and already dark, before he got out of the
train at Limehouse station, and began the exploration of the unsavory
district which fringes the docks.
Through street after street of dingy, squalid houses he passed; some
broken up by dirty little shops, some presenting the dull uniformity of
row after row of mean, stunted brick buildings, the broken windows of
many of which were mended with brown paper, or else not mended at all.
Here and there a grimy public house, each with its group of loafers
about the doors, made, with the lights in its windows, a spot of
comparative brightness.
Many of the streets were narrow and tortuous, roughly paved, and both
difficult and dangerous to traverse by the unaccustomed foot passenger,
who found himself now slipping on a piece of orange peel, the pale color
of which was disguised by mud, now risking the soundness of his ankles
among the uneven and slimy stones of the road.
Max had to ask his way more than once before he reached the Plumtree
Wharf, the entrance to which was through a door in a high wooden fence.
Rather to his surprise, he found the door unfastened and unguarded. And
when he had got through he looked round and asked himself what on earth
he had expected to find there.
There was nothing going on at this late hour, and Max was able to take
stock of the place and of the outlook generally. Piles of timber to the
right of him, the dead wall at the side of a warehouse on the left, gave
him but a narrow space in which to pursue his investigations. And these
only amounted to the discovery that the troubled waters of the Thames
looked very dark and very cold from this spot; that the opposite bank,
with little specks of light, offered a gloomy and depressing prospect,
and that the lapping of the water among the black barges which were
moored at his feet in a dense mass was the dreariest sound he had ever
heard. He turned away with a shudder, and walked quickly up the narrow
lane left by the timber, calling himself a fool for his journey.
And just as he was reaching the narrow street by which he had come he
was startled to find a girl's face peering down at him from the top of a
pile of timber.
Max stopped, with an exclamation. In an instant the girl withdrew the
head, which was all he had seen of her, and he heard her crawling back
quickly over the timber, out of his sight.
Although he had seen her for a moment only, Max had been chilled to the
bone by the expression of the girl's face. Ghastly white it had looked
in the feeble light of a solitary gas lamp some distance away, and
wearing an expression of fear and horror such as he had never seen on
any countenance before. He felt that he must find out where she had
gone, his first belief being that she was a lunatic. Else why should she
have disappeared in that stealthy manner, with the look of fear stamped
upon her face? There was nothing in the look or manner of Max himself to
alarm her; and if she had been in need of help, why had she not called
to him?
He got a footing upon the timber and looked over it. But he could see
nothing more of the girl. Beyond the stacks were some low-roofed
outbuildings and the back of a shut-up warehouse. Reluctantly he got
down, and passed into the narrow street. Not willing to leave at once a
neighborhood which he had come so far to investigate, he turned, after
going some dozen yards down the street, into a narrow passage on his
left hand which led back to the river.
The width between the high walls and the warehouses on either side was
only some five feet. It was flagged with stone, very dark. About ten
yards from the entrance there was a small warehouse, on the left hand,
on which hung an old board, announcing that the building was "To Let."
And next door to this was a dingy shop, with grimy and broken windows,
the door of which was boarded up. This shop, also, was "To Be Let," and
the board in this case had been up so long that the announcement had to
be divined rather than read.
Rather struck by the dilapidated appearance of these two buildings in a
place where he supposed land must be valuable, Max paused for an
instant. And as he did so, he became aware that there was some one by
his side.
Looking down quickly, he saw the young girl of whom he had caught a
glimpse a few minutes before.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|