Too late! while he spoke the doctor stepped into his carriage, the coachman closed the door with a loud bang and drove away, and Tiny and the little girl were left quite in the dark as to what they should do next. For a long time they stood still in perfect silence. At last Tiny said, “Lead the way, little girl, for I am blind and cannot see. Come! we will go on, if you have an idea that we shall ever come to the BEAUTIFUL GATE.”
“In all my life I never heard of it before,” said she sadly.
“But I have,” cried Tiny, trying to keep his courage up by speaking brave words. “Come on with me!” yet, in spite of his words, he held fast to the girl’s hand, and she led him down the street.
Presently, towards nightfall, they came up to a crowd of people, a mob of men and boys who were quarrelling.
Well did Tiny understand the angry sound; and, as for the girl walking with him, she trembled with fear, and said, “Shall we turn down this street? They are having a terrible fight. I am afraid you will be hurt.”
“Not I,” said Tiny. “Is the sun near setting?”
“It has set,” said the girl.
“And does the red light shine on the men’s faces?” asked the poet.
“Yes,” answered the girl, wondering.
“On the night when I first came into this city’s streets it was so. My harp was perfect then; but it was the voice, and not the other music, that the people eared for, when I sang. Wait now.”