An intense and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows.

Policemen lurked in the shadows of the houses.

The few vehicles left crawled about with insufficient lights.

Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded furtive and repressed.

Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt curiously in sympathy with his environment.