Some of them fascinated me.

Others filled me with terror.

There was an exquisite poison in the air.

I had a passion for sensations....
Well, one evening about seven o'clock, I determined to go out in search of some adventure.

I felt that this grey monstrous London of ours, with its myriads of people, its sordid sinners, and its splendid sins, as you once phrased it, must have something in store for me.