Cut through the heated room, and some one swore;

But through the crowd the pair stepped noiselessly.

Over against me at the transverse end

Of the corridor, whence they could sweep the room,

They took their seats. The chandelier of bronze

Hung o’er them like an awning heavy, old.

And no one seemed to know the couple, but

At my right hand I heard a hoarse voice pipe:

“I must have come across that pair before.”

He sat quite still. The loud gray of the air