"'You live down there,' she asked in a curious, expressionless way as if she hardly expected an answer.
"I was startled at her talking to me and at the same time interested.
"'Yes,' I said.
"'It is dark and very dreary,' she went on, talking almost to herself, 'why do you choose such a life?'
"I think the bitterness of my mood must have sounded in my answer, for suddenly she turned to me and laid a hand on my arm.
"'Leave it then,' she whispered, her face close up against mine, 'leave it, come home with me.'
"'Home with you,' I repeated, thoroughly astonished, and at that moment a policeman, tall and stolid, strolled across the road towards us.
"'Don't let him hear what we are saying,' whispered the extraordinary woman; 'just turn back with me a little way and I will explain to you.'
"Well, I went. Perhaps you can realize why, and I saw for a little into the outside edge of life as lived by these women. I wonder how I can best convey to you the horror and pity of it, for we—despite the greyness of our lives—have something within ourselves to which we can turn, but they have weighed even hopes and dreams with the weights of shame, and found their poor value in pounds, shillings and pence. That is why their eyes as they pass you in the streets are so blank and expressionless. Each new day brings them nothing, they have learnt all things, and the groundwork of their knowledge is—sin."
She rose abruptly and moved across to the window, pulling aside the blue-tinted curtains, staring out over miles and miles of roof-covered London. From far in the distance Big Ben shone down on her, a round, dim face in the darkness.