"And you like London?"
"Yes—no—London is hell."
He spoke quietly, yet there was a strange intensity in his tones.
"Pardon me," he went on after a moment's hesitation, "I do not particularise when I say that London is hell. It only appears more like hell than other places, because there are more people there."
"You are alluding to the east of London?"
"And to the west. To the east most, perhaps, because the people are more real there. There is less artificiality, less veneer. The nearer to real life you get, the nearer to hell. And yet I don't know; the same fires burn in the west, although they are more carefully hidden from view."
"You have visited other parts of England?"
"Yes, visited."
"And how did the other parts strike you?"
"Still hell, but duller."