In place of these things was only a soundless gloom, more dreadful, more disheartening, more soul-killing than any concourse of sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread.

Pious individuals put up constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude.

After a little there were signs of universal depression which those who ran might read.

One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality, of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope.

Men seemed to have lost the power of expression of their thoughts.