I remember yet the sour smell of the factories and the mist of smoke in the evening air.

It is a smell I have never met since without a sort of dulling of spirit.
Presently I came out into a market-place.

Whistles were blowing, and there was a great hurrying of people back from the mills.

The crowd gave me a momentary sense of security, and I was just about to inquire my way to the railway station when someone jostled my arm.
A rough-looking fellow in mechanic's clothes was beside me.
'Mate,' he whispered.

'I've got summat o' yours here.' And to my amazement he slipped my watch into my hand.
'It was took by mistake.