Here, when you are idle, you can saunter and look about, safe from collision with merciless straight-walkers whose time is money, and whose destiny is business.

Here, you may meet undisturbed cats on the pavement, in the full glare of noontide, and may watch, through the railings of the squares, children at play on grass that almost glows with the lustre of the Sussex Downs.

This haven of rest is alike out of the way of fashion and business; and is yet within easy reach of the one and the other.
Ovid paused in a vast and silent square.

If his little cousin had lived, he might perhaps have seen his children at play in some such secluded place as this.
The birds were singing blithely in the trees.

A tradesman's boy, delivering fish to the cook, and two girls watering flowers at a window, were the only living creatures near him, as he roused himself and looked around.
Where was the College?
Where were the Curator and the Specimen?
Those questions brought with them no feeling of anxiety or surprise.