By-and-by the shrill vixenish cries rose louder, he caught the sound of voices in altercation, and of hoarse orders: and slowly and reluctantly the babel seemed to pass away.

An anxious moment followed: fearfully he listened for the knock of the law, the official summons which must make all his efforts useless.

But it did not come.
It was when the silence which ensued had lasted some minutes that the strangeness and aloofness of his position in this darkened room began to weigh on his spirits.

His eyes had adapted themselves to the gloom, and he could make out the shapes of the furniture.

But it was morning! It was day! Outside, the city was beginning to go about its ordinary work, its ordinary life.