The entry was very dark, and at the end the whole great night opened out, in a hollow, with a little tangle of lights below where Minton pit lay, and another far away opposite for Selby.

The farthest tiny lights seemed to stretch out the darkness for ever.

The children looked anxiously down the road at the one lamp-post, which stood at the end of the field path.

If the little, luminous space were deserted, the two boys felt genuine desolation.

They stood with their hands in their pockets under the lamp, turning their backs on the night, quite miserable, watching the dark houses.